Better Off
Eric Brende
There is something so alluring about the idea of just chucking it all, turning it all off, throwing it all away. Eric and Mary Brende decide to do just that. With only a few thousand dollars, they rent a house in a rural Amish-ish community. They make do as their neighbors do, doing most work by hand or with animal labor. Amazingly, Brende finds that this simple lifestyle actually takes less work than his former life. There are short-cuts and tricks to nearly everything. With less “need” for material goods, exotic foods, travel and gadgets there is much less need to work until exhaustion. A rather eye-opening look at how good the simple life can be.
The Bucolic Plague
Josh Kilmer-Purcell
This is one of those books that has me vacillating wildly between seething jealousy and abject horror. When Josh and Brent, overworked Manhattanites, find the perfect old mansion for a song it seems like their dreams have come true. The first months of farming and spending weekends at the Beekman house are idyllic. But the two driven A-personalities soon feel the need to do more. What was a peaceful retreat becomes a task-master. Having Martha Stewart herself as Brent’s boss makes their scrutiny of the farm and their need for country-perfect even more intense. Hilarious, sad and a hell of a warning to those who don’t know the word “no.”That being said, they do seem to have landed on their feet with their...