1. The author of the book is Eric Brende. He is well qualified to write a book, being a graduate of Yale, Washburn, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He has received a Citation of Excellence from the National Science Foundation and a Graduate Fellowship from The Mellon Foundation in the Humanities. He has been a major user of electronics and present technology, just like all of us. He then decided that he wanted to learn what it is like to not have any of those “luxuries.” We think from his time at M.I.T. it caused him to actually become a critic of technology. In his personal interview of the book, he talks about the technology he has been a part of. Specifically, he remembers his father getting one of the first word processors. Its purpose was to speed up the time of writing, but he recalls his father being attached to the machine at all times.
2. We feel that he wants to determine whether technology actually makes life easier, or if it just complicates it. He also says the purpose of the book is to determine how much technology in life is actually necessary. He says numerous times in the book, that living without the technology seems to make life simpler, and the use of technology speeds an already complicated life up. He decided to look into these things because he found himself developing more questions than answers, in his time at MIT. This gave him the idea to actually see what it would be like to live without these so called “everyday needs.” He brings up how technology seems to run our lives. We are constantly staring at the T.V., computer and make an average of 11 car trips a day. Says technology in small amounts helps us, but in large amounts it fragments life.
3. He gets married to Mary, and they decide to move into the Minimite community and experience a more simple life. He plans on learning the information by submersing himself in the culture and doing everything all the members of the community do. He would also learn the information by talking to people in the community and learning their ways. They live in a house that doesn’t have any running water, heat, A/C, or any other power ran amenities that we all take for granted. He learns his methods and habits from the people in the community. We do see some flaws in the way he is collecting his information. He only lives in one certain Minimite community. All of those communities throughout the country may not do everything the same. He could have traveled to different communities and found whatever differences there were in each of them.
4. After reading several reviews they all seem correct. Especially the review that talks about his writing being a little too wordy. I definitely agree with the review on the website, Fire and Knowledge(1). It sums up the book very well and it talks about him possibly being a little wordy. I definitely agree about Brende using too extravagant of words for the story. I have noticed numerous parts in the book, where he just uses chains of huge words that seem worthless. But like the review says, there are faults to just about every book and that may be one of this book. Other than that, the book seems pretty informative and interesting. The other article we looked at was from School Library Journal(2), on the Amazon website. It just talks about how the book isn’t about how to dig a hole, but rather about their experiences on the farm. We feel that his review does a good job explaining that the book is about his experiences and comparing it to the technological life. Instead of just about how to complete some of the tasks that farmers complete.
MLA, Works Cited
1. Sowin, Joshua P. "Book Review of Better Off: Flipping the Switch on Technology ::." Fire and Knowledge. 18 Oct. 2005. 13 Mar. 2009
2. McAloon, Judy. "Amazon.com: Better Off: Flipping the Switch on Technology (P.S.): Eric Brende: Books." Amazon.com: Online Shopping for Electronics, Apparel, Computers, Books, DVDs & more. 13 Mar. 2009
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