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.

The first in-depth look at the burgeoning legal cannabis industry and how the “new green economy” is shaping our country The nation’s economy is in trouble, but there’s one cash crop that has the potential to turn it around: cannabis (also known as marijuana and hemp). According to Time, the legal medicinal cannabis economy already generates $200 million annually in taxable proceeds from a mere two hundred thousand registered medical users in just fourteen states. But, thanks to Nixon and the War on Drugs, cannabis is still synonymous with heroin on the federal level even though it has won mainstream acceptance nationwide. ABC News reports that underground cannabis’s $35.8 billion annual revenues already exceed the combined value of corn ($23.3 billion) and wheat ($7.5 billion). Considering the economic impact of Prohibition—and its repeal—Too High to Fail isn’t a commune-dweller’s utopian rant, it’s an objectively (if humorously) reported account of how one plant can drastically change the shape of our country, culturally, politically, and economically. Too High to Fail covers everything from a brief history of hemp to an insider’s perspective on a growing season in Mendocino County, where cannabis drives 80 percent of the economy (to the tune of $6 billion annually). Investigative journalist Doug Fine follows one plant from seed to patient in the first American county to fully legalize and regulate cannabis farming. He profiles an issue of critical importance to lawmakers, media pundits, and ordinary Americans—whether or not they inhale. It’s a wild ride that includes swooping helicopters, college tuitions paid with cash, cannabis-friendly sheriffs, and never-before-gained access to the world of the emerging legitimate, taxpaying “ganjaprenneur.”

"Disillusioned with their lives, Linda Cockburn and Trevor Wittmer decide this is how to break the cycle of too much work and too little time for doing the things that are important, like spending time with their son, Caleb. Their idea of living sustainably on a suburban block is simple and perfect. By drawing all their power from the sun, harvesting their water from the rain and growing enough produce to give them variety, they can do something positive for the environment and for themselves. For six months they take it to the extreme - and come up against a drought, an onslaught of fruit fly, and the demands of an unruly goat called Possum. But they also become fitter, healthier and happier, and delight in the simple pleasures of being reconnected with nature. Join them on their journey - share their recipes and tips for how to live more sustainably and learn astounding facts on the state of the Earth. This is a practical, fascinating and inspiring read that will have you looking afresh at your own backyard." -Back cover.

The astonishing reality of living without our most important resource: money. 'An inspiring and entertaining guide to escaping the money trap and reconnecting with reality.' Paul Kingsnorth, author of Real England Imagine a year living without spending money... Former businessman Mark Boyle undertook this extraordinary challenge and recounts the amazing adventure it led him on. Going back to basics and following his own strict rules, Mark learned ingenious ways to eliminate his bills and discovered that friendship has no price. Encountering seasonal foods, solar panels, skill-swapping schemes, caravans, compost toilets, and – the unthinkable – a cash-free Christmas, Boyle puts the fun into frugality and offers some great tips for economical (and environmentally friendly) living. A testament to Mark’s astounding determination, this witty and thought-provoking book will make you reevaluate what is most precious in life.

"Just A Couple of Chickens" is a genuinely enjoyable read. Laugh out loud funny, informative and utterly timely. It is a poignant and very real story of one family's poultry raising adventure during a five-year crucible of economic and identity crisis that took on national relevance when their contracting business collapsed under the first wave of the economic crash in 2008. Their story hits home with heart-breaking reality. While getting a couple of chickens may have been Andrew's idea, Corinne was the one who took it over the top with thirty fluffy pheasant, five and twenty chickens, over forty Chukar, and fifteen ducklings. There were also twelve smelly quail, nine girl geese, two roosters, and a partridge in a pine tree. They were farming by Internet on a two-acre parcel near Santa Fe, New Mexico, scrabbling through the canyon that separates knowledge and experience when it comes to raising poultry. Corinne created www.TheFeatheredEgg.com a web-based business that arose like a phoenix from the eggs and feathers from the flock. She approaches her role as mother, wife, and businessman with a unique perspective that she captures with droll clarity and good humor. Chicken farming was only the most recent use of her BA in Industrial/Scientific Photography from the Brooks Institute of Photography. This book is yet another, featuring her portraits of the family's feathered friends.

Nio Nakatani, known for her delicate and heartwarming portrayal of girls’ love, presents a marvelous collection of short stories that span her whole career. With works including her striking debut title Farewell to My Alter, enthralling tales from the Éclair anthologies, and a hauntingly captivating piece penned exclusively for this volume, Nakatani explores the deeper nuances of loss, identity, and matters of the heart.

We all carry other people inside our heads - actors, leaders, writers, people from history or fiction, met or unmet, who sometimes seem closer to us than the people we know.Pico Iyer investigates the mysterious closeness he has always felt with Graham Greene and follows him from his first novel, The Man Within, to such later classics as The Quiet American. The further he delves, the more he begins to wonder whether the man within his head is not Greene but his own father, or perhaps some more shadowy aspect of himself. Drawing upon experiences across the globe - from Bolivia to Berkhamsted to Bhutan - one of our most resourceful cultural explorers gives us his most personal and revelatory book.