William Powers

Our book club likes to read certain categories of books at least once a cycle. So when the non-fiction selection month was available, I jumped on it and chose this book. Not only was the premise fascinating to me, but it takes place in our state so I thought it would be perfect. Unfortunately, I think my choice earned the unanimous rotten tomato award for the year and I'd have to agree. There was so much promise left unfulfilled and that, combined with the fairly sanctimonious tone, was the show more kiss of death.

Powers, an ecological activist long worried about his own carbon footprint, hears of a doctor living in a 12x12 home completely off the grid. Intrigued by her lifestyle, he is offered the opportunity to move into her home during a time period when she is out west protesting and he jumps at the chance to live the life of a wildcrafter. But this leap is inauthentic at best, while musing on nature and this back to the earth lifestyle, Powers never embraces the life fully, falling back on his girlfriend's car, apartment, and the local wi-fi enabled cafe. He glorifies the tiny carbon footprint of living 12x12 and while his point that we should all do more to reduce our carbon consumption is valid, he also ignores the problems of living as Dr. Jackie has done. A major reason she's chosen her lifestyle is her disagreement with tax money being used for war. A legitimate ideological stance but neither she nor he addresses anything worthy that tax money is used for though, such as education. Opting out of taxes through living small means not supporting your local library or local schools, etc. And many of Power's neighbors during his sojourn in Jackie's home aren't truly living in 12x12 homes. Multiple 12x12 buildings to work around the taxation issue is just plain cheating.

And perhaps these issues wouldn't have been so off-putting had they been addressed in the text. Instead, Powers came across as sanctimonious, certain of his righteousness and superiority, and frankly just plain pedantic. The writing was overloaded with unrelated musings and recountings of his past experiences, including his past relationship which resulted in a daughter. Very little of this had any bearing on his living in a small 12x12 structure. Actually, very little of the book indeed, had much of an account of his daily living there. While this is not intended to be a how to guide (and nor did I expect such), including more of the realities and challenges of a life so different from what most of us generally live would have made for a more interesting read. Simply condemning technology for technology's sake left this reader bored and came off as rather disingenuous given Powers' continued reliance on the technology of which he approves but simply removed from Jackie's homesite.

We do need to be more mindful of our impact on the environment but this book ultimately didn't even detail the author's striving to be mindful. A disappointment all the way around. show less

Caveat: I went into the reading of this book pretty much knowing that the author and I would understand each other. I have given a lot of thought to the fact that we are no longer left to our own thoughts for any significant period of time. Instead, we are surrounded by all forms of media that we can now carry with us wherever we go. And I have wondered, as did the author, what this would do to our minds (particularly our attention spans) and our relationships.

Beginning twelve years ago, show more before any of us were carrying around our digital worlds, I lived in Tokyo for 3 years. When you live in a primarily non-English-speaking country, you can spend significant parts of your day living 'in your head.' Because I had almost no TV, radio or convenient access to English newspapers, I went out every day, experienced the richness of the Japanese culture, tossed it around in my mind, and sent out short e-mail essays about my experiences. Frankly, there was little else that cluttered up my mind, and I found it easy to write down thoughtful missives weekly. When I arrived home, that creative process stopped, as I was presented with all kinds of other stimuli bombarding my senses. I can honestly say that since that time I have not produced with such creativity.

So I was quite intrigued with the premise of the book: that 'digital miximalism' continually divides our attention, keeping us from sustained deep thinking and in many ways affecting the quality of our lives. I didn't buy the book for this message alone; I wanted to read about the 7 philosophers, from Plato to McLuhan - that dealt with hyper-communication issues in their own time. I was not disappointed. I found the insights helpful, and understood more that this is a part of the human condition, and that we have a choice in how we manage all that surrounds us.

This book may not change your everyday lifestyle, but the message will most likely stay in the back of your mind as you navigate through connectivity in this changing world. By the way, and ironically, I read this book on my iPad! show less

Seeking “enough” for all of us

In this powerful and compelling account, William Powers helps us all strive toward having “enough”. The Liberians have too little. They lack food, water, shelter, and security. But too many westerners have too much. The excessive natural resources consumed by each westerner are obtained at immense cost to the environment and the people of third and fourth world countries. The mahogany of old growth trees clear cut from the Liberian rain forest is sold to show more Westerners to enrich Charles Taylor and finance war on his own people. Engagement rings made with “conflict diamonds” pay to oppress many poor Africans. But intervention is difficult as William Powers found out as he worked in Liberia to “reduce poverty and dependency while preserving the rain forest”. Western ways do not solve fourth world problems; instead they usually add to the problems. Simple, elegant, sustainable solutions, integrated into each unique physical and cultural environment can make a difference. This book is a fascinating invitation to listen to nature, rather than dominate it. show less

I found this book far more annoying than edifying. The authorial voice drips with entitlement and inexpertly concealed superiority. I should be right smack in the center of the target audience for this book, as it's an extended meditation on values and stewardship of our precious resources.

However, Powers failed to engage me on a visceral level and lost me entirely when he revealed, after almost 200 pages, that he'd left his 2 year old daughter behind in Bolivia while he jetted around show more gazing into his navel and helping the downtrodden. I understand that there are all sorts of ways to make a family, and any number of models of same. But I can't take seriously some overprivileged sprat who natters on and on about the way love transforms his life while his only child is growing up without him, thousands of miles away. The fact that he moves back to be near the child at the end of the book made me feel a little better. Not that it's my business, but it sure colored my opinion.

The revelations that Powers has while living in a small space in the US strike me as pretty banal, especially in view of the fact that he's one of those flying-to-disadvantaged-areas do-gooders. It felt disingenuous that he got all these insights during the 40-day time frame he claimed. I also felt like he talked down to the reader throughout. And he didn't give Annie Dillard credit for being the author of a book he discusses at some length- which is a small quibble, but a valid one in my eyes.

Here's the bit that made me realize I didn't *not like* the book, but I actively *hated* it (italics mine):

"Beside [the woodpile] was the first all-terrain-vehicle, or ATV, I'd seen in Pine Bridge. He told me excitedly that it was the first of two ATVs their grandma was sending them from Florida. She'd traded a Bobcat- evidently another kind of machine- for the ATVs."

Seriously? Kid's worked in South America (or as he calls it, The Global South) and Africa for 15 years and has never seen or heard of a Bobcat? *snort* show less