Wonderful book about various models of friendship, insightful and non-assuming, its chapters shed light on troubles and delights in the course of many real friendships. Good reading for expanding your styles of friends and friendships.

Callenbach's book does not come without flaws, but it was a fun read, with many practical ideas about constructing an ecologically friendly world. Not a work of literature per se, but an imaginative leap into a greener future, based squarely on contemporary problems that effect us all. Perhaps that is what I liked best about this book: Callenbach gives us a good look at things as they already exist. For that reason, I would even hesitate to call it a utopia. A well-grounded and researched work of ecological imagination. Worth your time.

On a chilly winter night in 1983, I read 'Ecotopia Emerging.' The book disappeared from the newsstands soon after, and our world passed that probability-node fifteen years ago, but I-a Reagan voter, Liddy-listener, and Gore-hater-can still remember smiling and saying 'It could work! Maybe I'll lease a vacation home there.'

Alas, that was before HIV killed Ecotopia's innocent hedonism forever, before the bloody and stupid excesses of PETA, before tree-spiking--and before I experienced for myself the dead, cold hand of radical environmentalism. Yet, somewhere in my right-brain I still dream of getting laid under a redwood tree, of living on a houseboat, of bowhunting and painting myself with deer blood after a clean kill. That was the magic Ernest Callenbach shares with Heinlein--both slam-dunk you into their society and make you believe it.

Callenbach can do humor and characters, too. I laughed in places, just grinned in others. Because so few lefties have a funny-bone, the laughs were refreshing. I'm glad Callenbach's didn't disappear in clouds of pot-smoke the way those of other Sixties survivors did.

But woe to those who forget the fate of previous utopias. One of the old totalitarians made a comment about omelettes and breaking eggs. I've often wondered whose eggs got broken in the making of Ecotopia. Probably more folks than Callenbach admits got hurt or killed in the emergence of his fictional society. With the banning of guns, I can only imagine the crime wave that would hit in a year or two-and the oppression that would prevail if a slick talker like Bill Clinton got into power.

I'm sure Ernest Callenbach is a nice guy and I wanted to meet him in person or by e-mail, an ambition I still hold. He honestly seems incapable of believing in human villainy--can you imagine the fun a sociopath could have in the Ecotopian prison system? The antagonists of who remind me of our soon-to-be ex-President, proving that Callenbach doesn't really understand evil. (He obviously favors the elimination of such intrasigents-but in a gunless society, how could his woodsrunner hero have downed the bad-guy's spray chopper? Wouldn't it be better to arm everybody and let natural selection weed out the nongs and drongos?) What fun to hash it out over coffee until the wee-small hours or, failing that, over the web with mutual flamers!

Ecotopia Emerging and Ecotopia performed a valuable service in my intellectual development by teaching me about the passion of the green movement and conveying a little of that passion to me. Libertarians and conservatives both should read this book to learn how well-crafted and entertaining propaganda appears. (The only modern writer who does it better is L. Neil Smith-I'm glad he's on my side, or freedom's days would be numbered!) Ecotopia Emerging will give you a visceral understanding of the appeal of watermelon environmentalism-green outside, red (or yellow) inside. If we are to defeat collectivism, we freedom-lovers must grasp this emotional appeal by experiencing it for ourselves. Callenbach's book can do that for us. END

This is one of my favorite books. In contrast to its clunky predecessor _Ecotopia_, this book actually has a plot that, if a wee bit melodramatic, is fun and engaging. It's a bit chilling that the administration running the U.S. that the Ecotopians split off from in this book is actually less insane than the Cheney/Bush/Exxon government we have now. Ecotopia Emerging tells the story of how the Pacific Northwest secedes from the U.S. and establishes a sane lifestyle. This book does go a little far in glorifying the lifestyle it describes but if you can deal with that you'll probably enjoy it.

I read the prequel (which came out later) to this book, Ecotopia Emerging, first. Ecotopia Emerging was an excellent book, with a pretty gripping plot that did a good job of highlighting Callenbach's call for a more balanced and ecologically sound way of living. I read this book a few weeks later, and I could barely get through it. If you've ever read any science fiction concerning a utopian or alternative society which is visited by an outside scientist/journalist/observer who then ends up becoming a part of the society (think Walden Two), you've already read this book. The book is simply a mouthpiece in which the journalist (with whom you are supposed to identify) wanders around recording his observations in Ecotopia (and sleeping with every woman he meets along the way). There is no real plot or characterization, and it's too predictable to be exciting. If you're looking for a good work of fiction about an ecotopian way of living, do yourself a favor and read Ecotopia Emerging, not this.

Ecotopia, by Ernest Callenbach, is not what one might call a novel. It's written from the point of view of a New York journalist exploring the world of the Northwest after an environmental secession. Others have mentioned the lack of character depth, but the point of the book is not to interest you in the characters; it is to interest you in the world.

In Ecotopia, people are very free, relaxed. In San Francisco, rather than the endless cars and streets and smog, there are parks and newly ubiquitous bikes. The idea behind the bikes is that you can go outside and find them, ride them where you're going, then leave them there for the next person to use. Interesting?

The culture and society of Ecotopia are thought-provoking, at least for a teenager. When I read this book it was the first time I really thought about what things could be done as alternatives to the current way of life. After reading Ecotopia, I am more environmentally conscious. I enjoyed the concept behind this book very much. I would recommend it to anyone who is interested in the future if the Green party takes over, or something along those lines.

This book is unique in it's description of a totally different society. Influenced by the growing ecological (radical) movement, Callenbach gets us reading the notes and articles of a journalist that comes from the country from which Ecotopia separated (USA) and became independent. Callenbach "builds" a very detailed society, showing it's positive and negative (after all the journalist was from an "enemy" country) aspects. But even so, the positive aspects are so emphasized that we want to join that society when we finish reading the book. It is a whole new concept: not only the economic or political system, but also the interpersonal relations, the psichology of everyone, love, relations with Nature, etc. Callenbach was successful in making a literary book that describes a whole society. I would give 5 stars to this book if it wasn't for some parts that became too descriptive and without much emotion. Overall, this is a great book that should be read by anyone who wants to know about other ways of social organization.

Interesting book in the Buddhist document of Right Livelyhood. Not as much a book about Mindfulness as a book about Meaningful Work. Most of the authors say much of the same thing. One author, Sam Keen, I liked a lot. This book might help you decide your priorities when it comes to career. And the advice contained within might help you alter your livelyhood in a way that you are more in tune with ecological concerns

In spite of the empty criticisms and single-minded diatribes of a couple of previous reviewers, I think this book is well worth it.

Other than Tarthang Tulku's "Skillful Means" it's hard to find much information on right livelihood and certainly, this is a definitive review.

I especially liked the even-handed inclusion of points of view from other religions besides Buddhism.

The reviewer who said it makes a great gift was right. And, it makes a great bedside book to help you go to sleep inspired and hopeful that it IS possible to find right livelihood.

This book inspired me! It presents a wide range of views on the subject of right livelihood, from traditional Buddhist thinking to essays from well-known non-Buddhist writers. I was especialy impressed by the inclusion of essays on Amish economics, Islamic banking, and the scientific study of mindfulness founded by psychologist Ellen Langer at Harvard. In addition, the author's closing essay did a great job of describing the practical steps you need to take to find "right livelihood." And, the book happens to have a beautiful cover, which makes it a pleasure to give as a gift.

I have immensely enjoyed Callenbach's Ecotopia books (part of the weirdness that is Mamalinde?) but found this tome practically useless. Yes, we HAVE become consumer zombies, and a reconnect with reality is necessary and desirable. While I might not embrace the suburban ideal I also have to decline many of Callenbach's ideas: powdered milk, building my own furniture, using a public hospital, going on welfare, scavenging old food at the grocery store, living in a mobile home or a gypsy wagon, and raising bees are not what I consider viable stylishness.

Callenbach's ideas are wildly opinionated (but what did I expect) and way too out there to entice most of the consumer zombies to do anything but laugh. He does say some important things about packaging, advertising, and brand names, as well as the ever insidious "planned obsolescence" consumers buy into with regularity. This is a well thought out and constructed book, but one with little practical value for this user.

Now in a thoroughly revised and updated second edition, Ernest Callenbach's Living Cheaply With Style: Live Better & Spend Less is written and designed for the reader wanting to choosing gracious living over rampant consumerism, who seeks to live carefully and ecologically on a comfortable income with enough time to experience and enjoy their life. Callenbach has filled this little guide to inexpensive, gracious living with a wealth of money saving tips on food, housing, clothing, furniture, child rearing, travel, transportation, and more. Whether just starting out as a young independent adult, or entering one's golden years of retirement, Living Cheaply With Style will prove one of the most valuable money management and life-style guides you will have ever encountered.

Callenbach demonstrates a complete lack of understanding of the people who live on the Great Plains and the issues facing them. This book is very poorly researched, is full of factual errors, and consists primarily of wishful thinking. The idea that taking land from the people that own it and creating a giant buffalo park will be an economic boon and reverse the population declines the Plains has experienced for the past 60 years is ludicrous. If you're really interested in the future of the Great Plains, read some of the more recent articles by Frank and Deborah Popper. The Buffalo Commons is a useful metaphor, but nothing more.

To begin with, i haven't read this book.But the idea seems to me great. Bringing buffalos to the plains will start a new period in the life of America, only we'll have to bring indians too. They would live quietly though loudly, producing some kind of energy which was always here, and which otherways is dissolving into Nowhere.This energy is necessary for generating life all over America. Joseph Campbell tells an interesting story about how buffalos interchanged with indians in the process of buffalo-hunt. They (buffalos) said they are not against hunting them in general, but they must be asked to and treated politely. Anyway all this play is inevitable, they said (indians used to follow them to the end of the rock and made them jump into the precipice) You must only find a suitable form. Another, more human and beautiful attitude we see in the film "Bless the beasts and the children", but this is a kind of unfair play from the side of the bad guys that we see there. Anyway, America must return to It's roots, the only question is where and what these roots are? perhaps this returning is going on somewhere without us, humans, and this is for better because we would spoil everything, even the ecologists? And this process is wild and strong? And it is expressed in our personal mythologies? I had written about the russian-american connections( i am a Russian originally) as the connections of the Bear and the Buffalo, both of them are beautifully and roughly strong, but they differ very much in their behaviour. So i think they would not fight, when they meet, imagine what they would do? Bear had a strong hand, Buffalo a strong foot...no, it's hard to imagine. Dance perhaps? Do circus? So to finish with this short review of an unread book( I liked Ecotopia very much, and want to ask if somebody knows what Mr.Callenbach is doing at the moment)I would like to phantasise about returning bears to the Russian forests. There are still a lot of them, but so many were killed, and so many went to the zoo and circus. What would be Russia with bears in the streets of Moscow? Perhaps people are so tired that nobody would notice?

An excellent book. Callenbach clearing shows that he did his "homework". A must read for anyone who feels that bison should be reestablished on the American scene.