The Way Home: Tales from a life without technology
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Average rating4
15
Ratings1
Average rating4
It was 11pm when I checked my email for the last time and turned off my phone for what I hoped would be forever. No running water, no car, no electricity or any of the things it powers: the internet, phone, washing machine, radio or light bulb. Just a wooden cabin, on a smallholding, by the edge of a stand of spruce. In this honest and lyrical account of a remarkable life without modern technology, Mark Boyle explores the hard won joys of building a home with his bare hands, learning to make fire, collecting water from the spring, foraging and fishing. What he finds is an elemental life, one governed by the rhythms of the sun and seasons, where life and death dance in a primal landscape of blood, wood, muck, water, and fire – much the same life we have lived for most of our time on earth. Revisiting it brings a deep insight into what it means to be human at a time when the boundaries between man and machine are blurring.
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I struggled with this book quite a bit. I wrote a couple of pages from the notes I took, but after reading it, I erased it and started over. It was too much of a rant and, at the end of the day, not constructive criticism. After that, I went about trying to write how I felt about general things in the book or comment on happenings and decisions on face value alone, but I still felt obligated to take impassioned detours. It's tough because I am so incredibly opinionated on the subjects broached in this book, but I would feel more comfortable having a back and forth, long drawn out convo. So, sorry for the rant and the non-review, but it's time to get cracking on the next book.
