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Better Off: Flipping the Switch on Technology (P.S.) | 
 enlarge | Author: Eric Brende
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Category: Book
List Price: $13.95
Buy Used: $1.54
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Rating:  55 reviews
Sales Rank: 393191
Media: Paperback
Pages: 272
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 7.8 x 5.3 x 0.8
ISBN: 0060570059
Dewey Decimal Number: 303.483
EAN: 9780060570057
ASIN: 0060570059
Publication Date: August 1, 2005
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Shows some signs of wear, and may have some markings on the inside. 100% Money Back Guarantee. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy!
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Product Description
What is the least we need to achieve the most? With this question in mind, MIT graduate Eric Brende flipped the switch on technology. He and his wife, Mary, ditched their car, electric stove, refrigerator, running water, and everything else motorized or "hooked to the grid," and spent eighteen months living in a remote community so primitive in its technology that even the Amish consider it antiquated. Better Off is the story of their real-life experiment to see whether our cell phones, wide-screen TVs, and SUVs have made life easier -- or whether life would be preferable without them. This smart, funny, and enlightening book mingles scientific analysis with the human story to demonstrate how a world free of technological excess can shrink stress -- and waistlines -- and expand happiness, health, and leisure. This P.S. edition features an extra 16 pages of insights into the book, including author interviews, recommended reading, and more.
Download Description
"E-Book Extras: ONE: An Interview and Insight into the Mind of Eric Brende; TWO: Ten Tips for a Leaner and More Leisurely Life in a World of TechnologyWhat happens when a graduate of MIT, the bastion of technological advancement, and his bride move to a community so primitive in its technology that even Amish groups consider it antiquated? Eric Brende conceives a real-life experiment: to see if, in fact, all our cell phones, wide-screen TVs, and SUVs have made life easier and better -- or whether life would be preferable without them. By turns, the query narrows down to a single question: What is the least we need to achieve the most? With this in mind, the Brendes ditch their car, electric stove, refrigerator, running water, and everything else motorized or ""hooked to the grid"" and begin an eighteen-month trial run -- one that dramatically changes the way they live, and proves entertaining and surprising to readers. Better OFF is a smart, often comedic, and always riveting book that also mingles scientific analysis with the human story, demonstrating how a world free of technological excess can shrink stress -- and waistlines -- and expand happiness, health, and leisure. Our notion that technophobes are backward gets turned on its head as the Brendes realize that the crucial technological decisions of their adopted Minimite community are made more soberly and deliberately than in the surrounding culture, and the result is greater -- not lesser -- mastery over the conditions of human existence. "
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| Customer Reviews: Read 5 more reviews...
 Interesting and Inspiring Content, Needed a Better Editor August 25, 2008
Chessa G. Hickox (Seattle, WA USA)
This was a strange book. Overall, I liked it. The content isn't so much weird, but the writing and narrative, the editing is weird. The basic story is that the author and his very new wife move to the country and live with an amish-like enclave for 18 months. They garden, share in their labors and basically try to live without technology as much as possible. The story takes you a little beyond when their time with the "minimites" (as he calls them) is up - and it's interesting to see what they do when they leave. I really liked the content - it's something I'd love to try in another life, homesteading and such. But the author makes some strange choices telling the story and often I just couldn't tell what he was referring to. It just felt clunky and awkward, but I was so interested in seeing what happened next that I didn't let it bother me too much. I guess the best way to describe this is uneven - sometimes he goes into way too much detail and other times you are left wondering "What the heck just happenend?!" But if you are interested in the role that technology plays in your life, this is definitely a book worth looking at. It was doubly interesting to be reading this book simultaneously with Feed by M.T. Anderson - talk about both ends of the spectrum! One thing I really did like about this book is that the authors realized that the skills and revelations they learned living without technology were portable - they could adapt these ideas to their lives even while not living with the Amish. In that way, it was definitely inspiring. I just wish he had had a better editor.
Honest and Broad-Spectrumed May 3, 2008
Burgundy Damsel (Albany, New York)
The best part about this book is the honesty. The author doesn't hide embarassing or uncomfortable mistakes, and openly admits the struggles and doubts he and others faced during this experiment. The other notable atribute of this book is it's broadness, which is in turns both good and bad. On one hand, the author's academic background and lack of previous hands-on experience provide a unique perspective from which he assesses the progress, revelations and the mysteries of heart and spirit that they encounter. On the other hand, given the comparatively short length of the book to the amount of time covered, a great deal of detail that would have been both helpful and fascinating had to be left out. That said, I highly recommend this book! Easy to read and amusing, it will leave you with a great deal to think about.
Interesting and challenging April 1, 2008
Joshua P. Sowin (North Port, FL USA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
What would it be like if a young couple left modern technological life for an 18 month experiment without electricity? In Better Off: Flipping the Switch on Technology, Eric Brende shares his story of living with the "Minimites" (a fictional name for a real community).
Mr. Brende--a former graduate of M.I.T.--gradually became disillusioned with the way technology has taken over all facets of our lives. We work long hours so we can pay for our transportation to our job, purchase groceries and obtain "time-saving" devices. However, these "time-saving" devices do not seem to actually give us any more time. We are still rushing, always too busy to talk to neighbors, pray, cook a meal from scratch, or settle down with a good book.
Better Off is written in the form of a very compelling story. I had a hard time putting it down. In the midst of enjoying the story, I learned some very interesting things. For instance, in winter some community members harvest ice out of ponds and lakes, and pack it into sheds with thick sawdust insulation. Surprisingly, it stays cold all summer and they can have ice cream in August. Indoor plumbing can be added through a "ram" that uses the movement of a stream or spring to pump water to a house. As a bonus, I also received a refresher course on the social impact of technological history.
This book is a living experiment of how technology affects society. What is a community like that has shared values, but no TVs, computers, recorded music, video games, or cars? The hypothesizing stops: we see a real picture. The children are helpful, loving, and kind. The neighbors bear one another's burdens. Hard labor intersects with socialization that results in close relationships and enjoyment. Meals involve enjoying the fruit of your own labor. People become skilled and knowledgeable workers (not just players) again. Leisure time for reading and playing equals (or surpasses) our own. Modesty is the rule. Divorce is virtually non-existent.
Their community is not perfect, however. They tend to be cultish: they believe their church is the one-true denomination (Brende himself is a Catholic). Their self-government seems to lack structure and written law. Some community members think there is too much technology while others think there should be less.
Like any book, it is not without faults. It gives little detail on some things (How did they solve everyday medical problems? How did they bathe? What would happen during a community crop failure?). While Mr. Brende is a good writer, his prose sometimes spills over into language that a reader might find too extravagant for such a story, for instance:
"It was as if the field were there to harvest us, not we it, the whole undertaking a pretext, a cosmic matchmaker's ruse. At the stroke of midnight we shed our mortal shells and become prince and princess of creation, presiding over the majestic ball of life, ceremoniously joining with nature in jocund betrothal, a feast of love." (p. 173)
But those are small faults for an overall excellent book.
In the end, this book is more than an interesting story. It contains technological history, life lessons, and a personal journey wrapped up in a conservative, ecological philosophy of technology. It raises questions that beg the reader to give consideration to: how much technology is needed for human comfort and leisure? How can we use technologies that serve us, and avoid those that we serve? This book might help you find the answers to questions like that. You may even find an awakening of a desire you never knew existed--a desire "to live quietly, and to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands ... so that you may live properly before outsiders and be dependent on no one" (1 Thessalonians 4:11-12).
Josh Sowin
fireandknowledge.org
 Wow...it will change your outlook on life.. March 24, 2008
Don Freeman (CO USA)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Not sure what made me buy this book, but it looked interesting. After receiving this book i could not put it down, it struck a cord with me and made me reevaluate some things in my life. I have now passed this book on to a dozen people who could not say enough good things about it and how they could not put it down as well. I would highly recommend this book to anyone looking to simplify your life
Thank you Eric!
An interesting project. December 23, 2007
S. Raymond (NY, United States)
I really enjoyed this book. Not many people could or would take on such an experiment, and I was happy that the author chose to share his experiences with the rest of us. I applaud not only the effort to find the "right amount" of technology, but the personal humor (and hardship) that went with it. I found the writing style to be very natural and comfortable - like talking to a friend who was relating a story.
Although the author seems to be in the "Honeymoon Phase" (or maybe because he's writing in retrospect, it's more like nostalgia) with this experimental lifestyle for most of the book, he does take time to point out the shortcomings of himself, his neighbours, and his situation. The rose-colored glasses come off once in a while to acknowledge sources of discontent, without seeming too catty. I also applaud the sensitivity of the author in his efforts to preserve the privacy of the people involved - he respects their wish to NOT to become a tourist attraction.
Beware, if you are looking for some hardcore purist, he does break the premise of the experiment and USE HIS CAR a couple times in the book in order to take a break from this sheltered community (and to get his laboring wife to medical facilities). On the other hand, I'm glad that he didn't gloss over the fact - there are certain situations where, for him, cars are just downright necessary. Maybe a second time around he (or someone else) could stick more strictly to the no-car policy.
My chief complaint (other than car usage, you cheater! :) ) is that it was written so far in retrospect. Yes, it is nice to have a follow up on how he and his family tried to incorporate these low-tech values into a "normal," modern lifestyle. On the other hand, it is difficult to reconstruct truthful anecdotes from a 10-year-old diary, and some of it is chronologically fragmented (and oh yeah, I forgot to tell you that three months ago...). Perhaps a more organized chronology, written closer in time to the actual experience, would have made me more comfortable.
Still a good read!
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