How to Live Off-Grid

Haven't you ever wanted to get out of the rat race, buck the system, escape? Whether for the weekend or for a lifetime, Nick Rosen explores off-grid living combining irreverent travellogue with 'how-to' essentials.

Literally, the word 'off-grid' refers to places or people without mains water, power or phone line. Off-grid locations can range from private islands to yurts and tree-houses; the people living there might be back-packers, right wing survivalists, international business travellers or hippies; they may move around in buses or yachts, houseboats or 4-wheel drives. All are outside or inbetween the criss-crossing lines of power, water and phone that delineate the civilised world. Some are trying to save the planet, some live that way because it is all they can afford, some just want the freedom.

This book is about that physical sense of off-grid. But it is also about taking the off-grid attitude into your local park or your own back garden. It is part travellogue as Nick Rosen, his wife and baby take off in a camper van to visit off-gridders representing every aspect of living off-grid - part-time and fulltime, on land and water, metaphorical and actual, rural and city. And it is also a guide to avoiding the pitfalls and finding the best solutions - and the most appealing gadgetry - for going off-grid yourself.