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How To Live Off-Grid - Journeys Outside The System
Literally, the word 'off-grid' refers to places or people without mains water or power . Off-grid locations can range from private islands to yurts and tree-houses; the people living there might be back-packers, right wing survivalists, international business travellers or hippies; they may move around in buses or yachts, houseboats or 4-wheel drives. All are outside or in between the criss-crossing lines of power, water and phone that delineate the civilized world. Some are trying to save the planet, some live that way because it is all they can afford, some just want the freedom.This book is about that physical sense of off-grid. But it is also about taking the off-grid attitude into your local park or your own back garden. It is part travellogue as Nick Rosen, his wife and baby take off in a camper van to visit off-gridders representing every aspect of living off-grid, both part-time or permanent. And it is also a guide to avoiding the pitfalls and finding the best solutions - and the most appealing gadgetry - for going off-grid yourself.
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First published June 4, 2007
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
September 12, 2012
I think living off grid – finding your own water source and generating your own energy – is genuinely fascinating. It’s not something that I can see myself doing, but I still find it fascinating. There are so many different ways to live off grid, and so many different reasons for wanting to do so.
The puzzle, then, is why this book is so boring.
How to Live Off Grid aims itself at two audiences and (I suspect) fails to please either of them. It’s not the comprehensive field guide that you’d need if you were planning to move into a yurt. But it’s also not the engaging, incisive book of journalism that rubber-neckers like me are looking for.
As he tells it, Nick Rosen has been a jobbing journalist for half his life. Well, geez. You wouldn’t know it from his writing abilities. Off Grid is horribly bloated with meaningless content. Rosen inserts himself into every page, telling pointless anecdotes about himself, instead of making the effort to really capture his subjects: the off-gridders that he met and interviewed. Worst of all, there’s just no personality in his writing.
It’s obvious that not even the smallest amount of editing went into Off Grid. Over the course of writing his book, Rosen met perhaps 100 off-gridders – and he describes them all. It’s a classic case of ‘ResearchMotherfucker!’ Rosen did all of this research, he collected all of these interviews, and dammit, he’s gonna include every morsel of information he gathered! Who cares if some of his interviews are dull and repetitive?
Ugh.
Worth picking up if you’re interested in the subject, but prepare to do a lot of skim-reading.
The puzzle, then, is why this book is so boring.
How to Live Off Grid aims itself at two audiences and (I suspect) fails to please either of them. It’s not the comprehensive field guide that you’d need if you were planning to move into a yurt. But it’s also not the engaging, incisive book of journalism that rubber-neckers like me are looking for.
As he tells it, Nick Rosen has been a jobbing journalist for half his life. Well, geez. You wouldn’t know it from his writing abilities. Off Grid is horribly bloated with meaningless content. Rosen inserts himself into every page, telling pointless anecdotes about himself, instead of making the effort to really capture his subjects: the off-gridders that he met and interviewed. Worst of all, there’s just no personality in his writing.
It’s obvious that not even the smallest amount of editing went into Off Grid. Over the course of writing his book, Rosen met perhaps 100 off-gridders – and he describes them all. It’s a classic case of ‘ResearchMotherfucker!’ Rosen did all of this research, he collected all of these interviews, and dammit, he’s gonna include every morsel of information he gathered! Who cares if some of his interviews are dull and repetitive?
Ugh.
Worth picking up if you’re interested in the subject, but prepare to do a lot of skim-reading.
January 27, 2014
UHH, I was looking for something more technical. This was about the people........
October 25, 2016
Finished this book ages ago, but must have forgotten to share my final review.
I think my last update pretty much summed up what I felt about the book. That it is interesting, and covers a reasonably broad spectrum of off-grid life (although by no means exhaustive) but extremely personal to the authors particular path through life. He's looking to learn from other people what he can do, what he likes, what he does, what other do but he cannot/will not etc. His journey is the thread that ties the entire narrative together, so you shouldn't be surprised to find his opinion taking centre stage, it's not inappropriate nor is it a matter of right or wrong, it's just the way it is.
That being said, I found his journey interesting. I'm another person with an interest in this lifestyle, but I'm even less involved in it than the author, though perhaps more well informed. I found his trip around the extremes of british off-grid living fascinating and at times informing. I'd recommend the book to anyone else who is interested but isn't able to make this sort of trip themselves (i.e. most people), but I'd also recommend taking it all with a pinch of salt.
I think my last update pretty much summed up what I felt about the book. That it is interesting, and covers a reasonably broad spectrum of off-grid life (although by no means exhaustive) but extremely personal to the authors particular path through life. He's looking to learn from other people what he can do, what he likes, what he does, what other do but he cannot/will not etc. His journey is the thread that ties the entire narrative together, so you shouldn't be surprised to find his opinion taking centre stage, it's not inappropriate nor is it a matter of right or wrong, it's just the way it is.
That being said, I found his journey interesting. I'm another person with an interest in this lifestyle, but I'm even less involved in it than the author, though perhaps more well informed. I found his trip around the extremes of british off-grid living fascinating and at times informing. I'd recommend the book to anyone else who is interested but isn't able to make this sort of trip themselves (i.e. most people), but I'd also recommend taking it all with a pinch of salt.
July 31, 2011
If you have any interest in living off-grid at all, this is the book. It's informative AND a good read. An unusual combination. Nick Rosen has an off-grid property in Majorca and wants to translate that into a (semi-)permanent situation in this country. His wife is not so committed...
He spends time with people who have and are living off-grid in many different circumstances and with wildly differing expectations and experiences. A lot of the information is pertinent to those who are living on-grid but trying not to plug into it...
He spends time with people who have and are living off-grid in many different circumstances and with wildly differing expectations and experiences. A lot of the information is pertinent to those who are living on-grid but trying not to plug into it...
March 12, 2012
There were a lot of people who he met who I didn't really care for their stories. I just couldn't relate. While I did finish the book. There were parts that I skimmed over as well. I was hoping it would end on a more positive note.
March 31, 2014
I really enjoyed the first half of the book - (definately a four star), where he visits various people and describes their different setups - but for me chapters 5 -7 could have been left out, a bit rambling and jumbled - and I lost the flow, I should have just missed them out.....
January 6, 2016
An interesting and easy read, perhaps a bit out of date now. It could have been more technically informative - but that was not his journey so much as the change from full time urban dweller to part time off grid-er.
not-read-useful-in-future
February 6, 2008Picked up in Waterstones. Looked interesting.
January 6, 2009
An excellent journey, why are we not allowed to live this way?
January 21, 2009
I enjoyed it. Nick Rosen travels around the country finding out about people who live ‘Off-Grid’, or nearly off-grid. Most informative. Lots of ideas.
November 30, 2011
Interesting but a bit scattered
February 19, 2012
This is strictly a survey of people who live off the grid.
October 23, 2014
Good little book which details off grid living.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews