I beseech all my friends, and anyone, anyone at all that cares about the environment, to read this book.As a grad student in Environmental Science, I've often wondered how I could change my lifestyle to make less of an impact on the world. I've been through so many of these situations that I found myself laughing when reading, finding myself in the author's shoes.Humiliated by friends and family by having ecological manners? Check.Forgoing your habits in order to be participate in social events? Check.Making concessions so other people don't hate you? Check. The second reason I loved this book so much was its philosophy. In order to live life, we need to sit back, and think about what we really want to do with our lives. Are we here to work hard, to get new cars, to spend more CO2? Or are we here to work with other human beings and learn something with them everyday?The little tidbits about the author's life and family made the story more real and fun to read. I could feel the author's love for Isabella rise from pages. The author's perspective of mortality and the essence of human beings (that we are essentially good people) fit in with the description of his family. All in all, a fantastic book. We need more people like this. Colin is a pretentious jerk at the beginning of the book-- and somewhere about halfway through I realized that was the point.For the folks out there complaining that this isn't a how-to manual and that he spends far too much time navel-gazing, sorry but this is exactly what I wanted from this book. I've spent dozens of hours pouring over guides, tips, tricks, and the likes of Bea Johnson's Zero Waste Home, and Colin brings something to the table that is completely lacking in the second generation of voluntary simplicity and zero waste folks: some freakin' humanity. I've cut my trash down to a quart a month, I don't own a car while living in California, and I'm always struggling to do more. It was refreshing and heartening to find that Colin went through the exact same withdrawals, realizations, and struggled with the same crap that I do along this journey. If you have a holier-than-thou attitude toward this book, then you are completely missing the point of Eco-activism.
What do You think about No Impact Man (2009)?
Good book, quick read. I liked the subject matter and there were several parts I found funny.
—jake
A positive, intelligent and fun book about sustainable way of life.
—Loes
More interesting and less annoying than I thought it would be.
—Comando
This book is wonderful, everyone should read it!!
—Aman
