Julia Watson. Lo―TEK. Design by Radical Indigenism

An impressive overview of highly sophisticated but low-tech cultural adaptions across the planet. The author has clearly communicated a variety of food, building, and material systems which have proven to be sustainable over millennia. The call for a reassessment of value and source of inspiration and reference within the professional design field is a refreshing and overdue response. Challenging many unquestioned sustainability approaches such as typical conservation projects is also important and appreciated. I was grateful to see the author mention conservation refugees and it's heartening to see an architect root and extend their work in traditional ecological knowledge. As a book it's not quite so brilliant - the binding if you can call it that is very fragile. The text is incredibly small and the page design would have benefited greatly from a variety of readers reviewing it. Much of the text is as small as liner notes in a CD - maybe point size 8? Makes my 20/15 vision feel terrible trying to read the captions. Book design conventions are the result of understanding a clear way to communicate information in this format - if you're not improving on it why change it? Huge margins on some pages while some are so small you can't avoid covering text with your fingers while awkward indenting on other pages leaves you wondering if you got a bad printing. The photos however are beautiful and most of the illustrations help communicate the design approaches being covered. Some of the illustrations detract from this. And the book suffers from a general sense of being overly concerned with its presentation and self-conscious. T These critiques aside, it's an incredibly valuable piece of anthropology with examples that today's industrial world urgently needs. It's a massive contribution to the world of sustainable and regenerative design and all those working in the fields of ecological restoration, permaculture, sustainable architecture and design, ecological engineering as well as those simply interested in the indigenous life way and design approaches around the world will find this to be a major contribution to their work. I'll happily duck tape the spine together to keep this on hand as a reference for specific strategies as well as inspiration.

The content and quality of this book is fantastic. SUPER inspiring and an excellent resource as a permaculture designer (or regenerative, food systems landscape designer?). Though, if I am being nit-picky as a graphic designer, it is perhaps a bit over designed in a few places. For instance, I don't like the full page photos that have been inverted and colored with a filter--takes away from that actual content of the photograph.

Have you ever felt romantic for the agrarian life? A plow, a field, and seven wives and 50 kids to help do all the manual labor? What would you grow: rice, corn or maybe fish? This book helps put your whim-of-fancy into some practical perspective. By looking at multiple indiginous communities across four key habitats (mountains, flood valley, desserts, and lakes), Julia Watson illustrates the importance of these integrated systems by exploring the the way each of these communities work WITH their environments. On page 19 there is a wonderful flow chart of how individuals, community, culture, and world view are created as a result of working within a local system. This book takes the perspective of an anthropologist and looks broadly at how these communities have survived for millennials. However, I would like to be clear that this is NOT a how-to book. There are no steps on how to grow rice, or farm fish. There ARE diagrams of how cascading rice terraces work, and how floating islands can be made (and there’s more than one way to float an island). I found it amazing that many of these communities are being studied for their CHEMICAL-FREE pest management, and FERTILIZER-FREE high yield crops. This book actually got me thinking about my own plot of earth, and how I could harness the utility of some of the keystone species in my own yard. If that wasn’t enough, this book is gorgeous! From the side sitting binding, to the copper pallet, and the overall inclusiveness (this book is written in English, but includes multiple languages, one for each cultural interview), I feel a little more connected to humanity than I did before reading it. Buy this book and buy less plastic crap!

Impressive catalog of new (or very old) and exciting ways to think about architecture in our rapidly changing climate. Love the book and the accompanying images / graphics, Julia Watson truly brings you along on a dense journey. would also like to point out, that it’s not a manufacturing issue that the spine of the book is detached; that is its intended design

I saw a lot of negative reviews regarding the binding of this book falling off. It’s hard for me to understand how people don’t appreciate the fact that the book was designed to open on such a way. It’s a feature not a bug!! The book is beautiful and has all this amazing examples of ingenious designs (the cover of the book being one of them)

I really loved this book. For one, the construction of the book is creative and really aesthetically pleasing. It also smells really good (is that weird?), I think it is made of recycled materials. The book covers many different countries from Peru to Tanzania. It does an excellent job of explaining different LO-TEK structures, how they are made, maintained, and how they are in danger of being destroyed and/or replaced. It really opened my eyes to cultural anthropology and human-based environmental design.

This is an incredible book with a depth of info I’m going to enjoy for a long time and share with every natural builder I know. I love the quality of the printed edition too, it’s book art!

Lieferung-schnell und zuverlässig Produkt-durchaus interessant und sehr umfangreich. Durchbrochen von verschiedenen übersichtlichen Infografiken

Taschen es garantía de calidad y este libro no es la excepción.

Es cierto que la tapa es delicada, pero la información que aparece en ella y su maquetación son geniales. Hay un montón de información que no se ve a primera vista. Es un libro denso y tienes que tener un buen nivel de ingles (o diccionario a mano), sin embargo merece la pena, en mi opinión. La información dentro del libro esta muy bien organizada y se nota que han trabajado en que aunque sea denso sea sencillo para el lector encontrar lo que necesita. Por último quiero añadir que tanto las ilustraciones como las fotografías elegidas me han encantado.

A groundbreaking exploration of sustainable design rooted in indigenous knowledge. Watson beautifully showcases how indigenous communities around the world have developed ingenious, eco-friendly technologies over centuries, often overlooked by modern society. The book is visually stunning, with great photography and detailed illustrations that highlight the harmony between these designs and nature. What makes Lo—TEK truly unique is how it challenges the dominant narrative of progress, suggesting that the future of sustainable innovation lies in ancient, lo-tek solutions rather than high-tech ones. It’s a must-read for anyone interested in environmental design and decolonial perspectives

Well set out with plans, diagrams and explanatory text. Beautiful photographs.