Better Off

Flipping the Switch on Technology

By: Eric Brende

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Paperback | 2 August 2005

At a Glance

Paperback
272 Pages

Dimensions(cm)
20.4 x 16.0 x 1.5

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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.

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Cast of Neighbors	p. xiii
Prologue: Taking Orders	p. 1
Planting	p. 3
Seeds of Discontent	p. 5
Paring Back	p. 16
Lightening Up	p. 30
Artfully Answering Nature	p. 39
The Ram	p. 46
The Missing Refrigerator	p. 60
The Sounds of Silence	p. 65
Growing	p. 71
Quickening	p. 73
A Church Meeting	p. 79
A Barn Raising	p. 90
The Dating Game	p. 103
Meet the Neighbors	p. 108
Secrets and Politics	p. 132
Heatstroke	p. 138
Weighing the Work	p. 153
Harvesting	p. 169
As the Pumpkins Turn	p. 171
After the Fall: Even Farmers Get the Blues	p. 179
Birth	p. 188
Husbandry	p. 196
Pulling in the Reins	p. 202
Closing Time	p. 215
Outside, and the Box	p. 219
Epilogue: Recipe for a Leisurely, Laborsaving Life	p. 227
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.

Better Off

Flipping the Switch on Technology

At a Glance

Paperback

Shipping

How to return your order

Defective items

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