The Good Life Lab

Starred review from April 8, 2013
This rollicking, inspiring tale of Tremayne’s journey from being the creative director of N.Y.C. marketing firm Green Galactic to being a Burning Man volunteer, yoga teacher, Sufi seeker, and hardscrabble DIY urban homesteader in a former trailer park in the eccentric community of Truth or Consequences, N. Mex., is alternately funny, tender, philosophical, and practical. Tremayne and her partner, Mikey Sklar, in their “decommodified life,” choose time over money. As she convincingly writes, “Our clothing wears the signs of our labor: stained, torn and burned.... Every stain and tear contains a story, a moment that we treasured on our adventure.” Illustrated with whimsically florid drawings by a variety of artists and interspersed with essential how-tos for living “life in the waste stream”—from fermenting tempeh and brewing mead, to building a papercrete dome and removing rust from wrenches with electrolysis—the memoir riffs off Scott and Helen Nearing’s 1954 Living the Good Life with much more style and humor than the original, bringing the back-to-the-land genre up to date with impressive sophistication and appeal. Color photos and illus. throughout.

May 1, 2013

Titles on low-impact and self-sustaining lifestyles have surged in popularity. Blogger Tremayne (blog.holyscraphotsprings.com) invites readers to learn from her experiences, promising opportunity for any level of commitment. However, only the last third of the book actually offers projects and how-to information. The bulk of it is autobiographical, chronicling the author's transition from consumerism to sustainability. The projects in the final section are much abbreviated but do contain some interesting ideas and information. The bibliography includes both print and online resources. VERDICT This title falls short of actually providing a variety of projects that can lead to a self-sustainable life. For readers interested in the transition from mainstream consumerism to living off the grid, this will appeal. Others may be frustrated by the lack of organization and indexing, which makes it hard to find the promised projects. For the nitty-gritty of achieving a self-sustaining lifestyle, a more relevant resource is David Toht's Backyard Homesteading.

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