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Off Grid Life: Your Ideal Home in the Middle of Nowhere
This visually stunning tour of unique homes--including tiny houses, shipping containers, yurts, and boathouses from all around the world--invites you to slow down and consider a new lifestyle where you truly live by your own rules. After spending three years on the road living in a camper van, Foster Huntington, author of Van Life, continued his unconventional lifestyle by building a two-story treehouse. Foster, like many others, are finding tranquility and adventure in living off the grid in unconventional homes. Organized into sections like tree houses, tiny houses, shipping containers, yurts, boathouses, barns, vans, and more, Off Grid Life features 250 aspirational photographs in enviable settings like stunning beaches, dramatic mountains, and picturesque forests. Also included are images of fully designed interiors with kitchens and sleeping quarters as well as interviews with solo dwellers, couples, and families who are living this new American dream.
- GenresNonfictionArchitecture
285 pages, Kindle Edition
Published October 27, 2020
11 people are currently reading
164 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
November 17, 2020
A great collections of photos and essays on living off grid. Tiny house, yurt, tent, car, tree house, storage container, if it’s living simple, it’s in here. More eye candy then education, this is a great book to relax with and dream of the possibilities that lay just outside your power lines.
July 7, 2022
I don't remember the last time a book left me in such awe. No, it was not that well written and there were many times I had questions I wished the author had answered. And while the many photographs were stunning, they were not always well identified, and often I did not know what I was looking at.
The actual amount of "content" in the book, i.e. word count, was rather small.
What did I love about this book? The author's exuberance, confidence, and willingness to explore new ideas, try new ways of being, and alter plans as needed was inspirational. I thought I lived an edgy life of sorts in an RV, but Huntington left me feeling like a total poser. I loved his respect for the environment, the focus on carving a life around what nature provides rather than altering the environment to meet one's own needs, and his descriptions of how simple living can bring such joy.
This is a coffee table type book that I'll keep around and return to frequently just to look at photographs and study ways of organizing and living in small quarters. I'm glad I bought this book.
The actual amount of "content" in the book, i.e. word count, was rather small.
What did I love about this book? The author's exuberance, confidence, and willingness to explore new ideas, try new ways of being, and alter plans as needed was inspirational. I thought I lived an edgy life of sorts in an RV, but Huntington left me feeling like a total poser. I loved his respect for the environment, the focus on carving a life around what nature provides rather than altering the environment to meet one's own needs, and his descriptions of how simple living can bring such joy.
This is a coffee table type book that I'll keep around and return to frequently just to look at photographs and study ways of organizing and living in small quarters. I'm glad I bought this book.
June 23, 2023
More eye candy then education. Stolen from "Jessi" 11-16-20 A collection of photos and essays on living off grid. Tiny house, yurt, tent, car, tree house, storage container, if it’s living simple, it’s in here. More eye candy then education, this is a great book to relax with and dream of the possibilities that lay just outside your power lines.
I wasn't inspired on anything really. But this book did steel my resolve. Off-the grid living is for me. I want to have an awesome house in a very odd location for one.
I wasn't inspired on anything really. But this book did steel my resolve. Off-the grid living is for me. I want to have an awesome house in a very odd location for one.
April 24, 2025
Inspiring, beautiful pictures and some nice, if uneven short essays on living in yurts, tree houses, containers etc. More of a coffee table book, but a quick nice read too
January 21, 2021
Not as good as his previous book “Van Life” but it’s a beautiful book with stunning photos.
February 26, 2021
An evocative look at the lives and homes of those who live, to borrow a phrase from ‘60s songster Fred Neil, on the other side of this life. Admittedly, Neil’s song by that name has a deeper spiritual meaning. But in the sense that this idea refers to those who seek out another way of living—and another type of relationship with the earth--it’s an apt sentiment.
It sounds vain to say it, but this book reminded me of some of the things I was pursuing when I was younger. Back then, books like The Whole Earth Catalog, and later, the Co-Evolution Quarterly pointed the way. Saying that there was a “back to the land” movement only touches on how widespread that movement really was. From my vantage point a half a century or so on, the impact of that initial wave of interest continues to be felt.
So, nostalgia aside, Off Grid Life is a balanced and refreshing update on how things are going out there on the land. There’s more going on than you might think. Whole new generations are on the path, discovering myriad ways to live authentically and reconnect to the earth—and doing it.
And that thought alone is, to me, a very hopeful one.
It sounds vain to say it, but this book reminded me of some of the things I was pursuing when I was younger. Back then, books like The Whole Earth Catalog, and later, the Co-Evolution Quarterly pointed the way. Saying that there was a “back to the land” movement only touches on how widespread that movement really was. From my vantage point a half a century or so on, the impact of that initial wave of interest continues to be felt.
So, nostalgia aside, Off Grid Life is a balanced and refreshing update on how things are going out there on the land. There’s more going on than you might think. Whole new generations are on the path, discovering myriad ways to live authentically and reconnect to the earth—and doing it.
And that thought alone is, to me, a very hopeful one.
January 15, 2022
Don’t expect any instructions for starting off-grid life from scratch.
This is mostly a book of peaceful-looking pictures, which happened to help recovering from an inexplicable sense of doom and sadness.
The books discussed many options for living the off-grid life. Aside from a cabin (Ch1), you could also consider: Yurts (Ch2), Earthships (Ch3), Shipping Containers (Ch4), Treehouses (Ch5), Tiny Homes (Ch6), Boats (Ch7), Vehicles (Ch8).
To have beautiful views, structures with large windows are probably easier, Earthships would be out.
To get a sense of exploration and mobility, Boats and Vehicles win. Start dreaming with these chapters.
Side-note:
The preface and introduction gave me something unexpected, and that merited 4 stars. It's not even on the 'off-grid' topic - someone admitted that decades earlier he was swept up and preaching the superiority of a certain building structure, only to realize he could be completely wrong and abandoned that obsession, at a time when everyone else in the field were still enamored with the structure and thought it would solve all the environmental problems and achieve total world peace. That courage of unlearn old thing, and allowing for new perspective, could better help us to unstuck, than his previous posture of environmental crusaders' preaching.
This is mostly a book of peaceful-looking pictures, which happened to help recovering from an inexplicable sense of doom and sadness.
The books discussed many options for living the off-grid life. Aside from a cabin (Ch1), you could also consider: Yurts (Ch2), Earthships (Ch3), Shipping Containers (Ch4), Treehouses (Ch5), Tiny Homes (Ch6), Boats (Ch7), Vehicles (Ch8).
To have beautiful views, structures with large windows are probably easier, Earthships would be out.
To get a sense of exploration and mobility, Boats and Vehicles win. Start dreaming with these chapters.
Side-note:
The preface and introduction gave me something unexpected, and that merited 4 stars. It's not even on the 'off-grid' topic - someone admitted that decades earlier he was swept up and preaching the superiority of a certain building structure, only to realize he could be completely wrong and abandoned that obsession, at a time when everyone else in the field were still enamored with the structure and thought it would solve all the environmental problems and achieve total world peace. That courage of unlearn old thing, and allowing for new perspective, could better help us to unstuck, than his previous posture of environmental crusaders' preaching.
February 20, 2021
This was a very interesting books on alternative ways to live. From cabins, yurts, treehouses and vehicles there really isn't only one way to find a place to call home, or a lifestyle that has to fit the 'norm' That is not to say that these options would be something I'd like to do (although the treehouses did fascinate me) I enjoyed seeing another side of living. I highly recommend this book, it is filled with insight and photos.
June 9, 2021
This book was not in my TBR. I saw it at the library and picked it up. I figured I'd flip through it. I did. While I was at it, I looked at all the pictures and read each essay. I read it in one sitting. I would describe it as a photography book with short essays.
Each highlighted home is unique. The essays examined the motivations of people who moved off-grid and some of the practical components of actually doing it. It felt real and earthy. I'm glad I picked it up.
Each highlighted home is unique. The essays examined the motivations of people who moved off-grid and some of the practical components of actually doing it. It felt real and earthy. I'm glad I picked it up.
July 17, 2022
A very inspiring book with stories of people who live offgrid in different ways. Tiny house, boat, container, motor home, yurt, earthship, ... You won't find information here on how to get by with water, electricity, heating in these buildings; but it will encourage you to start thinking about housing and living differently. There are many wonderful photographs in the book.
The most inspiring book for me this year.
The most inspiring book for me this year.
August 4, 2025
Read little by little as I dream up new ways of living that has helped me in this latest phase of changes. Loved the cabins and tiny homes.
"Pay attention to how the sun moves across the sky and which way the wind comes from."
"Pay attention to how the sun moves across the sky and which way the wind comes from."
January 17, 2021
Brief interviews proceed pages of glowing photography and nuggets of inspiration for alternative dwelling. My off-grid compound will most definitely include a treehouse.
April 18, 2021
Interesting survey of how people can live on their own terms. Felt a bit light at the end though compared to the beginning.
September 15, 2021
Cool photo essay book of various off grid homes - yurts, boats, tree houses, earth sheltered, vehicles, etc.
July 1, 2022
This book is a great way to see some really unique ways of living and get inspired to modify your lifestyle in small or large ways.
August 2, 2022
Really cool book! Great perspective
October 16, 2022
Tohle bych označila jako celkem bezvýznamnou knížku - čekala jsem zajímavé příběhy, krásné fotky a atmosféru, ale nic z toho se mi vlastně nedostalo. Nebo snad je trošku.
May 5, 2025
Lots of pictures, zero plans. More about the lifestyle than the buildings.
December 17, 2025
A little more discussion and practical suggestions would have made this four stars for me.
December 31, 2025
Great pictures and good stories
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews