While it's an interesting book on the joys of simple living, I found that there were some things that were either not mentioned or very "off" in Brende's description. He mentions Catholic vs Anabaptist leanings, but talks about religion as a component of living off the grid -- while he has questions about the orthodoxy of the church and boring church sermons, he doesn't have a problem with the basic concept of religion as an integral part of life there. I do. Every time I was interested or found the idea seductive, an offhand reference of religion was enough to make me very glad I wasn't doing that.

The second thing that seemed off was his treatment of his wife. From the start, his description of his wife as an "assistant" is disturbing... and there's very little mention of her doing anything other than passively agreeing with him. Even when Brende is discussing how she felt herself being placed in the kitchen, it's very clearly his voice rather than hers.

Finally, Brende doesn't discuss to my satisfaction how he re-entered "normal" life and how he and his children live without a job or health insurance. I don't dispute that he lives the life he leads, or that it works for him. But his choices don't seem nearly as safe as he'd like to imply, even considering his background as an MIT educated worker, and his "off the grid cred" seems a bit silly considering that he has electricity, a phone and typed up his manuscript on a word processor.

Don't get me wrong, it's a good book. But it's one that is very clearly written by someone who knows where he stands, and stands so firmly on that line that he has trouble seeing the other side.