One-straw Revolution

I myself value this text because he correctly points out that your food is your medicine and that those of us who persist in unhealthy diets will as a result become unhealthy. To him, food and farming are opposite sides of the same coin. Some may regard him as being anti-science, but I myself regard him as being critical of relying solely on science and intellect. Granted, while science and intellect serve as good starting points, they also need to be balanced with philosophy/spirituality and the environment. Although this smacks of so-called 'New Age' thinking, many in academia and industry are slowly coming to realize that our single-minded quest for higher yields, minimal cost, maximum return, and larger scale is grossly at odds with a clean environment and sustainable development.

Thus, his approach is not a blueprint for farming for profit so much as it is a guide to farming for well-being- both physical and mental. In sum, as Mr. Fukuoka asks his reader, "Could there be anything better than living simply and taking it easy?"


wonderful   December 24, 2003
Will I Am (Tucson Arizona)
17 out of 17 found this review helpful

I read this book years ago when it was first published and it has been a magor influence on me and my gardens for all these years. I've followed Fukoka's ideas as much as closely I can living in a city and have had wonderful results. He is right, let nature do the work. My garden is the most beautiful in the neighborhood, and without any pesticides, fertilizers, tilling, or backstrain. Buy this book, Gaia's Garden, and Forest Gardening. They all follow the naturalistic, symbiotic, permaculture mode that mother nature has been evolving for a billion years - just plug into the natural order and start growing!


Let The Better Nature Win   March 7, 2006
EternalSeeker (Albuquerque, NM USA)
12 out of 13 found this review helpful

Fabulous book. Inspiring look at how not to mess around with Mother Nature. Nature is not the enemy we have been led to believe! I love this book, and it was one of the first to make an indelible impression about changing one's philosophy of how to possibly go about organic farming (I was an organic farmer later on). Poses searching questions (and one man's answers) that every gardener and farmer should look for the answers to, regarding how much we need to interfere with natural processes to produce food. Also a thoughtful look at balancing nutritional needs with what is seasonally available. Vital reading for anyone interested in permaculture, sustainable agriculture, or just a soul-lifting antidote to modern, corporate food production.


Must Read Classic on Natural, Low Tech Agriculture   January 9, 1999
10 out of 13 found this review helpful

One-Straw Revolution is a classic "story" told on the subject of low technology, hand crafted agriculture. This isn't a how-to text or even much of a social commentary as the title would lead one to believe. Fukuoku started out as a biologist and plant inspector for the Japanese government and had an early life's "vision" for natural agriculture and thus went into farming in the early part of his career. He is a big critic in Japan of chemical farming that was imported from the U.S. after WWII and his simple and straight forward writings make it clear that he believes his approach more effective and ultimately more sustainable. I don't completely agree with his perspective but this book was translated from Japanese and may be losing some of it's real content in the process of communicating it's ideas fully, ie losing something in the process of translation. Fukuoku is also a Buddhist and this philosophical world view is reflected in his proposals of no-till, no-chemical, no-weeding, no-fertilizing "do-nothing" agriculture which I'm sure makes it hard for many Westerners (and many Orientals) to grasp his thinking. If he or his translators could have stuck more to the basic how-tos of his techniques rather than the "cosmic oneness" of his philosophy the book may've had a bigger impact for a wider audience. Fukuoku is a real naturalist and without a doubt unique. His world view is one that should continue to influence thinking regarding farming, land use and ecology for a long time to come. Enjoyable reading, highly recommended for anyone interested in this topic.


The kind of book all should be exposed to...   February 9, 2002
8 out of 8 found this review helpful

Though I had heard a little bit about Fukuoka and his practice, I was not prepared in the least for the way that this book would touch me. It was like a ray of light piercing through the murky cloudiness that was my mind; all the more remarkable because I stumbled on it by chance at the public library while glancing through the gardening books. He does an excellent job of demonstrating how much extra work we have all created for ourselves, how our scientific solutions all require further solutions, and that it is an endless cycle as long as we are straying from nature and its example. This book managed to eloquently lay out a great many ideas that had been lying dormant in my head: the overemphasis on specialization vs. generalism in our society, the break between modern urbanized lives and natural agrarian lives, the definition of 'enough' and how desire leads us ever farther away from that baseline. Fukuoka discusses all these topics and more--and in a style that is far more effective than anything I can write to explain it. It is philosophy, agricultural method, and cultural criticism wrapped up into an effective unity. A shame that it appears to be out of print right now.