Ditching their car, electric stove, refrigerator, running water and everything else motorized or "hooked to the grid," the Brende family conceives a real life experiment to see if in fact all our cell phones, wide screen TVs, and SUVs have made life easier and better-or whether life would be preferable without them. By turns, the query narrows down to a single question: "What is the least we need to achieve the most?" With this in mind, the Brendes begin an 18-month trial run that will dramatically change the way they live and prove entertaining and surprising to students. Better Off is a smart, often comedic, and always riveting book that also mingles scientific analysis with the human story, demonstrating how a world free of technological excess can shrink stress-and waistlines-and expand happiness, health, and leisure.
"Deftly steering clear of dogma, never sounding like a sanctimonious scold, Eric Brende makes a persuasive case that most of us would enjoy life more by radically minimizing our reliance on modern technology. Better Off is a buoyant, thought-provoking, and very entertaining read."-Jon Krakauer, author of Into the Wild and Into Thin Air

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• Politics & Social SciencesSocial SciencesSociologyRural
• Biographies & MemoirsProfessionals & AcademicsScientists
• Biographies & MemoirsSurvival

• Publication Date: October 13, 2009
• Text-to-Speech: Disabled
• Lending: Disabled
• Print Length: 272 Pages
• File Size: 509 KB