Surviving Off Off-Grid: Decolonizing the Industrial Mind

I bought this book because of my interest in sustainability and because it came highly recommended by the Granny Miller blog (homesteadgardenandpantry.com). I began the book thinking I would have to take every word with a grain of salt due to the heavy religious references by the author. For years I have kept my eyes closed to any in-depth exploration of my own spirituality/religious beliefs. It was something I didn't want to think about. I assumed I would read this book as I have many other informative books with a religious under current; detached to the theology but interested in the content.

About a quarter of the way through however, I knew that this book was forcing me to look at a truth that I've been avoiding for many many years.I toyed with the idea of putting it down and never picking it back up. Because I wasn't sure I WANTED to start thinking about these things. In the end, I finished the book and have bought more copies to give to my family.

Not only does the author do a great job of detailing the reasons for going off off-grid, he leads you through the steps of getting there. This is a must read for anyone wish to go off grid, or who is considering going off off-grid. I've been looking for a book like this for a year or two now, and the author nailed it on his very first attempt. Thank you, Michael Bunker.

This book has some "how to" information regarding living a lot less dependent on modern industrialism, but mostly it is about how to think in less dependent ways. Most would term the author a very "conservative" Christian, and his beliefs are an integral part of what you'll find here. However, even though I don't share all the author's beliefs (though I am a Bible-based Christian), I did appreciate the different viewpoint, and the call to live less caught up in the world's nonsense. There's also a good deal of historical information here.

If you're a Christian (or any believer in God), I'd recommend this book as a chance to see through some of the "fog of the world". If you aren't a Christian, however, I'm guessing the other information the author provides won't be enough to get you past his belief system.

To start w/ the negatives:

I received my copy on the 9th which was a little distressing because I was getting anxious. I saw it had come all of the way from Ky. so I would suggest having a book bomb date that doesn't include weekend shipping. And...

There are no more negatives, this book is fantastic. In all seriousness America, if you like a mind-bender this book is it. I really don't know what to say about it that the author & several more qualified reviewers haven't already gone into. It is a more "how-to-think" book. I fully expect it to make a stir on par w/ Thomas Paine's Common Sense as it did in 1776. This is how our great-great- grandparents thought.

His grandmother's story was so close to my great grandmother's who died 3 years ago I got teary. It's so common you'll likely have the same reaction. Collectively as a nation we are wrong in nearly every aspect; we know it, bemoan the fact, trash talk the younger generation w/out taking responsibility & continue to wallow in the mire of our own making as the morass gets thicker every year. This book shatters the innocence ignorance creates & holds you, the reader accountable for your own contribution to the collective SNAFU.

I agree with Michael Bunker that agrarianism is a good thing. However, this book is actually more about "true Christianity." He thinks the main reason people should become agrarians is that cities are sinful and God wants us to live on small farms. Bunker thinks small farms are more sustainable, too. I think that more people should live on farms because industrial society is running up against its natural resource limits. So we agree that small farm living is desirable, but disagree about some of the reasons why.

Some of Bunker's writing strikes me as naive. For example, he says in Chapter 8 that "nobody but a fool would dream of leaving a homestead somewhere, someday, to get a grinding corporate job punching a clock." Sorry, but many people do have that dream. As to whether they are fools--well, that depends. My own father was one of those who left the family farm for college and a grinding corporate job. Was he a fool? I don't think so. My father had several siblings and no chance of inheriting the family land. My father was also fortunate in that he left the farm at a time when economic opportunities were available. Let's be clear here: farming is seriously hard work. My dad knew that. Is being a corporate cog worse than farming? I doubt it. It's worse in some ways, better in others. My dad also understood that farming has its joys; he remained an avid gardener to the end of his life. My main complaint about being a corporate cog is not that it's worse work than farming, but that in the seriously contracting economy of the next few decades far fewer people are going to be able to find corporate jobs. For many people, it will end up a choice between farm labor and nothing. In that situation, I think planning to leave the corporate world for a small farm, before you are forced to do so, is a quite reasonable choice.

Bunker also says that when everyone drove a horse and buggy, accidents were fewer and less likely to be fatal or require government intervention. Who is he kidding? Back in horse and buggy days plenty of people were killed and plenty of property destroyed in accidents. Drunk drivers were as big a hazard then as they are now. Horses are big, powerful animals and easily spooked.

Overall, though, there are far better books on agrarianism than Bunker's Off Off-Grid. I would suggest [[ASIN:0865716730 The Wealth of Nature: Economics as if Survival Mattered]] and [[ASIN:0865716099 The Long Descent: A User's Guide to the End of the Industrial Age]].

Perhaps the most important book I have ever read.I don't even know how I ordered it. I wasn't looking to live "off -grid" much less..off-off grid...Now, all of a sudden, I went from being a "prepping" suburbanite...to realizing I am an all out grid slave...both mortifying and strangely freeing. It was not what I was expecting...I truly believe God himself ordered it for me. I will forever be changed after reading this book. This book has prompted within my spirit a need for prayer, caused me to seek the face of God and discover how He wants my life to reflect His Glory and Grace in free, simple, separate, sustainable living...and to pray that by the Grace of God, I may find myself set free of my suburban chains. To God be the Glory for the mind of Michael Bunker. Thank you, author, for you obedience...may we follow you as you follow Christ.

This book is a must for anyone that is concerned about where our dependence on technology could lead. The book made me realize how far back, and planned our dependence on the grid goes. It is not you basic 60 day survive plan, but a look at where we are and what we have lost in our march toward total support on the electric grid we are all plugged into. I read this book, right after reading One Second After, a 2009 novel by William R. Forstchen, and can not tell you how deeply awaken I was from reading both these books in the order that I did.
I have to thank Michael Bunker this book.

I am nearly finished with this book. Based on reviews, I knew his book would not be a detailed How-To instructional piece, so I didn't have that expectation to put me off. However, I wasn't expecting his Biblical arguments in support of a simpler agrarian-based lifestyle for all people. Perhaps because I am a Christian, I personally did not find his arguments offensive. Even if you don't relate to or give any weight to the Biblical references, you still may find his arguments intriguing and persuasive, as I often did. He is absolutely correct in pointing out that our modern civilization is built on a complicated, integrated economic structure and that there are any number of possible ways that structure could collapse. He is also correct in indicting so many of civilization's members as unthinkingly focused on comfort, convenience and consumption without understanding the principles of food production and preservation and the risks of our contrived insulation from the earth that sustains us. There were many times for me, in reading Surviving Off Off-Grid, where I found myself acknowledging the validity of his observations and conclusions. If our economy really is as fragile as Mr. Bunker alleges, we are at risk and very unprepared to survive a collapse of our modern economic system unless we are willing to embrace the principles of simplicity, separateness, and sustainability his philosophy promotes. So, the subject boils down to two questions; do you agree that the risk is high and, if so, are you willing to make the changes necessary to reduce the risk?

I found to read this book in its entirety was like eating a whole food as opposed to junk food: a lot to digest and very filling and satisfying. I climbed up with the other readers into Mr. Bunker's horse-drawn carriage and took a very interesting guided tour stopping at many, many points in history, where he introduced us to our "ancestors and their simpler, more sustainable, more successful and holy ways of life." He also guided us behind the curtain of industrial society, where I was told I should never look. Behind it, Mr. Bunker donned his white forensic scientist coat and showed us the scene of the crime, where he performed an autopsy on the dead body that is western society by re-creating the steps in history that lead to its demise. BUT!! He also brought hope in explaining how it is not too late to go back and choose a different path and way of thinking in order to live our lives properly and biblically before God, free from being dependent on the corrupt systems of the world.

The tour continues with each turn of the page.

This book is a bridge over the chasm of wrong thinking that we've been taught as a society, leading back to the land flowing with the milk and honey of right thinking. It's a loving "slap across the face" to "snap out of it and wake up"; it's the opportunity to take the red pill instead of the blue one (which incidentally has always been pushed in our face to take with a glass of toxic city water). I personally gained a huge amount of practical knowledge on all of the aspects of actually, truly, really, getting off of the grid and living off off-grid. I now know so much more about how to think about and approach off off-grid housing, food, preservation, water, building, light, heat, getting out of debt, etc, etc, etc.

While Mr. Bunker's primary motivation is his faith in God, which directs his worldview and the topics discussed, the bottom line is that this book is packed with information and wisdom, which I found extremely beneficial; and I highly recommend it.

Overall, the author makes a lot of good observations, and though I don't agree with his perspective on everything, I think most of his "core" points are valid and certainly worth considering. And this is no biggie, but for me the style of writing made this a tedious read; a lot of pontification, so much so, that I had to put the book down as it was starting to drive me nuts. I was like, "dude, you've beaten that horse into glue, I don't need another example or story... can we just move on to the next point?" I plan to pick it up again to try to finish, but I'm going to have to be in the right frame of mind. I do think this book could have been written in half the pages, but maybe that's just a preference thing on my part. But I still recommend this book.