The Democrats Debates on CNN this summer have me reading environmental books, watching environmental documentaries, and articles. Clearly global warming is going to be more of an issue in the next election in comparison to other years. Oddly Netflix is no longer showing the documentary An Inconvenient True, and I have had to purchase a copy on Amazon to view it.
“The things you own end up owning you.” ― Tyler Durden from the movie Fight Club
Tiny Houses, Environmental Footprints, RV Travel, and Living Off the Grid have for many years been buzz words of the online world. RV interest has become fashion on the Internet, and I am a person who likes to read about Recreational Vehicles. It has long been known that the wealthy in America used to buy large houses with huge energy wasting appliances, packed with witty fashion furniture they change every season, and fashion clothes they change every three months. The environmental impact has been a huge amount of global pollution from fossil fuel based energy, furnishing, and textile industries. This has created a rethink in the “Big is Better” housing attitude.
This has caused a rebirth in RV fascination. Wagons, Teepees, tents, and small dwellings were normal in many parts of human history. Who can forget the ornate Gypsy wagons that were a normal part of their culture? At first people looking at RV’s make the big mistake of only wanting the largest thing on the market. The dealers will try to push you into this choice. A huge room needs huge air conditioning to fill it. In addition the big RVs use a great deal of fuel when being moved around, and so you will not use them often. A small RV can be outfitted for solar power, and can let you live “Off the Grid” using sun power. This is just one of the topics addressed in the book I just read called RV Vacations for Dummies by Shirley Slater and Harry Basch. This is by far NOT the first RV book I have read. Like many books in the “For Dummies” series it is not actually made for dummies. Many subjects have good ideas and bad mistakes you can make, and the “dummies” books focus on helping you avoid the mistakes.
I highly recommend this book as a good way to start out learning about a complicated subject. There are many choices to consider. Why are Fifth-wheels not the same as Van campers? Two other great sections are in chapter 4 Planning your Budget: “How to deal with dealers, Where not to shop for an RV, and How to finance your purchase” are great topics to brush up on. The book’s writers are syndicated column writers for the Los Angeles Times, Bon Appetite, and Travel Weekly. In addition they had a 27 foot Winnebago Brave motorhome as they have logged 100,000 miles traveling all over the United states, Canada, and Mexico. They have a fun writing style, and packed the book with information.
Frozen History 7 Publishing Book Review Podcast 