I bought this book out of curiosity, it was available to me on the kindle market for .99 cents and it had overall decent reviews. Being a first responder myself once I read the author's profile and learned he is a fellow first responder specializing in wild land rescue I was hooked, I had to read it. I enjoyed the author's overall prospective on bugging out, presenting all of his information with the mindset of "living off the grid" being less of a SHTF scenario and more of a state of self reliance. As you read the book you will quickly learn the author is not trying to set you and your family up to survive the apocalypse but instead he is trying to help you become more efficient and self sustained as applied to overall general day to day life. From water conservation to cooking a roasted chicken using a solar cooker this book dose do a very good job of giving the reader good overall general information. Somethings in the book like insulating your windows or wrapping your pipes in the winter so they do not freeze and bust where so basic in concept and general knowledge it surprised me to even see it in the book.My main problem with the book is although the book dose gives you very good basic knowledge at a beginner level, the author never goes any further than that. In many cases the author presents you with a idea or theory, gives you just enough information to understand the science behind it and is then on to the next subject. If you are brand new to the idea of bugging out or living off of the grid then this is a great book. If you are looking for anything more than cliff notes on the subject then you will have to get your information from another source.With a lack of information aside the most annoying and frustrating part of this book for me was trying to read through the author's own personal opinions. It became very obvious to me within the first few chapters of the book that I do not share the authors beliefs regarding the environment and planet earth. All too often what little information the author dose give you on any given subject is intertwined with his own personal rant or comments about things we all need to be doing to keep our planet clean. The author refers to global warming much too often making it even harder to be able to pick out relative information on the chapter you are reading. The further into the book I got the more the authors personal opinions got in the way of his book. I am glad there are people in this world like the author who care about recycling and the environment but that is not me. The book got to a point I was rolling my eyes and I was not sure if I was reading a book or a pamphlet for green peace. Overall I feel this took away from his book and definitely effected my enjoyment while reading it.As a overall book if you want a very good beginners guide to ideas, concepts and theories to living off of the grid this is a great book to start with. If you are someone who needs more detail and substance than a beginners guide you may want to look ells where. Also keep in mind this book is written from the mind set of becoming eco friendly, energy efficient and cost effective. If you are looking for information on leaving your house behind and bugging out then this is definitely not the book for you. But if you want a book to help introduce you to the subject, and want to help prepare your family for natural disasters or power outages while at home then this would make a great study guideBook is readable and not looking to return it, but it looks like someone tried to make work like a slinky and not a book for reading. I have received worst but when you pay new I expect new, I know, I know, in today day and times, JUST BE GLAD TO GET THE BOOK, so I am.I ordered this book for my brother (49 y.o.) who has taken a fascination to the idea of living off the grid. Shipping was quick and he had asked for a book on the topic.His review is that is was way too basic - that most of the information it contained was either common knowledge or too vague to be of much use. Mind you - this is from my little brother. He did say it was a very easy read.I have read parts of the book pertaining to Wind Turbine, I have some very good information on the basics, if your looking for detailed schematics or tables of voltage/amperes you will need to look else ware.GoodRead thru most of it and seems i knew more than i thought, many of the stuff detailed was common sense for me, but being a eagle scout and a doomsday prep guy i guess i'm more emergency aware than most.I have half a dozen solar projects feeding power to the grid (government pays me). I found this book to be a good overview of "living off the grid" - but it doesnt go far enough - such as measuring sunlight hours or wind or water "head" and how to really bring that back to your house and make money or supplement/replace your power.Well written. A good approach to educating those who need the very basic knowledge of the subject. Not writtem using technical terms, but using down-to-earth, everyday language we can all understand. I would highly recommend this book to novice and veteran alike.