Better Off Flipping the Switch on Technology

What happens when a graduate of MIT, the bastion of technological advancement, and his bride move to a community so primitive in its technology that even Amish groups consider it antiquated? Eric Brende 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 ditch their car, electric stove, refrigerator, running water, and everything else motorized or "hooked to the grid" and begin an eighteen-month trial run -- one that dramatically changes the way they live, and proves entertaining and surprising to readers. 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. Our notion that technophobes are backward gets turned on its head as the Brendes realize that the crucial technological decisions of their adopted Minimite community are made more soberly and deliberately than in the surrounding culture, and the result is greater -- not lesser -- mastery over the conditions of human existence.… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member sslibrary

Some parts really made me want to turn off the lights and get back to basics, but a lot of it read like a thesis with too many big words. It's an interesting concept and really makes you think about things beyond technology.

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LibraryThing member HopingforChange

Brende disappoints. There are two major problems with his work. The first is that he isn't a very good writer. His sentences are rambling and overwrought, and it is often hard to discern his meaning. He also uses the parenthesis until it dies. The second problem is that he is on a very full

bandwagon. He goes "off the grid" for a year, laments the current state of society, and then returns to that same society having made only minor (as far as I can tell from the text) life changes and insisting that he is a better person. Everyone is doing these types of projects, and most authors are doing a better job at recounting their experiences. I think Brende tried to make a trite doctoral thesis into a best seller by tricking audiences into thinking his work hosted some sort of insight. In reality, this book is mostly a recounting of day-to-day events on a farm; this account is made even more miserable by poorly-written commentary on emotion, religion, and the meaning of life. If you are interested in the genre, I would recommend Thoreau and maybe even Colin Beavan's No Impact Man, which has the same context of a year-long experience with the addition of good writing and practical suggestions, as well as indications of a lasting life change.

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LibraryThing member ggoocchh

Excellent, I am trying to figure out a way to live off the land. Well at the same time respecting it.

LibraryThing member jaygheiser

Great read by a master's degree student who takes his new wife to live in a very conservative Amish community for almost two years. Very interesting observations on the relationship of people and community to technology, and what constitutes 'enough' technology.

LibraryThing member besina

An interesting personal study of living closer to the land via a religious minimalist group. Covers some of the culture shock of removing to a non-technical society, plus the unexpected surprises that came with it, good and bad alike.

His decision to marry and father children with a woman he barely

knew was questionable, but apart from that it seemed like a good read. The ending was a bit of a mystery as it seemed his family was just starting to settle down into the rhythms that life afforded them, when they decided to end the experiment.

The book provides a good look at what it takes to be happy; living simply vs. the rat race of the modern world and how it is possible to disconnect and gain more inner peace and satisfaction from life.

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LibraryThing member carterchristian1

The book is a challenge, especially in these days of the Meltdown. This book may offer a practical plan for living with depression, when all credit cards are maxed out, student loans loom, and there is no job in sight.

LibraryThing member fakelvis

More 'interesting' than 'eye-opening', but it gave me a whole new perspective on the advantages and disadvantages technology can have on our lives.

I would like to think that this book will influence me to change my behaviour, but sadly I doubt it will.

LibraryThing member KeithAkers

I wrote this review with Kate Lawrence. A longer version of this review is on my web site, compassionatespirit.com. Better Off has a tantalizing premise. It is the answer to the question, "what would it be like to live without modern technology?" As a student at M. I. T., Eric Brende became a

critic of modern technology. In response to a challenge by some of his college professors, he goes off for a year with his wife to an ultra-conservative, Amish-like Christian community which does not utilize electricity or modern machinery. They get rid of anything connected to "the grid" including electric stoves, phones, computers, automatic washing machines, and cars (for which they have "off-grid" equivalents). They grow their own food and trade labor and knowledge with others in the same community, affectionately called the "Minimites" (not their real name).Better Off is a well-written account of Eric, Mary, and their eighteen months in an off-grid community. It raises a whole host of important issues. I like this book as a description of how it would feel for a modern technologically-oriented person to be immersed in a voluntarily primitive group, and I can recommend it on that basis. It represents a truly creative approach to the whole question of our relationship to technology.However, there are a number of problems with the book. Some of these are connected with the way the book was written, others are connected with how Brende elaborates on his ideas. Our criticisms may seem to imply that we really don't think the book is worth reading, which is emphatically not the case. It's a thought-provoking book, and we're responding with our own thoughts. These problems are: (1) confusion about the lessons to be drawn from the book, (2) no elaboration on the question of birth control, despite its central place in the narrative of the book, (3) relative absence of women from the story, (4) lack of awareness of the "factory farming" issue, and (5) confusion over the impact of one critically important technology, that of cars, on human relationships.So far as we're concerned, even without a car, and especially without a car, we are still miles distant from the nearest natural food store and most of our friends. We have to get into a car to do practically anything — something which wasn’t true a century ago. Our entire lives seem to revolve around the car and its needs. By comparison, the impact of washing machines, computers, and running water on our neighborhoods has been minimal. The one piece of technology most devastating to our social environment is the one piece of technology which, in the end, Eric and Mary have not been able to leave behind.In short, Better Off is an stimulating book because of its description of radical off-grid living. But in terms of presenting solutions, it doesn’t leave us with much — and at least some of what it appears to offer is, in our opinion, dead wrong. In terms of "getting rid of technology," we’d like to see thoughtful people focus on getting rid of the two most destructive aspects of twentieth century technology: our car culture and factory-farmed meat. We can keep the birth control and automatic washing machines, thank you very much.

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LibraryThing member BoundTogetherForGood

This was a great book and a fast read. I highly recommend it.

LibraryThing member tkadlec

In "Better Off" the author explores what life would be like without all of the modern technological advancements we now take for granted. For 18 months, he and his newly wed wife live among the Mennonites, a group similar to the amish, but that utilize technology in their lives even less.The result

of his 18 month experiment is this very engaging book that is difficult to put down. It serves both as an interesting glimpse into Mennonite culture and as a convincing, even persuasive, review of life without technology."Better Off" may not convince you that you can or should live your life with less technology, but it will certainly make you contemplate the possibility.

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LibraryThing member stacyinthecity

This book has inspired me to take a look at my lifestyle and evaluate how I spend my time. I would love to live with the Amish and try out their lifestyle.

LibraryThing member autumnesf

Couples lives without electricity for a year for college thesis.

LibraryThing member SeriousGrace

The cover of Better Off reads, "Two People. One Year. Zero Watts." That is the premise of the book in a nutshell. Eric Brende and his new wife, Mary, travel to an undisclosed community to try a life without technology. It ends up lasting a little over a year and it's like a science project on a

much more grandiose scale; to live in a community considered "primitive" even by Amish standards. But, as I read I found myself asking how far back does one scale back technology in order to be considered primitive? According to Brende, this Minimite community used flashlights. You forgo electricity in favor of kerosene. Yet, how is that different from using a flashlight? Electricity is electricity. Shouldn't the limit be a candle for illumination? Nothing more, nothing less?
But in truth, I fell in love with Brende's book right from the start, mainly because of his explanatory note, "...Readers have some options in how they choose to proceed. The story can be read the way stories usually are, that is, as entertainment (I hope riveting), or as food for thought on the broader human condition (I hope stimulating), or even in this case as a real-life model for practical action (I hope instructive)." In giving us choices he voices no expectation. This is not meant to be trivial, preachy or didactic, but rather interesting, thought-provoking and education.

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LibraryThing member JenniferElizabeth2

Weirdly trite and makes a lot of assumptions. I didn't like how it was really just his perspective, and very little of his wife. She felt taken for granted. And despite the lack of preaching, Brende still comes off as morally superior.

LibraryThing member tgraettinger

Very readable, good writing about the author's adventures joining an Amish-like community, living without electricity and most other modern technology for over a year. It's certainly a biased account since the author was predisposed to reducing or eliminating technology in his life. But it was

interesting nonetheless, and gave me a lot to think about in my own life.

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LibraryThing member jennybeast

I really like his theories, but wanted to hear more of the stories -- more of the actual experience.

LibraryThing member toddtyrtle

Overall a good book but the author comes across to be a bit of an evangelical fundamentalist with his anti-technology views. Perhaps I'm overly sensitive to that, though, having had similar feelings and broadcast them on my blog back when we lived in a yurt with no electricity or running water for

2 years. Ten years after that, living then in a highrise in Canada's biggest city I realized that it was pretty narrow-minded of me to be so sure that living that simply was not only right for me but the way everyone should be living. It was right for our family then, and a different way of life is right for us now.

The author seems to fall into the same trap I did - feeling that the fact that the life change he made then and that worked so well for him then was the life change that everyone else needs to make, and that many of society's ills are caused by the failure of everyone to do so.

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LibraryThing member birdsmath

The author and his wife move to a community of conservative Amish or Mennonites that do not use motors. His goal is to see the effect on life when living without electricity. They have a car for a time but eventually sell it and buy a horse and buggy. He finds that this life style leads to more

face-to-face interactions and support of each other. There is more time for leisure because technology needs time for maintenance and use. Using your body instead of labor saving devices is good exercise and is physically and emotionally rewarding. The author, a nominal Catholic, never seems to understand the scriptural reasons these people have for living in this lifestyle.

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LibraryThing member bujeya

I very much enjoyed reading this book, & was pleased to see it was not completely anti-technology, but calls for more thought in how we use it.

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