Radical Simplicity

Okay, I wrote a REALLY negative review of this below, wherein I was also trying to generate some sardonic humor. I would like to retract my super-negi views on this dude. I don't like his book that much, and I think he has some weird ideas. HOWEVER, he is mainstream enough that he will probably get a bunch of people to look into alternate living styles, sustainability, etc. And I think that's cool. I'm leaving the review up, because I think some of what I said still applies, even if it was stated rather caustically.

It's just not productive for me to try to start fights with him based on his labeling himself a "hobo," you know?

Now GoodReads says my review is too long. So some is left out.

NEGATIVE REVIEW BELOW
...First of all, Price had boiled down something like 20 years of his life to 170 quick-read pages, so explanations of his finances, building procedures, family, etc are conveniently left out when (to me) it seems as though they might have well been of consequence and perhaps presented a wider picture than Price wished the reader to have.

Secondly, there's the obnoxious tone. Price refers to himself as a "hobo" despite the fact that most of the book explains his work on erecting alternative SEDENTARY living arrangements complete with ELECTRICITY brought to him by The Grid (and probably installed by It, too, since he didn't take the time to brag about it).

For the few pages that he IS traveling, he is doing so in a car, with a tent in the back, being paid by a shoe company to journey cross-country and draw.

Meanwhile, Price extolls the virtues of free building materials passed on by people who didn't need it after tearing down various structures on their property only to BURN nearly EVERY STRUCTURE he disassembled. No, I'm not kidding; there's an entire section at the end where he pats himself on the back for his cleverness in finding recycled materials while simultaneously explaining this intricate procedure (placing a Want Ad) in his charmingly condescending way mere pages after he SELLS off his tipi, burns a desk and chair he doesn't want to use anymore, and burns an entire shack made of donated cedar shingles. He even jokes with the reader, "But don't worry, I didn't burn it down," when discussing the last construction job he did on a shelter he was bored with (139).

Of course, the thing most people will take issue with is Price's separation from his family soon after introducing two children into the world with his wife in Kentucky.

I have to pause here to say that I didn't HATE the book despite Price's at-times misguided diatribes. I enjoyed many of the plans he drew and his descriptions of certain setbacks. I simply wonder why he didn't at least choose to leave out his admissions of grabbing "a 99 cent burger" at "a fast-food joint" before advising everyone to go on a raw diet. Well, mostly raw. Okay, he often cooks, but the best food is in nature and he's a real hobo.

I guess I shouldn't have been surprised by one of my last forehead-slapping moments of the book, when he expects a hearty belly-laugh from the reader at "No one is bringing you long lists of things that need doing. (good luck on this one all you married guys. My buddy and I finally realized the 'honey-do list' is not on single sheets but actually an endless roll of paper!) Ha."

PSSHH WOMEN, RIGHT? AM I RIGHT READER? What's that? You ARE a woman? Oh. Well put down this book and started making babies so your husband (because you're obviously in a heteronormative couple) can leave you for the woods toting only a copy of my new book. And recycled building materials never to be recycled again. And a power line from downtown. And a copier. And cameras. And an astro-van. Ahh, the life of a hobo!