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Whistle Stopper - Farewell, My Subaru: An Epic Adventure in Local Living
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List Price: $24.00
Our Price: $12.65
Your Save: $ 11.35 ( 47% )
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Villard
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Binding: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 333.72092
EAN: 9781400066445
ISBN: 1400066441
Label: Villard
Manufacturer: Villard
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 224
Publication Date: 2008-03-25
Publisher: Villard
Release Date: 2008-03-25
Studio: Villard
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: Buy This Book
Comment:
I stumbled across Farewell last weekend while looking for something to read on a flight back home. I was truly inspired by what Doug is trying to do. The thought had not struck me that making a change to better the environment, or at least slow down the destruction, didn't have to mean giving up all the other things we enjoy. I too enjoy my Netflix and video games and would have to talk to myself far more often if i were without my laptop and internet.
My one other sanity has been working an a 74 Chevy Blazer I had wanted since I was a kid. Now I find myself wanting to sell it and explore the munchie causing exhaust of a Veggie ROAT.
Thanks Doug for your inspiration. And I will continue to follow your experiment on your website, as well as pass your book around to as many as possible, and tell the ones with money to buy it.
-Jeff
Customer Rating: 
Summary: Farewell My Brain
Comment: I purchased the book after I heard on on-air interview with the author. The author made the book sound like it was a trip down the lessons learned trail on the subjects of switching to Bio-Fuels, Solar Power, and Wind energy. I was sadly mistaken. A book that had the makings for a really good read turned out to be an ego trip for the author. It was as if the author wrote one-half of it and sent it off to be printed. A large portion of the book was a weak attempt to chew anyone out who does not use bio-fuels or who does not believe in what the author believes in. It was a very quick disappointing read. I am not sure if his "scientific" facts are correct.
Customer Rating:
Summary: An entertaining read
Comment: Easy to read. This is a good story about a successful fulfillment of a dream. This is not a technical book--there are plenty of those around. This is the story of personal tribulations and adjustments. I recommend it to anyone who is considering living off the grid or just going back to the land.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Great funny and informative read!
Comment: Doug is very clever with words making this book hilarious. his adventures of going green are inspiring and informative. it was really real to read about his blumbers and trials.
clever.
highly receomend this book. i read it amazingly fast and then wished i had more of it to read!
Customer Rating:
Summary: Pretty practical, if a little too wrapped up in emotion and politics
Comment: Doug Fine writes a good book, and for all of his North East liberalism has learned how to live a simpler life. Not practical for us all of course, but at least Doug is willing to put his money where his mouth is...something the liberals in Congress should try doing sometime. Doug's a little to wrapped up in "evil Republicans/Conservatives" and "I'm doing this to save the world and prove my own magnificence to those around me" for my taste. If you want to live on a ranch in the Southwest, do it because you want to do it. Don't do it because you feel guilty for being alive, being an American, or for living in a post-industrial age.
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Editorial Reviews:
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Advance praise for Farewell, My Subaru
“Fine is Bryson Funny.” ——Santa Cruz Sentinel
“Fine is an amiable and self-deprecating storyteller in the mold of Douglas Adams. If you're a fan of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy-style humor -- and also looking to find out how to raise your own livestock to feed your ice-cream fetish -- Farewell may prove a vital tool.” —— The Washington Post
“Fine is an eco-hero for our time..” —— Miami Herald
“An afterward offers solid advice and sources for learning more.” —— On Earth Magazine, Natural Resources Defense Fund
“This is Green Acres for the smart set—: a witty and educational look at sustainable living. Buy it, read it, compost it.”
–A. J. Jacobs, author of The Year of Living Biblically
“The details of Doug Fine’s experiment in green living are great fun——but more important is the spirit, the dawning understanding that living in connection to something more tangible than a computer mouse is what we were built for. It’ll make you want to move!”
–Bill McKibben, author of Deep Economy: The Wealth of Communities and the Durable Future
Like many Americans, Doug Fine enjoys his creature comforts, but he also knows full well they keep him addicted to oil. So he wonders: Is it possible to keep his Netflix and his car, his Wi-Fi and his subwoofers, and still reduce his carbon footprint?
In an attempt to find out, Fine up and moves to a remote ranch in New Mexico, where he brazenly vows to grow his own food, use sunlight to power his world, and drive on restaurant grease. Never mind that he’s never raised so much as a chicken or a bean. Or that he has no mechanical or electrical skills.
Whether installing Japanese solar panels, defending the goats he found on Craigslist against coyotes, or co-opting waste oil from the local Chinese restaurant to try and fill the new “veggie oil” tank in his ROAT (short for Ridiculously Oversized American Truck), Fine’s extraordinary undertaking makes one thing clear: It ain’t easy being green. In fact, his journey uncovers a slew of surprising facts about alternative energy, organic and locally grown food, and climate change.
Both a hilarious romp and an inspiring call to action, Farewell, My Subaru makes a profound statement about trading today’s instant gratifications for a deeper, more enduring kind of satisfaction.
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