Logan WardKirja-arvosteluja

This book was an enjoyable look at the author's attempt to live as if it were 1900. Though I have some negative feelings toward the genre I've heard dubbed "stunt memoir," I enjoyed hearing the author's experiences during the year. I wish he would have included more details (including his wife's experiences).

Logan and his wife, Heather, decided to leave their jobs and lives in New York City and take their 2-year old to Virginia to buy and live on a farm. Not only that, they were going to renovate the house to make it so that they would be living in the year 1900. They wanted to live this way for a full year.

I find these so interesting! There was a British tv show (which gave Logan and Heather the idea) called The 1900 House. Not long after, in Canada, there was a tv show called Pioneer Quest that took two couples and did pretty much what Logan and Heather did, except they went back a few years earlier to the 1880s, and they had to build their homes from scratch.

That being said, I found this really interesting. At the same time, considering the tv I’ve seen with similar topics, I wasn’t surprised at how difficult it was, as well as a huge reliance on (unpredictable) Mother Nature. It was nice to see the community and neighbours come together to help them out. The only thing is that I would have liked more in the epilogue – how much of hat they did/learned during that year did they continue with when they returned to the current day?

Logan Ward and his wife and two year old leave Manhattan to embark on an adventure where they try - as much as is possible - to live like dirt farmers in rural Virginia in the year 1900. They grow and preserve their own food, raise and milk a pair of goats and some chickens, and deal with a somewhat disdainful horse as their mode of transportation. What they didn't expect to necessarily find was such a supportive community, especially since they were newcomers to the area, and Yanks at that.

I really liked this book. I just wish there was more! I'm still really curious what happened to them after they rejoined the 21st century. Gonna have to see if Ward has a blog. :) It is in the same vein as Better Off, but the writing of See You in a Hundred Years is infinitely better and the book has much better structure. The only thing I wished for was a "cast of characters" because it got confusing which neighbor raised/did what and who was attached to whom. Other than that, I highly recommend this book to anyone who ever wanted to throw it all away and just be a subsistence farmer. A bonus is hearing about their two-year-old, Luther, who is hilarious.

Excellent. Great story about one family's "project" of living the way Americans did at the turn of the 20th century for one year. I'd recommend to anyone who values simple living or makes everyday, or even occasional, attempts at it. Heck, I wish a lot of the people I know who *don't* value simple living would read this book.

Of course, the whole tone of "See you in 100 Years" reflects the chronological nature of the project. As such, it's not so easily strung together under various themes or storylines, though the author tries to do both--particularly themes, which makes the story feel choppy. Sometimes I wanted to tell Ward, "Just let it FLOW!" because this book, at times, doesn't.

Besides that, though, I really like the Ward family's whole undertaking, and heartily approve of the way it unfolded. Obviously these two were New Yorkers, because I, a country girl by birth and at heart, could tell how bad they were at relaxing from the start. Happy to learn that they mastered its art by the end.

Have you ever wished you could leave the hustle and bustle of modern life behind and just be? Logan and Heather Ward did. So they sold their place in New York City and bought a farm in rural Virginia. Then they turned off the water and electricity, and spent a year living as though it was 1900. They raised goats for their milk, cheese and butter, planted a garden, canned enough to last through the winter, and used a horse, bicycles, or their feet for transportation. And yes, they used an outhouse, as did their potty-training young son.

See You In a Hundred Years is one of those We-did-something-crazy-so-I-could-write-a-book-about-it memoirs that I love. The results of the Wards' experiment are funny (they made a lot of mistakes) and inspiring (I will can more than four jars of jam next year!). Best of all is the relationships they develop over the course of the year: with their new neighbors, even the gruffest of whom turns out to be generous and kindhearted; with visiting friends and family who jump into the turn-of-the-century with varying degrees of enthusiasm and aplomb; and with each other.

Many of us yearn for the simple life and a return to gentler times. Journalist Logan Ward and his attorney wife Heather, tired of their stressful lives and lack of family time, made it a reality, living Manhattan behind not only for farm in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia but living as if it were 1900.

This book is an account of their year in the country, in 1900, beginning in June 2001 with their culture shock of both small town Virginia and living without the amenities and luxuries we daily take for granted. No more automobiles. No more running water. No more electricity. No cell phones or telephones. No microwaves, dishwasher, washing machine or dryer.

Most interesting to me are Logan's accounts of their daily lives - - with Logan pumping water from a well, milking goats, watching out for snakes and learning how to drive a horse and wagon; Heather cooking three meals a day on an old woodstove, handwashing clothing, including their two year old son's diapers, and keeping an energetic toddler at bay while accomplishing the daily chores. Additionally, both Logan and Heather deal with planting a garden of winter foods, drought, pest infestation (both in the garden and in the house) and safely canning enough food for winter.

While I wish there had been even more accounts of the day to day life, it was rewarding to hear of the Ward family writing letters to family and friends, as well as their evenings spent reading books aloud to each other or simply sitting on their front porch, enjoying both the quiet and their own company.

In the end, the Wards not only found a community that warmly welcomed them (and where they still are, albeit not in 1900) but strengthened their marriage and family. See You in a Hundred Years is a quick and easy read and very entertaining to boot, making the reader wish he could find his own piece of the Shenandoah Valley.

http://psychoticstate.blogspot.com/2009/07/psychotic-review-see-you-in-hundred.h...

It has taken me over 6 months to finish this book. I do like it, it's just kind of slow reading.

Have you ever felt so stressed out that you wished for simpler times? That’s exactly how Logan and Heather Ward felt. They were living in New York with their baby - Logan was a writer and Heather worked for a justice-reform think tank. They felt like they worked all the time, but were so stressed they never had time to enjoy anything. They decided to embark on a year long experiment and live like Americans did in 1900.

They decided that “If it didn’t exist in 1900, we will do without. And that means we’re not going to have e-mail, phone, computer, credit cards, utility bills, or car insurance.”

The Wards sold their apartment in New York and bought a farm in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. They had the electricity and water cut off and installed an outhouse and a wood cookstove. They bought goats for milk, a horse for transportation and seeds to plant. They did keep a phone in case of emergency, but kept it unplugged.

See You in A Hundred Years: Four Seasons in Forgotten America is Logan Ward’s account of their year. It is published by BenBella Books. Logan is brutally honest in his account. At the beginning things were very difficult and the relationship between Logan and Heather was strained. As the year progressed, they became more confident and more adept at the challenges they faced. The Wards made a lot of friends and developed a real sense of community.

Neighbors came to tell the Wards about the attack on the World Trade Center and Logan’s reaction was “Over the past few months, I have been calmed by the lack of twenty-first-century distractions and humbled by the power of nature. Like the weather, the terrorist attacks were beyond my control. All I can do is cling to the simple assurance of daily chores.”

This is a fascinating, well written book and I thorougly enjoyed it. It certainly gave me some things to think about. I found this article about their experiment. In it, Logan said the five things they missed the most were the kitchen sink, washing machine, music, a good pencil sharpener and sandals. The five things they didn’t miss at all were the refrigerator, television, telephone, daily news and processed food. Somehow, I think my lists would be different.

The author and his family take themselves off the grid for one year, trading the hustle of living in Brooklyn for the challenge of living like it's 1900 in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. Tackling challenges from driving an intimidating draft horse to using an outhouse in the middle of winter, the Ward family survives and even thrives.

Want to reassess your entire lifestyle? Read this book.½