This is a very interesting book, which questions the underlying presuppositions of modern life in America. The meaning of the title "Surviving Off Off-Grid" is that living "Off-Grid" with your own means to generate electricity, and source water, is not enough. He promotes the idea of living outside even that mindset, asking the question "How much do we really need electricity at all?" Naturally, we need it to refrigerate our food, right? Not so. He goes into the whole process of harvesting ice in the winter, and putting it in an ice-house, where it can be used for cooling in the summer. Also, by storing food alive "on-the-hoof", or in the ground, or in a hand-dug root cellar, it can be preserved better. Also, many foods can be fermented and naturally preserved in ways that do not require refrigeration. This is not for the feint of heart. This is hard-core homesteading at its best. Yet, is it really so revolutionary? After all, didn't our ancestors live like this for ages, before the advent of our overly-commercialized lifestyle? If you are seriously considering a change of lifestyle, reading this book is a great way to break the shackles in your mind, before you attempt to unplug yourself from the industrial treadmill.

The part I liked best about it was the suggestions for an alternative economy, where young people could indenture themselves with their labor to older landowners in the community, rather than to the banks, in order to start their own homestead. Inasmuch as the root of all economic slavery is the currency of the beast, any way in which we can disengage from that is a step in the right direction towards our ability to live free.

This is not a "how-to" manual on the methods of agrarianism, but more of a philosophical provocation, which provides hope that you can live without many of the chains which you might feel are so indispensable.

This book gets more to the matters of the heart which impede Christians from breaking free from slavery to the system. If we think that our lives are free from the taint of idolatry, this will make you think again. So many of the things that we take for granted in our value system, such as personal comfort and leisure, are here smashed as idols of the modern mind, impediments to a more spiritual life of self-denial and hard work. So many of the aspects of modern culture are linked to the ancient practices of idolatry, but they are refined and disguised in such a way that they seem perfectly innocuous.

While Michael Bunker is mostly famous for his practical application of an alternative lifestyle (and noble beard), this reveals more of his pastoral side, as it compiles various sermons related to the false idols of the modern mind. Much of his teaching can be found online on his blog or videos, but this book provides a handy package of some essentials.

Also see:

http://journal.michaelbunker.com/

http://www.lazarusunbound.com/

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=michael+bunker