Holistic Management, Third Edition: A Commonsense Revolution to Restore Our Environment

There is hidden treasure in this book. If you are someone who wants human life to continue on planet earth, who loves the diversity of many forms of larger life, like elephants, elk, eagles, squid, salmon, redwoods, chimps, grasslands, strawberries, horses, kitties and kale and the many forms of microscopic, tiny and small life forms they (and we) feed and depend upon; to continue to populate our sphere in the heavens. If you like to eat or still believe it might be possible for humans to thrive in harmony with nature and each other - There is treasure in this book. Allan Savory may be the simple man he claims to be but driven by his love of wildlife and an unwavering commitment to its survival far into the future, and possessing a mind that probes, and questions again, he gets to the bottom of things. He has the courage to follow and tell the truth about what he has discovered even when the search reveals discoveries that turn the course of his life. He and Jody Butterfield have once again come forth with a book, updated, streamlined, sharing the insights that form a foundation for sound decision-making. Decision making that will allow all humans, who want life to thrive, to take the practical actions necessary to accomplish that mission. You can start from where you are. If you want to create a peaceful, prosperous, healthy, thriving whole of a self, a family, a business, an organization, community or whole of humanity and have not read this book the time to get started is now. If you farm, ranch, manage land, advocate for the environment, live in a city or town, vote, parent, manage a business, create policy, teach children and you have not read and understood what Savory presents in clear understandable language, you as a caring person, activist, expert, enthusiast may inadvertently be doing more harm than good. Don’t take my word for it, you can look yourself at what Allan has discovered and articulated about humans in relationship with the forces of nature. Try his insights on for size, test and test again his ideas and perceptions. Give your mind, heart, imagination, observation skills, critical thinking, permission to play with his observations and insights as you look at your own life and the world around you. I’ve been doing it for over 20 years. Because nature is the amazing and complex way it is, the life-enhancing possibilities only get richer.

Very dense read, more like a textbook than a regular book. I will be coming back to read this again and again. In my opinion, Savory gets quite verbose and redundant at times in this book, but that is the trade off for the wisdom he has presented. I feel the book could have easily shaved off 100 pages worth of flowery language without losing anything substantial, and if anything making the book more accessible to those without a large vocabulary or excellent reading comprehension. But there are other books focused on similar topics that meet that demographic. I appreciate the fine distinction that Savory drew between management intensive grazing, rotational grazing, and holistic planned grazing. I had before thought them interchangeable. I also did not expect him to focus so intently on economics. I bought this book looking forward to learning everything Savory had to teach about grazing, which I did, but almost secondarily to what he had to say about economics. Overall, this book is a big step forward for graziers and land managers and in my opinion should be used as a college textbook in land management/agricultural programs.

This new edition of Allan Savory's original masterpiece has been 30 years in the making. No one, but no one offers a more in-depth and solution-oriented view to our planetary plague of desertification and soil degradation than Allan Savory and Jody Butterfield. This is a "MUST READ AND HEED" manual for not only restoring the health of our beleaguered environment, but for saving our own species from itself. The antithesis of reductionist thinking, Savory supplies fully supported science and widespread evidence for a fully practical, systematic and actionable (and surprisingly simple) means of restoring vital natural systems and literally reversing decades of environmental destruction, worldwide. We have the technology to implement all of this literally TODAY. It is the ultimate environmental manifesto offering literally "grassroots" empowerment toward a future where there can be abundant nourishment for millions in alignment with our human evolutionary and genetic heritage, while also saving the environment. Holistic Management also realistically promises the abundant and healthy restoration of otherwise dwindling water sheds, ecosystem diversity, richly restored soil and plant life in ways that can help restore political and social stability in otherwise impoverished regions. What is needed is the widespread grass roots will to make it happen...and this book supplies the ultimate inspiration and How To! I cannot recommend this book urgently enough!

Allon Savory is a Sage of our time. Just like Jane Jacobs was a Prophetess of modern urban renewal, Savory shows us a systems of rules to renew vast lands that are going barren or turning into desserts. All his rules together he packages under the system he calls Holistic Management. The authority with which he writes come from the fact that his system of ideas were formulated in Zimbabwe under incredibly hostile and desperate conditions, where politics, mass starvation, and civil war all worked to wreck huge devastations. But its in this furnace Savory develops these system of ideas that can help us use what we already have at our disposal to tackle these very problems in a Holistic manner that can heal our communities, land, and the whole of our Ecology.

The idea of Holistic Management is a good one and this book has a process and a set of principles to follow to do holistic land management. I particularly liked the ideas around using large herds to break up the ground in brittle environments to reinvigorate the growth of grasses and plants. I had a couple of problems with the book, though. The first is it is long. It's 500 pages and I felt they could have communicated the points across in half the pages. The second issue for me is there weren't enough examples. Lots of talk about the principles but only a few examples. The examples that were in the book were great. I wish there more, though, as they really bring to life the principles.

I’m just diving into this book. His videos are wonderful. How this special man lives his life is exceptional. An education and life’s work worthy of our full attention. A must read. Science, fact filled reality.

This is a great read (and Audible). I did both. Lots of information for sustainable land and agricultural living.

This is an excellent and comprehensive book, well worth reading several times. Ill be referring to it for years to come. Especially good for anyone raising livestock, but the information is needed by anyone who eats. There is so much we can all do to sequester carbon in the soil, infiltrate rainwater, and develop great relationships with the natural world. This book is an inspiration for me.

I love it, great insight on how the process works

The audio version has allowed me to get through the book so much faster!!

There is hidden treasure in this book. If you are someone who wants human life to continue on planet earth, who loves the diversity of many forms of larger life, like elephants, elk, eagles, squid, salmon, redwoods, chimps, grasslands, strawberries, horses, kitties and kale and the many forms of microscopic, tiny and small life forms they (and we) feed and depend upon; to continue to populate our sphere in the heavens. If you like to eat or still believe it might be possible for humans to thrive in harmony with nature and each other - There is treasure in this book. Allan Savory may be the simple man he claims to be but driven by his love of wildlife and an unwavering commitment to its survival far into the future, and possessing a mind that probes, and questions again, he gets to the bottom of things. He has the courage to follow and tell the truth about what he has discovered even when the search reveals discoveries that turn the course of his life. He and Jody Butterfield have once again come forth with a book, updated, streamlined, sharing the insights that form a foundation for sound decision-making. Decision making that will allow all humans, who want life to thrive, to take the practical actions necessary to accomplish that mission. You can start from where you are. If you want to create a peaceful, prosperous, healthy, thriving whole of a self, a family, a business, an organization, community or whole of humanity and have not read this book the time to get started is now. If you farm, ranch, manage land, advocate for the environment, live in a city or town, vote, parent, manage a business, create policy, teach children and you have not read and understood what Savory presents in clear understandable language, you as a caring person, activist, expert, enthusiast may inadvertently be doing more harm than good. Don’t take my word for it, you can look yourself at what Allan has discovered and articulated about humans in relationship with the forces of nature. Try his insights on for size, test and test again his ideas and perceptions. Give your mind, heart, imagination, observation skills, critical thinking, permission to play with his observations and insights as you look at your own life and the world around you. I’ve been doing it for over 20 years. Because nature is the amazing and complex way it is, the life-enhancing possibilities only get richer.

Very dense read, more like a textbook than a regular book. I will be coming back to read this again and again. In my opinion, Savory gets quite verbose and redundant at times in this book, but that is the trade off for the wisdom he has presented. I feel the book could have easily shaved off 100 pages worth of flowery language without losing anything substantial, and if anything making the book more accessible to those without a large vocabulary or excellent reading comprehension. But there are other books focused on similar topics that meet that demographic. I appreciate the fine distinction that Savory drew between management intensive grazing, rotational grazing, and holistic planned grazing. I had before thought them interchangeable. I also did not expect him to focus so intently on economics. I bought this book looking forward to learning everything Savory had to teach about grazing, which I did, but almost secondarily to what he had to say about economics. Overall, this book is a big step forward for graziers and land managers and in my opinion should be used as a college textbook in land management/agricultural programs.

This new edition of Allan Savory's original masterpiece has been 30 years in the making. No one, but no one offers a more in-depth and solution-oriented view to our planetary plague of desertification and soil degradation than Allan Savory and Jody Butterfield. This is a "MUST READ AND HEED" manual for not only restoring the health of our beleaguered environment, but for saving our own species from itself. The antithesis of reductionist thinking, Savory supplies fully supported science and widespread evidence for a fully practical, systematic and actionable (and surprisingly simple) means of restoring vital natural systems and literally reversing decades of environmental destruction, worldwide. We have the technology to implement all of this literally TODAY. It is the ultimate environmental manifesto offering literally "grassroots" empowerment toward a future where there can be abundant nourishment for millions in alignment with our human evolutionary and genetic heritage, while also saving the environment. Holistic Management also realistically promises the abundant and healthy restoration of otherwise dwindling water sheds, ecosystem diversity, richly restored soil and plant life in ways that can help restore political and social stability in otherwise impoverished regions. What is needed is the widespread grass roots will to make it happen...and this book supplies the ultimate inspiration and How To! I cannot recommend this book urgently enough!

Allon Savory is a Sage of our time. Just like Jane Jacobs was a Prophetess of modern urban renewal, Savory shows us a systems of rules to renew vast lands that are going barren or turning into desserts. All his rules together he packages under the system he calls Holistic Management. The authority with which he writes come from the fact that his system of ideas were formulated in Zimbabwe under incredibly hostile and desperate conditions, where politics, mass starvation, and civil war all worked to wreck huge devastations. But its in this furnace Savory develops these system of ideas that can help us use what we already have at our disposal to tackle these very problems in a Holistic manner that can heal our communities, land, and the whole of our Ecology.

The idea of Holistic Management is a good one and this book has a process and a set of principles to follow to do holistic land management. I particularly liked the ideas around using large herds to break up the ground in brittle environments to reinvigorate the growth of grasses and plants. I had a couple of problems with the book, though. The first is it is long. It's 500 pages and I felt they could have communicated the points across in half the pages. The second issue for me is there weren't enough examples. Lots of talk about the principles but only a few examples. The examples that were in the book were great. I wish there more, though, as they really bring to life the principles.

I’m just diving into this book. His videos are wonderful. How this special man lives his life is exceptional. An education and life’s work worthy of our full attention. A must read. Science, fact filled reality.

This is a great read (and Audible). I did both. Lots of information for sustainable land and agricultural living.

This is an excellent and comprehensive book, well worth reading several times. Ill be referring to it for years to come. Especially good for anyone raising livestock, but the information is needed by anyone who eats. There is so much we can all do to sequester carbon in the soil, infiltrate rainwater, and develop great relationships with the natural world. This book is an inspiration for me.

I love it, great insight on how the process works

The audio version has allowed me to get through the book so much faster!!

This book is full of 'common sense' and I found myself nodding in agreement as I turned the pages. Some of the text seemed a little too 'dense' at times but overall the concept should be considered in every walk of life.

He's the foremost expert. His interviews about thinning elephant herds and how wrong he was is amazing. He's now trying to show that we're smarter now then we ever thought we could be on this topic...nature led the way...mimicking it rarely disappoints. Simply put, he shows that humans aren't smarter than mother nature...he's stopped trying to out think nature and has since learned embrace it.

This is one of those seminal earth shaking books of which I've only read a few in my lifetime. It has restored my hope and faith in the future of humanity on earth. We can turn our world into a true garden of Eden if we change our thinking and management to become Holistic. A must read for.... well everybody!

Excellent book.

This book gives a clear explanation of the concepts of holistic management and the science of grassland restoration. The book definitely challenges some long-held assumptions about how and why ecosystems change over time. It is a must-read for all land managers, but anyone can benefit from the concepts of holistic management.

Savory has a great deal of experience and expertise on farming and livestock. Great book if u want to learn new stuff

Not all the way through the book yet, but got to see Allan speak in person this summer. Very interesting perspective/ideas on making our rangelands and the world better/sustainable. Thanks Allan!!!!!!

Allan Savory is going to be proven as a climate hero. This handbook is unparalleled.

It is a thorough book.

I'd like

A great book that is full of wisdom, information and hope that extends into all aspects of life on our planet. I highly recommend it to anyone who respects our environment and would like legitimate, lasting improvement to whatever it is that they are managing.

The author, Savory once blamed elephants for overgrazing and killed 40,000 of the animals before he realized he was wrong.

I served in two militaries for 23 years and returned to the family ranch in 2013. I have watched the results of 'range science' and dietary recommendations of medical health professionals result in financial and ecosystem failure on farms accompanied by steady increases in autoimmune disease and cancer. As an applied scientist by education, I began to research the real science behind the problem and discovered Alan Savory's work in Africa and elsewhere. I love the science, I love the management system (based on the military planning system I'm very familiar with) and I love the results on the ground. I am very fortunate to live among wild animals, working with them every day. I am steadily moving our ranch to a completely regenerative model and am looking forward to handing over this land in a better state than when I got to it. This book explains how I'm doing that.

Allan Savory hits the nail right on the head in so many ways on what we need to do achieve sustainability, and his Holistic Planned Grazing framework, borne of a lifetime of practical experience and observation on the land, seems to offer a revolutionary solution to halting desertification, restoring landscape functions, and returning carbon to degraded soils. If I had to be a cattle farmer, I’d try to apply his management framework for sure. However, putting these tremendous potential benefits aside, his repeated assertion that use of Holistic Planned Grazing can have a net reversing effect on climate change seems to have little empirical evidence to back it up. i.e., resting on the question of whether the carbon it adds to the soil can outweigh the effects of methane created by the cattle. Although, I see on his website reference to at least one case-study showing that it can (White Oak Pastures assessment). The Food Climate Research Network’s review ‘Grazed and Confused’ provides a useful discussion around this. It looks like we need some/more peer-reviewed empirical studies to settle the issue. There is also no acknowledgement in the book that eating too much animal based foods, particularly red meat, is one of the major causes of the epidemic of non-communicable human diseases in the Western World (type-2 diabetes, stroke, heart disease) – see the EAT-Lancet review: ‘Food in the Anthropocene’. I’m not saying that Holistic Planned Grazing could not be a tremendously positive thing. But I would have thought a truly Holistic Context including a healthy planet and people requires serious consideration of these significant uncertainties and potential trade-offs.

Good, common sense advice on how to restore and maintain pasture land. From the world's number one expert. Of interest to all who seek to help the planet. Not of interest to politicians, as the repair techniques herein WILL interfere with your ability to TAX the people with your carbon scare tactics.

This book was very informative. He layed out his observations and experiences over a lifetime career in land management. The main thing I like about Allan’s approach is that he believes that you can farm profitably and sustainably using his holistic system.

I gave it to my brother who lives in Australia.