Better Off_ Flipping the Switch on Technology - Eric Brende [0]
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Flipping the Switch on Technology
ERIC BRENDE
To Mary
(and in repose, John Senior)
Explanatory Note
What follows in these pages is the story of an unusual adventure taken by my wife and me as an adjunct to my graduate studies at M.I.T. Because of the highly personal nature of much of the material and the low tolerance for publicity of the extraordinary people we lived with, their names have been changed, minor details altered, and the location kept secret. Nonetheless, although certain liberties have been taken with chronology and background circumstance, everything described in this book actually took place.
Readers have some options in how they choose to proceed. The story can be read the way stories usually are, that is, as entertainment (I hope riveting), or as food for thought on the broader human condition (I hope stimulating), or even in this case as a real-life model for practical action (I hope instructive).
For those inclined there is still another way to read the book, and that is as a sort of scientific experiment attempting to establish, among other things, the answer to a key question about technology—namely, How much is enough? I say “sort of scientific” because, although anyone can replicate it, the conditions will probably not be identical.
Contents
E-book Extras:
An Interview and Insight into the Mind of Eric Brende
Ten Tips for a Leaner and More Leisurely Life in a World of Technology
Explanatory Note
Cast of Neighbors
Map: The Community of Sans Motor & Electricity
Prologue
Taking Orders
Section I:
Planting
1 Seeds of Discontent
2 Paring Back
3 Lightening Up
4 Artfully Answering Nature
5 The Ram
6 The Missing Refrigerator
7 The Sounds of Silence
Section II:
Growing
8 Quickening
9 A Church Meeting
10 A Barn Raising
11 The Dating Game
12 Meet the Neighbors
13 Secrets and Politics
14 Heatstroke
15 Weighing the Work
Section III:
Harvesting
16 As the Pumpkins Turn
17 After the Fall: Even Farmers Get the Blues
18 Birth
19 Husbandry
20 Pulling in the Reins
21 Closing Time
22 Outside, and the Box
Epilogue
Recipe for a Leisurely, Laborsaving Life
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Credits
Copyright
About the Publisher
Cast of Neighbors
(in order of appearance)
MR. MILLER—our landlord and mentor
MRS. MILLER—his wife
AMOS, CALEB, JUDY, ELLIS, IRMA, JED, and HAROLD—their at-home children
NATE and CAROL JONES—fellow escapees from the technological world
GIDEON STOLTZFUS—builder of the water mill and horse-powered turnstile
ALVIN STOLTZFUS—collaborator with Gideon on the water mill
SYLVAN—Mr. Miller’s son-in-law, collaborator on my sorghum crop
BISHOP HENRY—bishop of the community
MINISTER JAMES—skilled preacher
ROB, JOHN, HOWIE, ELI, RED, SIM, ELBERT—crew at the barn raising
BILL—novice from the outside world
FRED—participant in a hoeing
EDWARD—Bill’s well-educated boss and mentor, candidate for the ministry
GRACE—Edward’s wife
HARVEY—Mr. Miller’s oldest married son and pig salesman
GERTIE—his wife
CORNELIUS—a hermit and saw sharpener
EDNA—our midwife
WILBUR—proponent of green manure, candidate for the ministry
NAOMI—the midwife’s apprentice (Mr. Miller’s sometimes-away daughter)
MR. BERNHARDT—adventurous would-be motorist
The Community of Sans Motor & Electricity
Prologue
Taking Orders
The other day someone I know was running an errand in the outer reaches of a major city. She rarely drives, but for some reason had this day dared to hazard the maze of crowded freeways and interchanges. When rush hour came on, she quickly wearied and pined for a break. A sign for a fast-food place came up, and against her better judgment, she pulled over. Seeing no one at the drive-thru, she slid into the ordering station.
She waited three full minutes before anyone responded, even though hers was the only car in line. Then a male voice came over the microphone:
“Just one moment please.”
She waited another sixty seconds.