Lost Wisdom: A Celebration of Traditional Knowledge from Foraging and Festivals to Seafaring and Smoke Signals

cooking with a range - counting sheep - curing drunkenness
finding water - signalling with semaphore - identifying plants and trees
making and taking tea - natural first aid - using an abacus
navigating by nature - preparing antidotes to poisoning
predicting the sex of a baby - repairing clothes
curing warts - weather forecasting




Lost Wisdom is a celebration of the time-honoured wisdom upon which we all once relied. It draws on folklore, tradition and superstition, and is packed with amusing anecdotes and historical extracts which illuminate the beliefs and knowledge of our ancestors. It brings to life the wisdom and practical skills that helped generation after generation, only becoming lost with the advent of mechanization and the technological age.


Following in the footsteps of Lost Crafts, Lost Wisdom is a beautiful book that will once more immerse you in the pleasures of the past.

Una McGovern is a freelance editor and writer, with books on a wide range of subjects to her name. She spent many years making regular forays from Edinburgh to the Highlands and Islands of Scotland, before a return to rural Devon brought with it the opportunity to develop an organic kitchen garden, complete with traditional breed chickens. She now lives with her partner in a small Dartmoor town.
Paul Jenner is a writer and journalist specializing in lifestyle subjects. He lives with his partner, three horses, two dogs and two sheep in the foothills of the Spanish Pyrenees, where, when he´s not working, he enjoys hiking, riding, cycling, sailing, swimming, diving and snowboarding.