Book Review - A Way of Life Less Common

I discovered author Anna Hess, and her blog, The Walden Effect, by responding to her search for people to be interviewed for her book Trailersteading. Since then I have read, and reviewed, several of Anna's ebooks, and her lone print book, The Weekend Homesteader. Due to the way in which I discovered Anna, I was very interested to see that she, and partner Mark, had similarly been profiled in A Way of Life Less Common: Modern Day Pioneers Volume One  by Christine Dixon. I eagerly ordered a copy of the book, and put it at the very top of my reading list.

Since finishing the book I've been giving it a lot of thought, in preparation for writing this review. I even went so far as to ask for some feedback on the Homestead Library group on Earthineer, to see if others shared some of my concerns.

The book is uniquely formatted, in that it consists almost entirely of the text from interviews. There is a one page preface, and each couple or individual is introduced with a short summary, of a paragraph or two, but that is the extent to which the author lends her voice to the book. Not only is the rest of book made up entirely of interview questions and answers, but it appears that these were presented as-is, with little or no editing. I say this because there are situations in which the same information will be discussed multiple times in the same interview, because the info was given in the answer to one question, then another question was asked afterwards relating to that already given information. It seems this may be the result of a set of predefined interview questions being given, rather than the questions being adjusted based on the previous responses.

The people interviewed for the book come from a wide range of backgrounds, and are now living in a wide variety of locations and situations. I found that I did not really connect with most of those interviewed, however. Take, for example, the lady who mentioned her Lexus twice during the interview. I think its great that people are able to have nice things if they can afford it, but specifically referring to the car as a Lexus, twice, in a short interview, gives the perception that the car, and the status it provides, is of great importance. That isn't the type of "modern day pioneer" that I am likely to look to for inspiration.

The interview that really bothered me, though, was the one with the couple who finished their cabin on credit. I'm not against the use of credit; we financed both our property and the tractor. However, this couple specifically stated that they weren't worried about their credit score, since they intended to live a cash only lifestyle. Because they weren't concerned about their credit score, they maxed out multiple credit cards with no intention of paying back the loans. In fact, based on their account of the situation, they called the banks and informed them that they were broke and would not be paying them, and then it seems, washed their hands of the situation.

Personally, I find this behavior to be morally questionable, at best. I realize that readers of the book are, for the most part, adults who are free to make their own choices. However, I was very surprised that the author offered no commentary on this. The inclusion of this information in the book, without commentary, could give the impression that the author considers such actions to be acceptable, or even encourages them. I don't know if the author actually feels this way or not, since she doesn't tell us one way or another in the book. I find it to be irresponsible, though, to use this as an example of a successful approach to homesteading.

In the end I found that, for me, there were more negatives than positives with this book. I thought that the idea was a good one, and if the information had of been presented in more of a narrative format, it would have been better. Since the author added no material herself, I think that it would be better to just visit the blogs, websites, etc of those featured in the book, as one could likely learn more about their journeys, without the expense of buying the book.

Edit: After receiving a comment from Linda, of the couple who used credit cards to finish their cabin, I felt compelled to add note to the review. It appears that the circumstances surrounding the decision not to pay off the cards was quite different than it appeared from the quotes in the book, and that it was unforeseen circumstances which caused them to be unable to pay. If the original intent was to pay off the cards, this changes the situation dramatically.