Do it Yourself Home Energy Audit book review

A few months ago, I was asked to be a part of the 2010 Green Books Campaign sponsored by Eco-Libris. This campaign is aiming to promote "green" books by reviewing 200 books printed on recycled paper or FSC-certified paper. By turning a spotlight on books printed using environmental paper, we want to raise the awareness of book buyers to this issue and encourage them to take it into consideration when purchasing books.

For this campaign, I chose to review the book Do-It-Yourself Home Energy Audits: 140 Simple Solutions to Lower Energy Costs, Increase Your Home's Efficiency, and Save the Environment. I figured it fit in well with this year's Freeze Yer Buns Challenge as well as the home energy audit contest I will be hosting at the end of the month as part of the challenge.

The Review
This book shows you how to increase your home's energy efficiency by offering 140 energy saving solutions, most of which require little in the way of financial investment. The suggestions to improving your home energy efficiency are relatively easy to do and the vast majority of the suggestions were surprisingly cheap. And, all of them will save you money over the long term.

This book shows you how to:

• Implement immediate no and low cost improvements for lighting, heating, electricity, insulation, water use, and more
  
• Identify and modify the most costly appliances in your home
  
• Reduce carbon emissions
  
• Develop a personal energy plan
  
• Determine how and when to contract your green renovation
  
• Understand ratings, standards, and conversions
  
• Fund your green home improvement projects and take advantage of grants, rebates, and tax incentives

It is written in a very conversational tone, which makes reading it straight through or a section at a time enjoyable. The author, an energy expert, comes across as a friend giving you advice, rather than a know-it-all telling you what to do. I found it to be an easy read and picked up some great advice, much of which I'll be trying to implement this winter. You can look forward to me sharing some of the things I learned from this book.

Have you ever had a professional energy audit done on your house? Would you want one done? Or do you just try to learn as much as you can and do it yourself?

If you want to participate in the Green Books campaign, make sure you check out the reviews of books on the campaign's list that look interesting to you.

Farm City book review and giveaway

I have to say, I really enjoyed the book, Farm City: The Education of an Urban Farmer. I started reading it earlier this year and it's one of the reasons I decided to start working on a book of my own. In any case, here's a quickie review and giveaway.

This book, written by Novella Carpenter, follows her and her boyfriend's adventures of growing a huge garden and raising animals in the ghetto of Oakland, CA. Everything from bees to turkeys to full grown hogs. In the meantime, you get to meet and know the colorful characters that make up her neighborhood as well as the poverty surrounding her.

The author shows that, regardless of whether or not you have money, space or even your own place, you can have a full-on farm. She also goes into great detail with the issues she had with killing her own animals for meat and how she went about doing it, which I found to be rather interesting.

If you are interested in winning a hardcover copy of this book, just add your name to the comments of this post and tell me if you live in the city, the country or the suburbs and whether or not you grow your own food or raise your own farm critters. Entries are due by midnight PST Friday, 10/22/10, to be eligible for the random drawing.

Good luck!

Off the Grid book review and giveaway

After reading this book, I have rather mixed feelings. On one hand, I had high hopes that the author of this book would take a different tack in his approach in Off the Grid: Inside the Movement for More Space, Less Government, and True Independence in Modern America.

Instead of focusing on how the people he interviewed in this book worked out the nitty gritty of living off the grid, the author, Nick Rosen, spent a lot of time going over the politics and in-fighting of the groups involved. It makes for a somewhat fascinating read, but you don't really learn much besides the author's biases.

One big bone I have to pick is how he really, rather cruelly, treats his subjects. I'm assuming Mr. Rosen does so in order to make this otherwise potentially dry subject more exciting, but it starts to get a little old as he rakes each of his interviewees over the coals. Many are portrayed as crazy or mean or both and disregards their motivations.

I guess I'm not the only one left with this impression. From Publisher's Weekly:

Fed up with "the hyper-consumption of the past thirty years, the pointless acquisitions, the hopeless materialism, and the obsession with celebrity trivia," British journalist and filmmaker Rosen sets out across the U.S. to find the perfect off-the-grid community "beyond the reach of the power cables and water lines that intersect the modern world."

His journey brings him into contact with a colorful collection of rebels and outcasts--aging hippies, anarchist kids, a middle-aged couple with an "off-the-grid McMansion" in Colorado--and he sprinkles his tale with the sorts of practical tips likely to appeal to anyone considering a similar adventure: the Clivus Multrum is "the Hummer of composting toilets."

What Rosen lacks is a knack for storytelling; he would have done well to step back and let his subjects speak for themselves. Instead, he constantly inserts himself into the frame and insists on passing humorless judgment on nearly everyone he meets (and a fair number of people he doesn't), and even whole cities are roundly dismissed (Boulder is "the smuggest town in America"). His curmudgeonly asides are off-putting, and it's disappointing to see the book's idealism and noble reach devolve into grousing.

Maybe I was expecting the book to be closer to David Black's, Living off the Grid: A Simple Guide to Creating and Maintaining a Self-reliant Supply of Energy, Water, Shelter and More which is a lot more "how-to" and less "how stupid!"

Overall, I disagreed with his treatment of several of the people he profiles in his book, his opinion on peak oil, climate change and a number of other issues. That said, I did learn about these groups and individuals that were interviewed, and for that I appreciated the book. I otherwise would not know they exist and what these folks are up to. Although I'm not exactly giving this a sparkling review, it is worth reading for that alone.

Now, I generally don't like doing two giveaways at the same time but, ah, what the hell. If you are interested in throwing you name in the hat for a copy of this book, please enter your name in the comments of this post by midnight Saturday, August 21st, 2010 PST.

Pioneer Woman Cooks book giveaway

If you've read The Pioneer Woman's blog, you've seen the recipe section of her site and probably have fallen in love with the not only the recipes, but the pictures and everything else related to her life on a cattle ranch.

Ree was kind enough to send me a review copy of her new book, The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Recipes from an Accidental Country Girl, a luxuriously, picturesque book that there's not enough adjectives to describe. This book, which comes out today and lists for $27.50, includes several of the recipes on her blog as well as a ton of new ones, all including the same sort of step-by-step pictures and instructions that you've grown to love. In addition there's a bunch of pictures from around the farm and information about the family (like, did you know that Marlboro Man's real name is Ladd?).

If you are not familiar with her blog (and, if not, have been under a rock?), then I urge you to go check it out if you are at all interested in life in the country. I must warn you, however, that her blog and life is not a sustainable existence so don't expect any stories of living off the land. This is a true working cattle ranch.

From the book description:

After years of living in Los Angeles, I made a pit stop in my hometown in Oklahoma on the way to a new, exciting life in Chicago. It was during my stay at home that I met Marlboro Man, a mysterious cowboy with steely blue eyes and a muscular, work-honed body.

A strict vegetarian, I fell hard and fast, and before I knew it we were married and living on his ranch in the middle of nowhere, taking care of animals, and managing a brood of four young children. I had no idea how I'd wound up there, but I knew it was exactly where I belonged.

The Pioneer Woman Cooks is a homespun collection of photography, rural stories, and scrumptious recipes that have defined my experience in the country. I share many of the delicious cowboy-tested recipes I've learned to make during my years as an accidental ranch wife—including Rib-Eye Steak with Whiskey Cream Sauce, Lasagna, Fried Chicken, Patsy's Blackberry Cobbler, and Cinnamon Rolls—not to mention several "cowgirl-friendly" dishes, such as Sherried Tomato Soup, Olive Cheese Bread, and Creme Brulee. I show my recipes in full color, step-by-step detail, so it's as easy as pie to follow along.

Since having this book lying about the house is going to prove rather dangerous given the type of recipes included (read: not at all low-fat), I've decided to do a book giveaway. This would make a fantastic gift for the holidays since it's such a beautiful book and has a ton of tasty recipes that are perfect for family gatherings.

To enter the book giveaway, just add your name to the comments of this post. You have until Friday, October 30th, at midnight PST to sign up. I'll announce the winner this weekend.

Independence Days book review

Sharon Astyk's new book, Independence Days: A Guide to Sustainable Food Storage & Preservation, is out November 2nd and would make a great holiday gift (for those of you buying gifts). If you've been reading her blog, Casaubon's Book, you'll know that she means business about local food and sustainability. I've got a copy of the book in my hot, sweaty hands because I was lucky enough to be able to include a recommendation blurb on the back, which also includes the following description:

Independence Days tackles both the nuts and bolts of food preservation, with tips on how to bulk buy and store food on the cheap, canning and dehydrating techniques, as well as a host of broader issues. In addition, it focuses on how to enjoy a delicious, high-quality pantry diet year-round, how to preserve food on a community scale, and how to reduce reliance on industrial agriculture by creating vibrant local economies.

Better food, plentiful food, at a lower cost and with less energy expended, Independence Days is for all who want to build a sustainable food system and keep eating—even in hard times.

The book includes chapters on food storage, food preservation, root cellaring, season extension, dehydration, recipes, canning, fermentation, medicinal application and creating and using community resources. It also includes a couple of my recipes, so I can't complain. My complete recommendation on the inside cover reads:

If you have any interest at all in where your food comes from, Independence Days is the perfect book to start with. Sharon Astyk makes a compelling argument for taking charge of your food security and is thorough in her coverage of food storage and preservation techniques including delicious recipes to get you started. But, make no mistake about it, this well thought out resources is more than just a food storage and recipe book - it is a call to arms to really think closely about the food that gives us sustenance and how it gets to us.

So, if you have any interest in food issues, sustainability, food storage and/or preservation, go order or ask for it from your library already!

Sleeping Naked Is Green - review and book club

Our very own Green as a Thistle (aka Vanessa Farquharson) has written a book, Sleeping Naked Is Green, which is out now for your reading enjoyment. (Are those your legs, Vanessa, or did you use a body double?)

Reading through Vanessa's book, which, in many ways, chronicles her year of blogging about her one-a-day green changes, was very nostalgic for me since I read her blog religiously and remember many, if not all, of the posts she discusses in the book. That's not to say that the book is just a repeat of what's in her blog. Far from it. The book expands considerably on the changes she was making as well as provides more background on the effect the changes had on her life.

Arduous posted a review of the book yesterday as well and, for many, reading this book brings us back to that heady world two or so years ago when some of us green bloggers were just starting out: No Impact Man, Green as a Thistle, Little Blog in the Big Woods and Crunchy Chicken.

Vanessa's voice always stood out for a number of reasons: she represented the young and hip crowd. She's single with no kids and isn't a complete environmental nut job like some of the rest of us. Her writing has always been truthful and witty and made some of the most mundane of eco changes entertaining. She even managed to draw in readers outside the regular environmental circles.

For those of you who weren't reading along back then or are new to trying to green your personal lives and reduce your carbon footprint, then you'll find this book not only highly educational, but highly entertaining as well. I have to say that she's made a big impact in my life and has helped frame my own environmentalism. And, I can honestly say that I was seriously melancholy when she stopped blogging so she could write her book.

I'd like to propose having a mini book club in reading this book. I'd like to bring up highlights to discuss and to showcase some of the changes that she's made that have the most (or, should I say, least) impact. It would make for a great review and plus, it's Vanessa for crying out loud.

What say ye?

Are you interested in a Sleeping Naked Is Green book club?

The Green Teen - book review

It's been a while since I've been a teenager, but I can certainly appreciate their concerns about the environment. Back when I was a teen, the biggest issues that kept me up at night were nuclear war and holes in the ozone. Well, that and Don Johnson. Kids today can add environmental destruction to the list of things to preoccupy themselves.

Having a newly minted teenage niece (well, she just turned 14 less than a month ago), I was interested in doing a review of The Green Teen: The Eco-Friendly Teen's Guide to Saving the Planet, written by Jenn Savedge, a fellow Green Mom and host of this week's carnival.

The book contains super salient information about being environmentally friendly, yet geared for a younger audience. It starts off with a global warming primer and then gets right into tips for how teens can green themselves (food, clothing), their homes (turning off water, lights) and school (lunch, recycling programs). The final sections describe what they can do to get more involved and even prepare themselves for a green collar job, for those teens already planning for their future career. Well, one that doesn't involve living on a sailboat with an alligator named Elvis and hanging out with an overacting partner named Tubbs. But, I digress...

If you know a teen who is interested in green or, really, any color, surreptitiously leave this gem around the house in some inconspicuous (but obvious) spot for them to find. Because, you know, if they discover it and find out the information on their own, it's way better than you telling them to turn off the lights, shut off the water when they brush their teeth, recycle their cans, etc.