Chris Balish

If you still own a car or you are someone thinking of owning one for the first time, read this book. If it doesn't convince you to be car-free, read it again. Balish lays out a very logical argument for getting rid of your car using safety statistics, health statistics (both mental and physical), financial reasons, lifestyle reasons and environmental reasons. He also lays out a step-by-step process for getting rid of your car and adjusting to a car-free or car-lite lifestyle.

If you are show more already car-free (like me), you probably don't need to bother with reading the entire book unless, of course, you feel your resolve to live car-free slipping. I would suggest reading any of the chapters 8-15 that have titles that jump out at you as potentially helpful. Also 17-23 do contain a number of tips that I had never thought of in 5+ years of car-free living, so do check those out as well. The rest of the chapters are easy reading and the testimonials throughout are mostly interesting, so read the whole book if you have the time. It's a quick read.

As he points out in the book, please recommend this book to anyone with financial problems, issues with overweight, stress, road rage or anyoen who claims to care about the earth or dependence on oil. I think most people have never really thought of not owning a car as an option because they have never known any other way. He really does a good job of pointing out the absurdity of "investing" in something that quickly depreciates, that leads you to an unhealthy lifestyle that encourages profligate spending and strains your monthly budget, often to and beyond the point of negative savings. He also does a good job of allaying the many fears and insecurities most people have when contemplating getting rid of their vehicle. If you have the patience to read this whole book, you might just see the whole issue in a new light and that would make you, your bank account, the planet and countless other animals and people the better for it. show less

The author didn't prove his "live well" thesis. Yes, you can manage in metropolitan areas without a car, but since several of his car-free solutions, such as subscribing to ZipCar or renting a car, cost money, I dispute that ditching a car saves money and maintains (or improves) quality of life, especially in suburban or rural areas.

He asserts that Greyhound and Amtrak are reasonable alternatives to using a personal car for transportation, so his research was lacking or he is badly misled. show more Five people can travel in an automobile, whether rented or owned, from BackofBeyond, South Dakota, to MiddleofNowhere, Arkansas, much less expensively than they could by buying five tickets on mass transit, and do so more reliably.

You have to be a skilled bicyclist to pedal in snow, with special tires. It's not the "no big deal" he suggests. He suggests using garbage bags as rain gear, which are incompatible with "living well."

I believe in more public transportation and less driving. I believe in biking more than driving. I believe that subsidizing roads but not rail is ridiculous. I also believe Balish didn't prove his point. show less

Good book! I envied the author and would like so much to follow his advice. Though I did notice that he is young (30's) and single and childless, which makes this lifestyle a bit easier -- and would not be taking a huge safety risk, standing at a dark bus stop at night, compared to a young woman. He did have some examples of parents biking kids to school in the snow (which I did for years, minus the snow, but did not bike on rainy days).

I do live "car-light" but simply could not give up the show more car. The day I picked up my sick kid from school, and had to pull over to the curb so she could throw up in the gutter, I thought of this book, and what that day would have been like had I picked her up in a taxi or on the bus. And I think of the 5 bags of groceries that I load into the car (in the Prius, so at least it's not a gas-guzzler). I did commute to work on the bus for years, and work at home most days. Still, it would be so nice to take the final step and give up the car.

Now my teenager wants to start driving. OMG, the insurance bill! This book may help inspire me to keep her biking in this very bike-friendly city!

A very recommended book! show less

O. K., true confessions, I'm "car lite." But we ride bicycles everywhere we go locally when it's not icy on the roads. This is a good book, and the basic thrust of it is, "you'll save money by ditching your car!" To which your response is, "But . . . but . . . but . . ." to which the author's response is, "well, this is what you do in that situation." So his style is more practical and less theoretical than "Divorce Your Car" (which is also good). The emphasis is on how you can go car-free, show more now, rather than why we need better mass transit or more bicycle lanes. Methods of getting around include buses, bicycles, carpooling, walking, renting a car, getting rides from other people; the author even counts motorcycles and scooters as good enough to qualify as "car free." I like it that he tackles the really tough situations where you think you just have to have a car (like dating, which gets quite a bit of space). Going car-free really is more of a social challenge than a physical challenge. It's a long story why we're not car-free completely. (I used to have a pretty good excuse: impossible to get my stand-up bass to gigs without our Honda Hatchback.) I actually lived without a car for over a decade. But this is a good book to give you an overview of the issues. show less