Introduction to Permaculture

Reviewed by Angie Mestas, Adjunct faculty , Chemeketa Community College on 3/5/19

Comprehensiveness rating: 4 see less

The textbook is an introduction to permaculture. It is divided into four sections. The first section provides basic information on the principles, ethics, design processes, leading contributors, and applications of permaculture. The second section offers tools for conducting site analysis and includes a review of climatic patterns, topography, and watersheds. The third section provides more in depth information on design principles, examining permaculture sites from around the world. The fourth and final section looks at the climatic patterns that inform the design of permaculture sites, decentralized energy systems, and international permaculture groups. Each section provides information in both text and video (with Portuguese translation) and additional online resources.

Content Accuracy rating: 4

The content is accurate and informed by the author's 20+ years in permaculture design, implementation, and instruction. A large amount of information has been consolidated from multiple international permaculture contributors and organizations. The text provides information on additional online and brick and mortar resources to get more in depth, technical instruction on specific topics in permaculture.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 4

The textbook provides a framework and design system that is general enough and clear enough to be applicable in many locations and time points. The text is organized in such a way that updates or additions would be straightforward to implement.

Clarity rating: 4

The author's prose style and speaking style is easy to understand and engaging. The author does an excellent job of defining specialized vocabulary and integrating the vocabulary into subsequent chapters.

Consistency rating: 4

The text is consistent in the use of permaculture vocabulary and principles. At times, additional terminology and framework from other disciplines is periodically incorporated. As the author explains, permaculture is multi-disciplinary and requires knowledge from related life science fields such as ecology, animal husbandry, and hydrology. These concepts are logically incorporated and clearly, though broadly, explained.

Modularity rating: 4

The textbook is divided into 4 sections. Each section is approximately 40 pages. Each section is organized into subsections by chapters. Approximately half the content is prose and the other half is a combination of videos and hyperlinks to additional resources. As such, the text can be easily broken up into smaller sections. The sections and subsections, although related, can also be used independently as there is ample material and supplementary information in each section and subsection.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 4

The textbook is organized logically beginning with a broad over view of permaculture principles and ending with specific permaculture designs and recommendations for future work and learning opportunities. Learning objectives are posted at the beginning of each section to facilitate content selection.

Interface rating: 5

The textbook can be viewed online or downloaded as a pdf. There are no navigation problems, distorted images/charts or any other distracting or confusing display features. Much of the text has been translated into Portuguese and can be downloaded as a word document.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

The text is free of grammatical errors.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

The text is culturally sensitive. The author incorporates indigenous knowledge as well as information from international permaculture contributors and organizations. The examples are therefore inclusive of a variety of races, ethnicities, and backgrounds.