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  <title><![CDATA[The Urban Hermit: A Memoir]]></title>
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  <description><![CDATA[&lt;DIV&gt;<p>Faced with the truth that his debts and his waistline had both ballooned out of control, Sam MacDonald devised a plan to change his life.</p><p>When Sam graduated from Yale in 1995, he watched a classmate make inroads as a head-office guy in professional baseball, another become a day-trading millionaire, and another develop connections at the Playboy Mansion. Struggling to make ends meet, he shrugged his shoulders at their success and raised a tall one to them.</p><p>It wasn't until April 2000 that Sam got his wake-up call. He weighed 340 lbs. He was flat broke. And the IRS had caught up with him.</p><p>In a desperate attempt to save himself, Sam decided to limit himself to a budget of $8 a week and 800 calories a day. He called it &quot;The Urban Hermit Plan.&quot;</p><p>He thought he would do it for a month. Instead, he embarked on a bizarre year-long journey. He lost 160 pounds in the process, befriended rent-dodging trailer-park denizens, flew to Bosnia on assignment, traveled to a peace festival in a hippie van, had a run-in with Cooter from the Dukes of Hazzard, and met the woman who would later become his wife.</p><p>The Urban Hermit is a wildly hilarious story about backwoods living, as told by a man who should have known better.</p>&lt;/DIV&gt;]]></description>
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        <name><![CDATA[Sam Macdonald]]></name>
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    <![CDATA[The Urban Hermit: A Memoir]]>
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    <![CDATA[&lt;DIV&gt;<p>Faced with the truth that his debts and his waistline had both ballooned out of control, Sam MacDonald devised a plan to change his life.</p><p>When Sam graduated from Yale in 1995, he watched a classmate make inroads as a head-office guy in professional baseball, another become a day-trading millionaire, and another develop connections at the Playboy Mansion. Struggling to make ends meet, he shrugged his shoulders at their success and raised a tall one to them.</p><p>It wasn't until April 2000 that Sam got his wake-up call. He weighed 340 lbs. He was flat broke. And the IRS had caught up with him.</p><p>In a desperate attempt to save himself, Sam decided to limit himself to a budget of $8 a week and 800 calories a day. He called it &quot;The Urban Hermit Plan.&quot;</p><p>He thought he would do it for a month. Instead, he embarked on a bizarre year-long journey. He lost 160 pounds in the process, befriended rent-dodging trailer-park denizens, flew to Bosnia on assignment, traveled to a peace festival in a hippie van, had a run-in with Cooter from the Dukes of Hazzard, and met the woman who would later become his wife.</p><p>The Urban Hermit is a wildly hilarious story about backwoods living, as told by a man who should have known better.</p>&lt;/DIV&gt;]]>
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  <read_at>Sat Nov 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008</read_at>
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  <date_updated>Thu Nov 20 16:42:08 -0800 2008</date_updated>
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    <body><![CDATA[I shouldn't have liked this story of an overweight slacker wannabe journalist who puts himself on a starvation diet for a year in order to save money. MacDonald's narrative voice is so relentlessly colloquial, I kept thinking, &quot;Couldn't this guy who teaches CREATIVE NONFICTION COLLEGE CLASSES h...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/38095186">more...</a>]]></body>
    
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      <review>
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    <name><![CDATA[Lori]]></name>
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    <![CDATA[The Urban Hermit: A Memoir]]>
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    <![CDATA[&lt;DIV&gt;<p>Faced with the truth that his debts and his waistline had both ballooned out of control, Sam MacDonald devised a plan to change his life.</p><p>When Sam graduated from Yale in 1995, he watched a classmate make inroads as a head-office guy in professional baseball, another become a day-trading millionaire, and another develop connections at the Playboy Mansion. Struggling to make ends meet, he shrugged his shoulders at their success and raised a tall one to them.</p><p>It wasn't until April 2000 that Sam got his wake-up call. He weighed 340 lbs. He was flat broke. And the IRS had caught up with him.</p><p>In a desperate attempt to save himself, Sam decided to limit himself to a budget of $8 a week and 800 calories a day. He called it &quot;The Urban Hermit Plan.&quot;</p><p>He thought he would do it for a month. Instead, he embarked on a bizarre year-long journey. He lost 160 pounds in the process, befriended rent-dodging trailer-park denizens, flew to Bosnia on assignment, traveled to a peace festival in a hippie van, had a run-in with Cooter from the Dukes of Hazzard, and met the woman who would later become his wife.</p><p>The Urban Hermit is a wildly hilarious story about backwoods living, as told by a man who should have known better.</p>&lt;/DIV&gt;]]>
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  <read_at>Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2009</read_at>
  <date_added>Sun Jan 25 19:27:23 -0800 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Sun Jan 25 19:51:01 -0800 2009</date_updated>
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    <body><![CDATA[This is the story of a, to this reader's mind, somewhat screwed up man-boy in the body of a 300+ pound self-named &quot;fat bastard&quot; who took extreme measures to straighten up and fly right.  MacDonald, though somehow a Yale graduate, seemingly lived to do the bare minimum by day (as in fly-by-...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/44350696">more...</a>]]></body>
    
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      <review>
  <id>38528383</id>
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    <id>671457</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Carin]]></name>
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  <title>
    <![CDATA[The Urban Hermit: A Memoir]]>
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    <![CDATA[&lt;DIV&gt;<p>Faced with the truth that his debts and his waistline had both ballooned out of control, Sam MacDonald devised a plan to change his life.</p><p>When Sam graduated from Yale in 1995, he watched a classmate make inroads as a head-office guy in professional baseball, another become a day-trading millionaire, and another develop connections at the Playboy Mansion. Struggling to make ends meet, he shrugged his shoulders at their success and raised a tall one to them.</p><p>It wasn't until April 2000 that Sam got his wake-up call. He weighed 340 lbs. He was flat broke. And the IRS had caught up with him.</p><p>In a desperate attempt to save himself, Sam decided to limit himself to a budget of $8 a week and 800 calories a day. He called it &quot;The Urban Hermit Plan.&quot;</p><p>He thought he would do it for a month. Instead, he embarked on a bizarre year-long journey. He lost 160 pounds in the process, befriended rent-dodging trailer-park denizens, flew to Bosnia on assignment, traveled to a peace festival in a hippie van, had a run-in with Cooter from the Dukes of Hazzard, and met the woman who would later become his wife.</p><p>The Urban Hermit is a wildly hilarious story about backwoods living, as told by a man who should have known better.</p>&lt;/DIV&gt;]]>
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  <read_at>Fri Dec 26 00:00:00 -0800 2008</read_at>
  <date_added>Mon Nov 24 08:34:48 -0800 2008</date_added>
  <date_updated>Tue Dec 30 12:08:45 -0800 2008</date_updated>
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    <body><![CDATA[Okay, Sam MacDonald is probably a little bit crazy.  But I get where he was (fat, broke, desperate) and while I've not exactly been there myself, I've been able to see there.  I'm not sure I could've done what he did to get out of debt and to lose weight, but it was inspiring.  Sticking to my budget...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/38528383">more...</a>]]></body>
    
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      <review>
  <id>69806583</id>
    <user>
    <id>2664604</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Disa]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Santa Cruz, CA]]></location>
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  <title>
    <![CDATA[The Urban Hermit: A Memoir]]>
  </title>
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  <average_rating>3.27</average_rating>
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    <![CDATA[&lt;DIV&gt;<p>Faced with the truth that his debts and his waistline had both ballooned out of control, Sam MacDonald devised a plan to change his life.</p><p>When Sam graduated from Yale in 1995, he watched a classmate make inroads as a head-office guy in professional baseball, another become a day-trading millionaire, and another develop connections at the Playboy Mansion. Struggling to make ends meet, he shrugged his shoulders at their success and raised a tall one to them.</p><p>It wasn't until April 2000 that Sam got his wake-up call. He weighed 340 lbs. He was flat broke. And the IRS had caught up with him.</p><p>In a desperate attempt to save himself, Sam decided to limit himself to a budget of $8 a week and 800 calories a day. He called it &quot;The Urban Hermit Plan.&quot;</p><p>He thought he would do it for a month. Instead, he embarked on a bizarre year-long journey. He lost 160 pounds in the process, befriended rent-dodging trailer-park denizens, flew to Bosnia on assignment, traveled to a peace festival in a hippie van, had a run-in with Cooter from the Dukes of Hazzard, and met the woman who would later become his wife.</p><p>The Urban Hermit is a wildly hilarious story about backwoods living, as told by a man who should have known better.</p>&lt;/DIV&gt;]]>
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    <rating>3</rating>
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  <read_at>Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2009</read_at>
  <date_added>Wed Sep 02 09:13:57 -0700 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Wed Sep 02 09:22:23 -0700 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[Inspiring story of a guy who eats lentils to get out of debt.  Though I'm not sure how that makes him a hermit.  Is it a diet book?  A memoir about getting his life together? A silly travelogue? It's strange and humorous so I'd recommend this book.  But not the lentils.]]></body>
    
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      <review>
  <id>76200258</id>
    <user>
    <id>845493</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Ocean]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Pittsburgh, PA]]></location>
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    <![CDATA[The Urban Hermit: A Memoir]]>
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    <![CDATA[&lt;DIV&gt;<p>Faced with the truth that his debts and his waistline had both ballooned out of control, Sam MacDonald devised a plan to change his life.</p><p>When Sam graduated from Yale in 1995, he watched a classmate make inroads as a head-office guy in professional baseball, another become a day-trading millionaire, and another develop connections at the Playboy Mansion. Struggling to make ends meet, he shrugged his shoulders at their success and raised a tall one to them.</p><p>It wasn't until April 2000 that Sam got his wake-up call. He weighed 340 lbs. He was flat broke. And the IRS had caught up with him.</p><p>In a desperate attempt to save himself, Sam decided to limit himself to a budget of $8 a week and 800 calories a day. He called it &quot;The Urban Hermit Plan.&quot;</p><p>He thought he would do it for a month. Instead, he embarked on a bizarre year-long journey. He lost 160 pounds in the process, befriended rent-dodging trailer-park denizens, flew to Bosnia on assignment, traveled to a peace festival in a hippie van, had a run-in with Cooter from the Dukes of Hazzard, and met the woman who would later become his wife.</p><p>The Urban Hermit is a wildly hilarious story about backwoods living, as told by a man who should have known better.</p>&lt;/DIV&gt;]]>
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  <read_at>Thu Oct 29 00:00:00 -0700 2009</read_at>
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    <body><![CDATA[i initially picked up this book because it has the same title as one of my fave zines of all time (okay, so technically it's &quot;the urban hermitt&quot;, two T's, whatever). i checked it out of the library because i enjoy books about living frugally. but, oh my god, this guy is SUCH an idiot! he g...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/76200258">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/76200258]]></url>
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</review>
      <review>
  <id>69434176</id>
    <user>
    <id>661748</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Daisy]]></name>
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    <![CDATA[The Urban Hermit: A Memoir]]>
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  <description>
    <![CDATA[&lt;DIV&gt;<p>Faced with the truth that his debts and his waistline had both ballooned out of control, Sam MacDonald devised a plan to change his life.</p><p>When Sam graduated from Yale in 1995, he watched a classmate make inroads as a head-office guy in professional baseball, another become a day-trading millionaire, and another develop connections at the Playboy Mansion. Struggling to make ends meet, he shrugged his shoulders at their success and raised a tall one to them.</p><p>It wasn't until April 2000 that Sam got his wake-up call. He weighed 340 lbs. He was flat broke. And the IRS had caught up with him.</p><p>In a desperate attempt to save himself, Sam decided to limit himself to a budget of $8 a week and 800 calories a day. He called it &quot;The Urban Hermit Plan.&quot;</p><p>He thought he would do it for a month. Instead, he embarked on a bizarre year-long journey. He lost 160 pounds in the process, befriended rent-dodging trailer-park denizens, flew to Bosnia on assignment, traveled to a peace festival in a hippie van, had a run-in with Cooter from the Dukes of Hazzard, and met the woman who would later become his wife.</p><p>The Urban Hermit is a wildly hilarious story about backwoods living, as told by a man who should have known better.</p>&lt;/DIV&gt;]]>
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  <read_at>Sun Aug 30 00:00:00 -0700 2009</read_at>
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  <date_updated>Sun Aug 30 08:42:32 -0700 2009</date_updated>
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    <body><![CDATA[Ugh.  There's nothing wrong with not going on a journey of personal discovery or learning much about anything when you make a change in your life but it makes for a pretty boring book.  MacDonald skims the surface of a change in lifestyle, never really ruminating on the cause and effect of his journ...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/69434176">more...</a>]]></body>
    
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      <review>
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    <name><![CDATA[Mary]]></name>
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    <![CDATA[&lt;DIV&gt;<p>Faced with the truth that his debts and his waistline had both ballooned out of control, Sam MacDonald devised a plan to change his life.</p><p>When Sam graduated from Yale in 1995, he watched a classmate make inroads as a head-office guy in professional baseball, another become a day-trading millionaire, and another develop connections at the Playboy Mansion. Struggling to make ends meet, he shrugged his shoulders at their success and raised a tall one to them.</p><p>It wasn't until April 2000 that Sam got his wake-up call. He weighed 340 lbs. He was flat broke. And the IRS had caught up with him.</p><p>In a desperate attempt to save himself, Sam decided to limit himself to a budget of $8 a week and 800 calories a day. He called it &quot;The Urban Hermit Plan.&quot;</p><p>He thought he would do it for a month. Instead, he embarked on a bizarre year-long journey. He lost 160 pounds in the process, befriended rent-dodging trailer-park denizens, flew to Bosnia on assignment, traveled to a peace festival in a hippie van, had a run-in with Cooter from the Dukes of Hazzard, and met the woman who would later become his wife.</p><p>The Urban Hermit is a wildly hilarious story about backwoods living, as told by a man who should have known better.</p>&lt;/DIV&gt;]]>
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    <rating>4</rating>
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  <read_at>Sun Feb 22 00:00:00 -0800 2009</read_at>
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    <body><![CDATA[A very charming book about living within your means and realizing what is important in life.  I highly recommend this one.  ]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/46020387]]></url>
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      <review>
  <id>59315502</id>
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    <id>751680</id>
    <name><![CDATA[David]]></name>
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  <title>
    <![CDATA[The Urban Hermit: A Memoir]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1256135457m/4640098.jpg</image_url>
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  <average_rating>3.27</average_rating>
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    <![CDATA[&lt;DIV&gt;<p>Faced with the truth that his debts and his waistline had both ballooned out of control, Sam MacDonald devised a plan to change his life.</p><p>When Sam graduated from Yale in 1995, he watched a classmate make inroads as a head-office guy in professional baseball, another become a day-trading millionaire, and another develop connections at the Playboy Mansion. Struggling to make ends meet, he shrugged his shoulders at their success and raised a tall one to them.</p><p>It wasn't until April 2000 that Sam got his wake-up call. He weighed 340 lbs. He was flat broke. And the IRS had caught up with him.</p><p>In a desperate attempt to save himself, Sam decided to limit himself to a budget of $8 a week and 800 calories a day. He called it &quot;The Urban Hermit Plan.&quot;</p><p>He thought he would do it for a month. Instead, he embarked on a bizarre year-long journey. He lost 160 pounds in the process, befriended rent-dodging trailer-park denizens, flew to Bosnia on assignment, traveled to a peace festival in a hippie van, had a run-in with Cooter from the Dukes of Hazzard, and met the woman who would later become his wife.</p><p>The Urban Hermit is a wildly hilarious story about backwoods living, as told by a man who should have known better.</p>&lt;/DIV&gt;]]>
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  <date_updated>Thu Jun 11 14:39:30 -0700 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[funny book about a hugely overweight guy living in Baltimore, a few years after graduating from Yale, sharing an apartment with his cousin, drifting in and out of jobs, drinking a lot, and going broke. He tries a two-fold solution to the weight and money problems by living on 800 calories a day (mos...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/59315502">more...</a>]]></body>
    
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</review>
      <review>
  <id>62133095</id>
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    <name><![CDATA[Hollowspine]]></name>
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  <title>
    <![CDATA[The Urban Hermit: A Memoir]]>
  </title>
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  <average_rating>3.27</average_rating>
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  <description>
    <![CDATA[&lt;DIV&gt;<p>Faced with the truth that his debts and his waistline had both ballooned out of control, Sam MacDonald devised a plan to change his life.</p><p>When Sam graduated from Yale in 1995, he watched a classmate make inroads as a head-office guy in professional baseball, another become a day-trading millionaire, and another develop connections at the Playboy Mansion. Struggling to make ends meet, he shrugged his shoulders at their success and raised a tall one to them.</p><p>It wasn't until April 2000 that Sam got his wake-up call. He weighed 340 lbs. He was flat broke. And the IRS had caught up with him.</p><p>In a desperate attempt to save himself, Sam decided to limit himself to a budget of $8 a week and 800 calories a day. He called it &quot;The Urban Hermit Plan.&quot;</p><p>He thought he would do it for a month. Instead, he embarked on a bizarre year-long journey. He lost 160 pounds in the process, befriended rent-dodging trailer-park denizens, flew to Bosnia on assignment, traveled to a peace festival in a hippie van, had a run-in with Cooter from the Dukes of Hazzard, and met the woman who would later become his wife.</p><p>The Urban Hermit is a wildly hilarious story about backwoods living, as told by a man who should have known better.</p>&lt;/DIV&gt;]]>
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    <rating>4</rating>
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  <read_at>Mon Jul 06 00:00:00 -0700 2009</read_at>
  <date_added>Sat Jul 04 12:09:22 -0700 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Thu Jul 09 15:54:55 -0700 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[I picked this book up hooked by the title 'the Urban Hermit.'  I'm urban (kind of...).  I'm a hermit.  However, in more ways than one I could never be an urban hermit.  I am a pretty willful person and usually when I set out to do something I'm able to accomplish it.  However, this willpower complet...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/62133095">more...</a>]]></body>
    
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      <review>
  <id>48803025</id>
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    <name><![CDATA[Clare]]></name>
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    <![CDATA[The Urban Hermit: A Memoir]]>
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  <average_rating>3.27</average_rating>
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    <![CDATA[&lt;DIV&gt;<p>Faced with the truth that his debts and his waistline had both ballooned out of control, Sam MacDonald devised a plan to change his life.</p><p>When Sam graduated from Yale in 1995, he watched a classmate make inroads as a head-office guy in professional baseball, another become a day-trading millionaire, and another develop connections at the Playboy Mansion. Struggling to make ends meet, he shrugged his shoulders at their success and raised a tall one to them.</p><p>It wasn't until April 2000 that Sam got his wake-up call. He weighed 340 lbs. He was flat broke. And the IRS had caught up with him.</p><p>In a desperate attempt to save himself, Sam decided to limit himself to a budget of $8 a week and 800 calories a day. He called it &quot;The Urban Hermit Plan.&quot;</p><p>He thought he would do it for a month. Instead, he embarked on a bizarre year-long journey. He lost 160 pounds in the process, befriended rent-dodging trailer-park denizens, flew to Bosnia on assignment, traveled to a peace festival in a hippie van, had a run-in with Cooter from the Dukes of Hazzard, and met the woman who would later become his wife.</p><p>The Urban Hermit is a wildly hilarious story about backwoods living, as told by a man who should have known better.</p>&lt;/DIV&gt;]]>
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  <read_at>Sun Mar 15 00:00:00 -0700 2009</read_at>
  <date_added>Tue Mar 10 09:15:27 -0700 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Sun Mar 29 19:12:06 -0700 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[Fat, broke and sunk to borrowing money from his parents to make student loan payments, journalist Sam MacDonald dreams up the Urban Hermit plan. He will spend $8 a day and limit his food intake to 800 calories a day, with meals consisting of lentils and tuna fish.  Who knew deprivation and poverty c...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/48803025">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/48803025]]></url>
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</review>
      <review>
  <id>42925314</id>
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    <name><![CDATA[Darrenglass]]></name>
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  <title>
    <![CDATA[The Urban Hermit: A Memoir]]>
  </title>
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  <average_rating>3.27</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>128</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[&lt;DIV&gt;<p>Faced with the truth that his debts and his waistline had both ballooned out of control, Sam MacDonald devised a plan to change his life.</p><p>When Sam graduated from Yale in 1995, he watched a classmate make inroads as a head-office guy in professional baseball, another become a day-trading millionaire, and another develop connections at the Playboy Mansion. Struggling to make ends meet, he shrugged his shoulders at their success and raised a tall one to them.</p><p>It wasn't until April 2000 that Sam got his wake-up call. He weighed 340 lbs. He was flat broke. And the IRS had caught up with him.</p><p>In a desperate attempt to save himself, Sam decided to limit himself to a budget of $8 a week and 800 calories a day. He called it &quot;The Urban Hermit Plan.&quot;</p><p>He thought he would do it for a month. Instead, he embarked on a bizarre year-long journey. He lost 160 pounds in the process, befriended rent-dodging trailer-park denizens, flew to Bosnia on assignment, traveled to a peace festival in a hippie van, had a run-in with Cooter from the Dukes of Hazzard, and met the woman who would later become his wife.</p><p>The Urban Hermit is a wildly hilarious story about backwoods living, as told by a man who should have known better.</p>&lt;/DIV&gt;]]>
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  <date_added>Tue Jan 13 11:52:00 -0800 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Tue Jan 13 11:56:32 -0800 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[Sam Macdonald weighed more than he should and owed more money than he should so he decided to implement a simple plan: eat only 800 calories a day (mmmm lentils) until he had saved up money and lost weight.  It might not be the most healthy approach, but it worked, and this book tells the tale.  The...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/42925314">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/42925314]]></url>
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</review>
      <review>
  <id>47901452</id>
    <user>
    <id>64544</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Catherine]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Santa Monica, CA]]></location>
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  <title>
    <![CDATA[The Urban Hermit: A Memoir]]>
  </title>
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  <average_rating>3.27</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>128</ratings_count>
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    <![CDATA[&lt;DIV&gt;<p>Faced with the truth that his debts and his waistline had both ballooned out of control, Sam MacDonald devised a plan to change his life.</p><p>When Sam graduated from Yale in 1995, he watched a classmate make inroads as a head-office guy in professional baseball, another become a day-trading millionaire, and another develop connections at the Playboy Mansion. Struggling to make ends meet, he shrugged his shoulders at their success and raised a tall one to them.</p><p>It wasn't until April 2000 that Sam got his wake-up call. He weighed 340 lbs. He was flat broke. And the IRS had caught up with him.</p><p>In a desperate attempt to save himself, Sam decided to limit himself to a budget of $8 a week and 800 calories a day. He called it &quot;The Urban Hermit Plan.&quot;</p><p>He thought he would do it for a month. Instead, he embarked on a bizarre year-long journey. He lost 160 pounds in the process, befriended rent-dodging trailer-park denizens, flew to Bosnia on assignment, traveled to a peace festival in a hippie van, had a run-in with Cooter from the Dukes of Hazzard, and met the woman who would later become his wife.</p><p>The Urban Hermit is a wildly hilarious story about backwoods living, as told by a man who should have known better.</p>&lt;/DIV&gt;]]>
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    <rating>4</rating>
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  <read_at>Sun Feb 01 00:00:00 -0800 2009</read_at>
  <date_added>Sun Mar 01 11:46:33 -0800 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Sun Mar 01 12:04:19 -0800 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[MacDonald graduated from Yale, drank a lot, ate a lot, and slacked.  As a result of that lifestyle, he was also in big-time debt and flat broke.  He gets a crazy idea to live on $8.00 a week and consume only 800 calories a day (mainly on lentils and tuna) for a month to begin to reduce his variety o...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/47901452">more...</a>]]></body>
    
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</review>
      <review>
  <id>43625998</id>
    <user>
    <id>1390295</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Donna Lyn]]></name>
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  <isbn>0312376995</isbn>
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  <title>
    <![CDATA[The Urban Hermit: A Memoir]]>
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  <average_rating>3.27</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>128</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[&lt;DIV&gt;<p>Faced with the truth that his debts and his waistline had both ballooned out of control, Sam MacDonald devised a plan to change his life.</p><p>When Sam graduated from Yale in 1995, he watched a classmate make inroads as a head-office guy in professional baseball, another become a day-trading millionaire, and another develop connections at the Playboy Mansion. Struggling to make ends meet, he shrugged his shoulders at their success and raised a tall one to them.</p><p>It wasn't until April 2000 that Sam got his wake-up call. He weighed 340 lbs. He was flat broke. And the IRS had caught up with him.</p><p>In a desperate attempt to save himself, Sam decided to limit himself to a budget of $8 a week and 800 calories a day. He called it &quot;The Urban Hermit Plan.&quot;</p><p>He thought he would do it for a month. Instead, he embarked on a bizarre year-long journey. He lost 160 pounds in the process, befriended rent-dodging trailer-park denizens, flew to Bosnia on assignment, traveled to a peace festival in a hippie van, had a run-in with Cooter from the Dukes of Hazzard, and met the woman who would later become his wife.</p><p>The Urban Hermit is a wildly hilarious story about backwoods living, as told by a man who should have known better.</p>&lt;/DIV&gt;]]>
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    <rating>4</rating>
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  <read_at>Tue Feb 03 00:00:00 -0800 2009</read_at>
  <date_added>Mon Jan 19 15:52:09 -0800 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Tue Feb 03 19:53:17 -0800 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[This book reminded me of the movie &quot;Little Miss Sunshine&quot; - quirky characters and hilarious situations all involving a VW van. I laughed till I cried reading much of this book....even from such simple dialogue as &quot;Dude.&quot;  &quot;Dude, Seriously.&quot;  (you have to read it in cont...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/43625998">more...</a>]]></body>
    
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      <review>
  <id>49536965</id>
    <user>
    <id>91455</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Renee]]></name>
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    <![CDATA[The Urban Hermit: A Memoir]]>
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  <average_rating>3.27</average_rating>
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  <description>
    <![CDATA[&lt;DIV&gt;<p>Faced with the truth that his debts and his waistline had both ballooned out of control, Sam MacDonald devised a plan to change his life.</p><p>When Sam graduated from Yale in 1995, he watched a classmate make inroads as a head-office guy in professional baseball, another become a day-trading millionaire, and another develop connections at the Playboy Mansion. Struggling to make ends meet, he shrugged his shoulders at their success and raised a tall one to them.</p><p>It wasn't until April 2000 that Sam got his wake-up call. He weighed 340 lbs. He was flat broke. And the IRS had caught up with him.</p><p>In a desperate attempt to save himself, Sam decided to limit himself to a budget of $8 a week and 800 calories a day. He called it &quot;The Urban Hermit Plan.&quot;</p><p>He thought he would do it for a month. Instead, he embarked on a bizarre year-long journey. He lost 160 pounds in the process, befriended rent-dodging trailer-park denizens, flew to Bosnia on assignment, traveled to a peace festival in a hippie van, had a run-in with Cooter from the Dukes of Hazzard, and met the woman who would later become his wife.</p><p>The Urban Hermit is a wildly hilarious story about backwoods living, as told by a man who should have known better.</p>&lt;/DIV&gt;]]>
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    <rating>3</rating>
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  <read_at>Sun Mar 01 00:00:00 -0800 2009</read_at>
  <date_added>Tue Mar 17 04:04:42 -0700 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Tue Mar 17 04:21:20 -0700 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[(One of those times I'm wishing goodreads gave 1/2 stars as I would have added one to this review.)I always appreciate a book that is fresh and new and that describes the Urban Hermit. This fun, easy-to-read memoir is about a writer who led an out of control life style with booze and food, and who n...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/49536965">more...</a>]]></body>
    
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      <review>
  <id>75833307</id>
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    <id>1383894</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Mary Kay]]></name>
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  <isbn>0312376995</isbn>
  <isbn13>9780312376994</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">55</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[The Urban Hermit: A Memoir]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1256135457m/4640098.jpg</image_url>
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  <average_rating>3.27</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>128</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[&lt;DIV&gt;<p>Faced with the truth that his debts and his waistline had both ballooned out of control, Sam MacDonald devised a plan to change his life.</p><p>When Sam graduated from Yale in 1995, he watched a classmate make inroads as a head-office guy in professional baseball, another become a day-trading millionaire, and another develop connections at the Playboy Mansion. Struggling to make ends meet, he shrugged his shoulders at their success and raised a tall one to them.</p><p>It wasn't until April 2000 that Sam got his wake-up call. He weighed 340 lbs. He was flat broke. And the IRS had caught up with him.</p><p>In a desperate attempt to save himself, Sam decided to limit himself to a budget of $8 a week and 800 calories a day. He called it &quot;The Urban Hermit Plan.&quot;</p><p>He thought he would do it for a month. Instead, he embarked on a bizarre year-long journey. He lost 160 pounds in the process, befriended rent-dodging trailer-park denizens, flew to Bosnia on assignment, traveled to a peace festival in a hippie van, had a run-in with Cooter from the Dukes of Hazzard, and met the woman who would later become his wife.</p><p>The Urban Hermit is a wildly hilarious story about backwoods living, as told by a man who should have known better.</p>&lt;/DIV&gt;]]>
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  <read_at>Mon Oct 26 00:00:00 -0700 2009</read_at>
  <date_added>Mon Oct 26 17:49:10 -0700 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Mon Oct 26 17:54:55 -0700 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[It's 2000 &amp; Sam is a 27-year-old Yale grad &amp; self-proclaimed &quot;fat bastard&quot; who cares for nothing but drinking &amp; drugs.  Then, he is overwhelmed with debt &amp; decides to stop eating &amp; drinking to save money.  His diet consists of lentils, eggs, cheese slices, white bread &amp; boiled cabbage.  To...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/75833307">more...</a>]]></body>
    
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      <review>
  <id>57389267</id>
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    <name><![CDATA[Kristina]]></name>
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  <isbn>0312376995</isbn>
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  <title>
    <![CDATA[The Urban Hermit: A Memoir]]>
  </title>
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  <average_rating>3.27</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>128</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[&lt;DIV&gt;<p>Faced with the truth that his debts and his waistline had both ballooned out of control, Sam MacDonald devised a plan to change his life.</p><p>When Sam graduated from Yale in 1995, he watched a classmate make inroads as a head-office guy in professional baseball, another become a day-trading millionaire, and another develop connections at the Playboy Mansion. Struggling to make ends meet, he shrugged his shoulders at their success and raised a tall one to them.</p><p>It wasn't until April 2000 that Sam got his wake-up call. He weighed 340 lbs. He was flat broke. And the IRS had caught up with him.</p><p>In a desperate attempt to save himself, Sam decided to limit himself to a budget of $8 a week and 800 calories a day. He called it &quot;The Urban Hermit Plan.&quot;</p><p>He thought he would do it for a month. Instead, he embarked on a bizarre year-long journey. He lost 160 pounds in the process, befriended rent-dodging trailer-park denizens, flew to Bosnia on assignment, traveled to a peace festival in a hippie van, had a run-in with Cooter from the Dukes of Hazzard, and met the woman who would later become his wife.</p><p>The Urban Hermit is a wildly hilarious story about backwoods living, as told by a man who should have known better.</p>&lt;/DIV&gt;]]>
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    <rating>3</rating>
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  <read_at>Mon Jun 08 08:56:24 -0700 2009</read_at>
  <date_added>Tue May 26 12:01:15 -0700 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Mon Jun 08 08:56:24 -0700 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[Based upon the short description on the cover, I thought that this book would be better.  I don't recommend it.  Although the life of the urban hermit sounds intriguing at first, I found Macdonald's approach to losing weight and paying off his debt to be highly disturbing.  The fact that he says he ...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/57389267">more...</a>]]></body>
    
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      <review>
  <id>51795492</id>
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    <name><![CDATA[Mike]]></name>
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  <title>
    <![CDATA[The Urban Hermit: A Memoir]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1256135457m/4640098.jpg</image_url>
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  <average_rating>3.27</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>128</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[&lt;DIV&gt;<p>Faced with the truth that his debts and his waistline had both ballooned out of control, Sam MacDonald devised a plan to change his life.</p><p>When Sam graduated from Yale in 1995, he watched a classmate make inroads as a head-office guy in professional baseball, another become a day-trading millionaire, and another develop connections at the Playboy Mansion. Struggling to make ends meet, he shrugged his shoulders at their success and raised a tall one to them.</p><p>It wasn't until April 2000 that Sam got his wake-up call. He weighed 340 lbs. He was flat broke. And the IRS had caught up with him.</p><p>In a desperate attempt to save himself, Sam decided to limit himself to a budget of $8 a week and 800 calories a day. He called it &quot;The Urban Hermit Plan.&quot;</p><p>He thought he would do it for a month. Instead, he embarked on a bizarre year-long journey. He lost 160 pounds in the process, befriended rent-dodging trailer-park denizens, flew to Bosnia on assignment, traveled to a peace festival in a hippie van, had a run-in with Cooter from the Dukes of Hazzard, and met the woman who would later become his wife.</p><p>The Urban Hermit is a wildly hilarious story about backwoods living, as told by a man who should have known better.</p>&lt;/DIV&gt;]]>
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  <read_at>Wed Apr 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009</read_at>
  <date_added>Tue Apr 07 06:41:31 -0700 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Tue Apr 07 06:49:51 -0700 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[I read this hoping for a Jonathan Ames-like experience, or at least Jonathan Ames-lite.  At its best it was close to the latter.  There is a marked difference in the quality of the writing in the two sections that were expanded from previously published work, and much of the remainder felt like fill...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/51795492">more...</a>]]></body>
    
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</review>
      <review>
  <id>73902509</id>
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    <id>2817748</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Simon]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[The United States]]></location>
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  <isbn>0312376995</isbn>
  <isbn13>9780312376994</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">55</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[The Urban Hermit: A Memoir]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1256135457m/4640098.jpg</image_url>
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  <average_rating>3.27</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>128</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[&lt;DIV&gt;<p>Faced with the truth that his debts and his waistline had both ballooned out of control, Sam MacDonald devised a plan to change his life.</p><p>When Sam graduated from Yale in 1995, he watched a classmate make inroads as a head-office guy in professional baseball, another become a day-trading millionaire, and another develop connections at the Playboy Mansion. Struggling to make ends meet, he shrugged his shoulders at their success and raised a tall one to them.</p><p>It wasn't until April 2000 that Sam got his wake-up call. He weighed 340 lbs. He was flat broke. And the IRS had caught up with him.</p><p>In a desperate attempt to save himself, Sam decided to limit himself to a budget of $8 a week and 800 calories a day. He called it &quot;The Urban Hermit Plan.&quot;</p><p>He thought he would do it for a month. Instead, he embarked on a bizarre year-long journey. He lost 160 pounds in the process, befriended rent-dodging trailer-park denizens, flew to Bosnia on assignment, traveled to a peace festival in a hippie van, had a run-in with Cooter from the Dukes of Hazzard, and met the woman who would later become his wife.</p><p>The Urban Hermit is a wildly hilarious story about backwoods living, as told by a man who should have known better.</p>&lt;/DIV&gt;]]>
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  <read_at>Mon Nov 02 00:00:00 -0800 2009</read_at>
  <date_added>Thu Oct 08 15:32:13 -0700 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Mon Nov 02 13:24:13 -0800 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[The memoir of a goofball who goes on a suicide diet of lentils, generic tuna, and hard-boiled eggs in order to crawl out of a bottomless pit of debt.  The writing contains a wry humor that evokes a portrait of Macdonald as an affable, but clueless, average blockhead who just happened to have graduat...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/73902509">more...</a>]]></body>
    
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</review>
      <review>
  <id>62510518</id>
    <user>
    <id>2429487</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Carol]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Okemos, MI]]></location>
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    <![CDATA[The Urban Hermit: A Memoir]]>
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  <average_rating>3.27</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>128</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[&lt;DIV&gt;<p>Faced with the truth that his debts and his waistline had both ballooned out of control, Sam MacDonald devised a plan to change his life.</p><p>When Sam graduated from Yale in 1995, he watched a classmate make inroads as a head-office guy in professional baseball, another become a day-trading millionaire, and another develop connections at the Playboy Mansion. Struggling to make ends meet, he shrugged his shoulders at their success and raised a tall one to them.</p><p>It wasn't until April 2000 that Sam got his wake-up call. He weighed 340 lbs. He was flat broke. And the IRS had caught up with him.</p><p>In a desperate attempt to save himself, Sam decided to limit himself to a budget of $8 a week and 800 calories a day. He called it &quot;The Urban Hermit Plan.&quot;</p><p>He thought he would do it for a month. Instead, he embarked on a bizarre year-long journey. He lost 160 pounds in the process, befriended rent-dodging trailer-park denizens, flew to Bosnia on assignment, traveled to a peace festival in a hippie van, had a run-in with Cooter from the Dukes of Hazzard, and met the woman who would later become his wife.</p><p>The Urban Hermit is a wildly hilarious story about backwoods living, as told by a man who should have known better.</p>&lt;/DIV&gt;]]>
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  <date_added>Tue Jul 07 13:24:08 -0700 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Tue Jul 07 13:24:20 -0700 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[The Urban Hermit is the hilarious true story of how Sam MacDonald, weighing well over 300 lbs. and beset by creditors, decided that the way to solve his financial problems was to live on eight dollars a week and 800 calories per day.  His resulting adventures and misadventures are so entertaining th...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/62510518">more...</a>]]></body>
    
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      <review>
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    <name><![CDATA[Alex]]></name>
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    <![CDATA[The Urban Hermit: A Memoir]]>
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    <![CDATA[&lt;DIV&gt;<p>Faced with the truth that his debts and his waistline had both ballooned out of control, Sam MacDonald devised a plan to change his life.</p><p>When Sam graduated from Yale in 1995, he watched a classmate make inroads as a head-office guy in professional baseball, another become a day-trading millionaire, and another develop connections at the Playboy Mansion. Struggling to make ends meet, he shrugged his shoulders at their success and raised a tall one to them.</p><p>It wasn't until April 2000 that Sam got his wake-up call. He weighed 340 lbs. He was flat broke. And the IRS had caught up with him.</p><p>In a desperate attempt to save himself, Sam decided to limit himself to a budget of $8 a week and 800 calories a day. He called it &quot;The Urban Hermit Plan.&quot;</p><p>He thought he would do it for a month. Instead, he embarked on a bizarre year-long journey. He lost 160 pounds in the process, befriended rent-dodging trailer-park denizens, flew to Bosnia on assignment, traveled to a peace festival in a hippie van, had a run-in with Cooter from the Dukes of Hazzard, and met the woman who would later become his wife.</p><p>The Urban Hermit is a wildly hilarious story about backwoods living, as told by a man who should have known better.</p>&lt;/DIV&gt;]]>
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  <read_at>Tue Dec 23 00:00:00 -0800 2008</read_at>
  <date_added>Sun Dec 28 04:34:21 -0800 2008</date_added>
  <date_updated>Sun Dec 28 04:34:21 -0800 2008</date_updated>
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    <body><![CDATA[When I first read about this, it seemed right up my alley. Frugality, strange diets, revealing tidbits in the form of a memoir. PEOPLE magazine even reviewed it. &quot;The Urban Hermit&quot;, I'm sorry to say, is a very odd book. It feels like something that MacDonald, a journalist, pitched to his e...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/41073169">more...</a>]]></body>
    
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