At that time, the practical science called Silhak(실학; 實學) was prevalent among the Joseon intellectuals, but unfortunately, it was rarely adopted by the Royal Court.
Following his family tradition, he passed the state examination as well as the King-ordered specific selection test (초계문신; 抄啓文臣) in 1790, and was appointed as the country governor in rural areas.
In his self-exile, Seo Yu-gu came back to his hometown at Jangdan, and practiced farming and fishing, sometimes making food and rice wine by himself.
In a word, Imwon Gyeongjeji could be applied to the daily life of not only ordinary Confucian gentlemen but also peasants in the country.
The Encyclopedia Koreana on Rural Living is the life-long works of Seo Yu-gu who successfully incorporated his knowledge and experiences into his own framework of informed encyclopedic volumes based on hundreds of references from Korea as well as China.
The author's understanding of environmental connections between heating systems, forest degradation and bare mountains display a holistic analysis of landscape.
[3] Notwithstanding the practical nature of the books, the author was not affluent enough to publish the huge volumes at his own expenses without any subsidy from the government.
He mocked that they liked to speak of conceptual meals of soup cooked with soil and cakes made of papers (토갱지병; 土羹紙餠),[6] Instead, he recommended a practical approach to becoming well and prosperous in rural life.
Secondly, there is a famous scholarly rival of the same time named Dasan Jeong Yak-yong (정약용; 丁若鏞),[6] whose works have been widely translated into Korean and other languages.