Description
Powers, after traveling extensively in Africa as part of his activity with humanitarian concerns, returned to the US with a changed perspective regarding the American way of life. His insights were deepened by living on the land in a 12-foot by 12-foot cabin. This memoir records the experience of that time in detail, and argues for the spiritual depth and closer relationships that can come from questioning the need to consume, living closer to the land, and learning to appreciate a slower lifestyle. Annotation ©2010 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
Read More
<div>Why would a successful American physician choose to live in a twelve-foot-by-twelve-foot cabin without running water or electricity? To find out, writer and activist William Powers visited Dr. Jackie Benton in rural North Carolina. No Name Creek gurgled through Benton’s permaculture farm, and she stroked honeybees’ wings as she shared her wildcrafter philosophy of living on a planet in crisis. Powers, just back from a decade of international aid work, then accepted Benton’s offer to stay at the cabin for a season while she traveled. There, he befriended her eclectic neighbors — organic farmers, biofuel brewers, eco-developers — and discovered a sustainable but imperiled way of life.<br><br>In these pages, Powers not only explores this small patch of community but draws on his international experiences with other pockets of resistance. This engrossing tale of Powers’s struggle for a meaningful life with a smaller footprint proposes a paradigm shift to an elusive “Soft World” with clues to personal happiness and global healing.</div>
Read Less