I listened to this on playaway but didn't find it interesting enough to take much away from (apart from the cleverness of goats in getting into escapades). ( )

Entertaining, fast read. Plenty of feeble attempts at wry clerverosity. Overall an interesting attempt at getting off the grid. ( )

I found this story hard to read because the author tried so hard to be funny I found it got in the way of the story. ( )

This book is a man's story about living locally and sustainably. It is an interesting and entertaining story of a man raised in New York who purchases a 40 acre ranch in New Mexico in order to live and grow his own food. There is a lot to be learned from the thinking that goes into starting your own ranch/farm even if you don't have the seemingly limitless amount of money needed to undertake this on your own. I found it a little odd that money was not once mentioned in the sense that it was running out. I guess some people are lucky this way.

Unlike many of the enviromentalists tomes this book maintains a level of positivity that I enjoyed. It was not all doom and gloom but rather how to make changes to make things better. The book was funny at times and clearly written by a liberal who doesn't mind taking cheap shots at the previous administration any more than I mind reading cheap shots at the previous administration. Shouldn't a certain liberalness be expected? After all the guy is giving up his Subaru, going off the grid and raising/growing his own food.

The afterword includes several list of thing that can be done and things that he learned while getting his ranch up and running. From these lists even the most hardcore anti-environmentalist could learn something. Overall it was a good book that entertained while enlightened. It's true measure of greatness will be seen if it inspires others to make some changes in their lives even if they are only minor.

Here is a quote I rather enjoyed:

"The actual egg laying was a pretty big event to the chickens, by the barn rattling sound of things. Were they killing each other in there, or just ejecting eggs?" ( )

thinks he's a lot funnier than he actually is. educational none the less ( )