Book 31: The Upcycle

I had such high hopes for this book. It takes a positive approach to solving environmental problems and in principle, is quite inspiring.

But with audio books, the reading makes or breaks the book. This book suffered from being read by someone who reminded me of Wilford Brimley.

Book 80: The End of the Suburbs

Lately I've been thinking about the issue of walkable neighborhoods and commute times, so this was a perfect book to encounter!



This book discusses the forces that are changing the suburbs and what they may look like in the future. It discussed the history of suburbs as we know them now, and the forces which are affecting them today. I especially liked how the book addressed that quality of life can actually improve when we move past the "dream" of a suburban detached home and individual yard.

I received this book as a free copy in exchange for providing my review.

Book 70: Tomatoland

According to this book, if you've eaten a tomato in winter, or one at a fast food joint, you've eaten a tomato grown and picked by slave labor. And here's the thing: it probably didn't even taste good.



This book is about what it takes to grow tomatoes year-round for the U.S. market and what the consequences of that are for worker health, worker rights, and the environment.

Book 67: The Good Life Lab

I thought this would be so interesting: a book about a couple who went off-grid and learned to make stuff out of the waste stream. I was hoping for something like No Impact Man, and the author does mention Colin Beavan's book, but her reading of it was so different from mine that I was frustrated and puzzled.



Unfortunately, The Good Life Lab was just kind of weird and nonspecific. For instance, the author describes how her partner desulfates dead batteries so that they can still be used. But what kind of batteries does this work for? (My in-house engineer tells me it only works for lead-acid batteries, not your average household rechargeable battery.)

There were some aspects of the book that I liked, and the illustrations were nifty (though not that easy to appreciate in ebook format). But overall, I felt kind of "huh?" about the whole thing.