Category: Book Club News

Review: Living Off The Grid

I just finished the book Living Off the Grid What to Expect While Living the Life of Ultimate Freedom and Tranquility by Gary Collins. It is a great book on many levels, and I do recommend reading the information in it. However, far too few people understand what “The Grid” is, and why people long to off of it. This book helps people understand the urge to live off grid, and how to do it in a thrifty but not unreasonable way.

Every “normal” house or apartment is “On a Grid” due to all the electric wires, water, and sewage pipes that are controlled by the city. People pay an electric bill, a water bill, and a sewage bill for every property connected to the grid. We don’t think of this much until something goes “wrong” with our electric or water due to a lightning strike or other disaster forces it to stop working. Yet many people argue even when it is “Working Well” it is not really working long term due to how much pollution gets into our “normal” water supply. Have you asked the people of Flint Michigan how “well” a “normal” system is operating? Many would say not great due to pollution making the water undrinkable. In addition most cities have electric plants that run off of fossil fuel 70% of the time. This is contributing to global warming gasses in the air at a massive rate. If you protest at the plants you may be tossed in jail due to trespassing on private property. What options do you have if you do not want to pay into a system that does not care about the environment? You can try to make choices as much as you can that fund alternative energy consumption. One of these is making a solar house that does not use city powered water and electric, and Gary Collins describes doing this in his book.

I like RV Van (recreational vehicle) travel, and also solar power which gave this book a strong appeal to my interests. Due to their small size RVs are automatically thrifty in energy use while often being sold with solar panels connected to them. Large houses with many rooms often waste electricity in rooms not often used. Collins lives in a large RV as he makes his self-built off-grid house. He describes types of RVs on the market, and their uses. In addition he describes towing vehicles appropriate for many types of RVs. He has worked in building and construction at jobs, and so his tips on how to build and manage sheds for solar batteries are very insightful. He is realistic about mistakes you can make on your journey to owning and suppling an RV or off grid house. It will take money and effort often NOT being the “cheap” way to go.

I cannot say I agree with ALL of the things Collins writes. He is giving information on a very liberal topic yet he is a former military man who is very right-wing conservative in voting views. At one point on page 134 he goes on a bit of a rant about public health. He says people will fail in life owning homes and RVs because all disability comes from the fact that all sick people are sugar addicts, and not taking care of their health with fitness. I teach many children at public schools. Some are legally disabled from birth. This offended me because sugar addiction and gym fitness is NOT the ONE source of all disability, and people need to stop the very common practice of victim-blaming people with health issues! Some problems exist due to birth and genetics not food! A shaming and blaming of disabled people for things they cannot control is torture. This mistake made me dislike the ending of the book. It was an attempt to be helpful that should be far more carefully worded to avoid offense.

However the RV and housing information is sound. If you have been curious about RVs and off grid living this book gives very good starter information. At only 146 pages it is a quick read, and it is told with personal stories in a conversational tone making it entertaining.