Interview With Walden on Wheels' Ken Ilgunas, Plus a FIVE BOOK Giveaway!
Today is a very special blog post, as it features both an interview with Ken Ilgunas, inspirational author of Walden on Wheels: On The Road From Debt to Freedom (New Harvest Publishing ) and a five book giveaway!
I'd been hearing about this book from all over the blogosphere, so put it on hold at the library. Expecting yet another I-did-this-social-experiment-for-a-year style of publication, I was pleased to discover the book to be so much more than what I'd anticipated. Ilgunas was living and chronicling his unconventional life with the specific goal in mind of rapidly paying off his crushing $32,00o student loan debt. (A subject frighteningly near and dear to my heart as my older son starts college next year!) After meeting that goal, he then entered a Master's Degree program. However, being too familiar with the perils of student debt, Ilgunas chose to secretly live in a van instead of traditional housing.
I don't want to give too much away, as the book is a better read if you don't know everything ahead of time. Suffice it to say, Ilgunas now holds a Master's Degree and is gloriously debt free.
Ilgunas was kind enough to take the time to answer a few questions right before heading off for a month-and-a-half long British adventure.
Unlike many stunt journalists, who take on an extreme lifestyle change for a specific one-year period, your project did not have a finite beginning and ending. Are you still "vandwelling," and do you see yourself ever becoming a homeowner or living a more traditional life?
I still have the van, but I'm not vandwelling anymore. I'm living with a retired friend in North Carolina on a small farm, where I barter labor for room and board. Like living in a van, it's an affordable lifestyle, but now I have my own bathroom and Wi-Fi. I'll probably come to be an owner of a (small) home at some point, but I'm not so sure about ever having a traditional lifestyle. I like going on adventures and writing books, and I plan on doing that for the foreseeable future. But who knows? There are many stages to life, and I must acquiesce to my soul's shifting priorities.
What advice would you give to people who are unable to afford college without taking out massive student loans?
Well, most everyone can afford college if we're responsible consumers. The average public in-state tuition is $8,500 a year and the average scholarship and grant aid is $5,500. That means that tuition at a respectable school costs about $3,000 a year, which is very manageable, especially if we commute from our parent's home. But debt, for many, is unavoidable. In that case, work part-time, live frugally, and don't go any more than $25,000 in debt. Any more than that and it's going to be a pain paying it off. (Source)
You wrote that the required secrecy of living in a van during grad school limited your ability to socialize and make friends. How would you do things differently if you could turn back the clock?
I'm four parts hermit and one part social person, so the aloneness was only tough during severe social droughts. For the most part, I enjoyed the solitude. And honestly, the loneliness had little to do with my secret and the van, and much to do with the fact that I was going to Duke, where the great majority of the student body is insanely career-driven and success-oriented. As a proud and self-avowed idler, I just found it difficult to make connections. I might have been better off at a smaller liberal arts school, where economics and business weren't the most popular majors.
Have the responses to your book and various interviews/articles surprised you in any way? Any backlash or negative reaction?
I suppose I'm a little surprised with the continued interest in my story, especially considering it's been over two years since I lived in the van. But I'm not complaining. I knew it was a good story, and that's why I was eager to share it. Surprisingly, there hasn't been much of a negative reaction, except for people complaining about the vulgarity in the book. It's true-it's plenty vulgar. But I wanted to write this book with a twenty-something's voice who'd grown up in hockey rink locker rooms. It would have been dishonest to assume a voice different from my own. I think we all have sick, twisted, hormone-fueled thoughts, and, in as a first-time memoirist, I saw it as my duty to present to others a clean view into another person's mind.
Have you heard from anyone else who is following your lead to find alternative housing while in college?
I'm not sure they're following my lead, but once in a while I'll get an email from someone saying they're doing something similar. I think that's great-it's a great way to save money, and it's a great learning experience in and of itself.
Is your mother more accepting of your life choices and hitchhiking now that your book has come out?
I think having a book deal and being on Jay Leno helps validate some of my more eccentric goals. And yes, I think it's definitely easier to stomach when crazy goals and dreams become possible book deals, which I can use to continue a financially independent and responsible life.
I did a quick browse through your blog about walking the Keystone Pipeline. Do you have plans to turn that experience into a book?
To enter to win one of five copies of Walden on Wheels, write your name in the comments section along with the name of your favorite inspirational book. I will randomly choose five winners Sunday, September 15th at 7 P.M. P.S.T. Please enter one time only.
Good luck! And a huge thank you to the fine folks at New Harvest Publishing for providing the giveaway books!
Katy Wolk-Stanley
"Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without."
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I just finished this great book and I highly recommend this autobiography!
A Chance in the World by Steve Pemberton
nalani
Radical Homemakers!
My name is Sarah, and one of my favorite inspirational books is The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin.
Slow Death by Rubber Duck
Lauren Kelly
Animal Vegetable Miracle - Barbara Kingsolver
Becoming Odyssa.
Simplify Your Life by Elaine St. James.
During a difficult decade (90's) she taught me I didn't need to keep up with the rest of the world, just my own little space. Made all the difference. I must have read that book a hundred times.
I loved this book! One of my favorite inspirational books is The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin.
Currently reading "Quitter" by Jon Acuff, feeling motivated to quit. 🙂
Simplify Your Life by Elaine St. James.
During a difficult decade (90's) she taught me I didn't need to keep up with the rest of the world, just my own little space. Made all the difference. I must have read that book a hundred times.
Yay Katy! I loved this book and would like my own copy.
Life-changing for this suburban girl: Your Money Or Your Life
Sara Schlageter
Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder
Currently reading "Quitter" by Jon Acuff, it has me planning to quit!
Great interview!
"Tales of a Female Nomad," by Rita Golden Gelman, is one of the most inspirational books/memoirs ever. She remade her life in middle age, after her kids moved out and she was divorced, to become a true world citizen, and she did it on very little money.
My favourite is still The Tightwad Gazette.
I would love to read this book!
Simple Abundance A Daybook of Comfort and Joy
Sarah Ban Breathnach
I go by KD and the inspirational book I have read most recently is Under the Overpass. I have read too many good ones in my life to narrow it down.
So many favorites it's difficult to pick just one...but the latest inspirational book I read was "One Square Inch of Silence" by Gordon Hempton.
Becky in Cincinnati
Into the Wild is still my favorite after all these years. The Alchemist is a close second. 🙂
The Tightwad Gazette by Amy Dacyczyn but I would love to find another favorite in this book!
Tara
The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin
So many favorites it's difficult to pick just one...but the latest inspirational book I read was "One Square Inch of Silence" by Gordon Hempton.
Oops, sorry to post twice...the website blinked out on me and I thought the first one didn't go through.
I've been hearing about this book everywhere. I'd love to get a copy.
I'm going to second radical Homemakers as the last book that made me say "Hell Yeah!".
Sounds like a great book! I like the Tightwad Gazette
KD, and I recommend Under the Overpass.
I love The Tightwad Gazette by Amy Dacyczyn. I have all 3 books because when I was a consumer, I had to have these books.
I also enjoy The Simple Dollar by Trent Hamm. He has little pieces that can help in everyday life.
Diane Crowley Young
Ric Edelman's "Ordinary People, Extraordinary Wealth"
(Sorry, Amy!)
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver
Patti Hall
"Your Money or Your Life" by Joe Dominguez and Vicki Robin started me on this path.
I would love a copy. My favorite inspirational book is the original Walden by Thoreau.
Annie Hillman
"Autobiography of a Face" by Lucy Grealy
I loved "The Music Lesson" by Victor Wooten. More of a autobiographical story than a how too book, The Music Lesson somehow brings the magic of what it takes to create good music into the magic of what it takes to live a good life. You don't have to be a musician to love it!
I second "Your Money or Your Life." 🙂
My name is Christie and most recently, my favorite inspirational book is Happiness at Home, by Gretchen Rubin. It inspired me to live more fully by appreciating my surroundings and being myself.
My name is Suzanne Percy and my favorite inspirational book is "Anybody Can Do Anything" by Betty Macdonald.
I read about the vandwelling before and would love to read the whole book!
I was inspired by Bootstrapper: From Broke to Badass on a Northern Michigan Farm by Mardi Jo Link. Really engaging book about Mardi's struggle to keep her kids clean and full and her farm intact as her marriage ends.
I'm Laura! I read about the vandwelling before and would love to read the whole book!
I was inspired by Bootstrapper: From Broke to Badass on a Northern Michigan Farm by Mardi Jo Link. Really engaging book about Mardi's struggle to keep her kids clean and full and her farm intact as her marriage ends.
First Person Rural by Noel Perrin. Essays about rural life.
I love "Living the Savvy Life" by Melissa Tosetti and Kevin Gibbons... lots of dog-eared pages and underlined sections in my copy.
I loved the Tightwad Gazette! The most important thing I learned from that book is Creative Deprivation.
Shelly Nelson
Hi!
My name is Ashley and my favorite inspirational book is Happy Money: The Science of Spending Smarter by Elizabeth Dunn. Not a frugal living book but it gives a lot of interesting information about how some forms of spending makes us happier than other forms.
I'd have to say The Happiness Project, but I've just started The Nerdist Way, and that's inspirational, too!
Lisa M
Living the Savvy Life
The Tightwad Gazette books - I read all three as a newlywed and they have helped me tremendously! I even got to meet Amy D.!
Sara E.
The book of James in the Bible for spiritual. And Financial Peace by Dave Ramsey for financial.
Last Child in the Woods, by Richard Louv. Very interesting!
Leonore
Stephanie Robinson. Probably Real Food by Nina Planck
I agree with him on the student debt - I see the millenials in my office - and I'm a very young gen x - and they have way, way too much debt - partly because they thought they deserved to go away to school or it was beneath them to commute from home (which is what I did) and I graduated debt free, thanks very much.
Just wanted to say that I, too, checked this book out from the library this summer, and I really liked it. It was interesting, inspiring, funny, non-preachy, and I look forward to reading more of Mr. Ilgunas' work in the future.
Laura Heitkamp :]
I'm re-reading Possum Living right now, I love that one.
Also making a list of books through the comments to take to the library later!
My favorite is also The Tightwad Gazette.
I need to read this book. I wish if focused on student debt pay off before I had kids. It is super lame to be making huge loan payments no that I'm a stay at home mom!!
Bonnie
Confessions of a Slacker Mom - Muffy Mead-Ferro
There are many books which I have found inspirational but one I have read recently is _Devoted: The Story of a Father's Love for His Son_ by Dick Hoyt. He's the guy who runs marathons and does Ironman competitions hauling his son Rick, who has cerebral palsy.
Ann Leach
The Babysitting Co-op
My favorite inspirational book changes as my immediate goals change. At this time, I am kicking off a babysitting co-op in my new community.
Great interview! I'll have to do a search for the book. Living in a small country town in Australia has its challenges.
This sounds like an awesome read. Jessica Streng - Victor Frankle's 'Man's Search For Meaning'
This sounds great. I wish I had a debt-free Master's Degree. 😉 So far, the inspirational book that has changed my habits most is "Food, Inc."
This book sounds great!
My most recent inspirational read was 'Wild' by Cheryl Strayed. 🙂
A couple of my favorite inspirational reads are "Girl Meets God" by Lauren Winner and "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle" by Barbara Kingsolver.
Emily Nevill
The one that I come back to time and time again when I need a little frugal inspiration is The Tightwad Gazette.
--Alyson
Amanda Carter
I have to bow to the inspirational classics: any Tightwad Gazette!
Kelly Malone.
The Backyard Parables ~~ Margaret Roach
I'm Lori. What a cool kid - he's giving us good info on how to manage the expense of college. I've got a daughter who is a junior in high school, so I'm definitely starting to fret. One of the books I find inspirational is the original Walden, by Thoreau. "To affect the quality of the day, that is the highest of arts".
Amy Dunn
I'll go with "Zero Waste Home" for my current favorite inspirational title!
I was really inspired by Radical Homemakers, which I read last year and then enjoyed revisiting during the discussion on your fb page. Love thinking of nonconsumerism as hip, intentional, and well, radical, not old-fashioned and boring. Thank you for offering this contest!
Kathy Mayin
The first book that came to mind was "Wild". Lately, I have been reading Thich Nhat Hanh and find his teachings very inspiring.
Most inspirational book Let's Roll by Lisa Beamer. Her husband Todd was in the plane on 9/11 that went down in PA. Her faith and strength are amazing.
The original Walden by Henry David Thoreau. I read it in high school English class and was deeply inspired by the author's contentment with nature, simplicity and being alone. I do count it as the most influential (non-religious) book that I've ever read.
Jeana Macleod
Animal, Vegetable Miracle is my go to inspirational re-read
I'm Molly, and I'm going to go with "Icebound", by Jerri Neilsen. Because she was an awesome and inspiring woman. Makes me feel like I can do anything.
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I enjoyed reading The New Good Life by John Robbins.
I have read so many good ones! This book is on my Amazon wish list......I am hoping to get it used or WIN IT. Right now I have been reading Gretchen Rubin's books.
Voluntary Simplicity, by Duane Elgin. It really started it all for us, back in the early 1980's. 🙂
Beth
Someone gave me an illustrated copy of "Desiderata" when I graduated high school in the early 80s, and I STILL think back on meaningful passages. The poem has been around a long time, but the lessons are timeless.
Hi! Eat, Pray, Love is my favorite inspirational book.
Tamara Watson
Early Retirement Extreme...Jacob Fisker
Lorraine - You Can Heal Your Life by Louise Hay
Your money or your life and Living more with less.
Penelope Samuel
The Good Life Lab by Wendy Tremayne
I have to admit that i love Animal Vegetable Miracle. It's the right mix of good heart and "year-long" stunt and written by a fiction writer, so it has some professional author cred, too.
"The Places You'll Go" - Dr. Suess
Jennifer - Omnivore's Dilmemma, Michael Pollan
I will read this book one way or another 😉
My favorite inspirational book is " 'Tis" by Frank McCourt.
"The Scavengers' Manifesto"
The Tightwad Gazette..........was really great !!!!!!!!!! THANKS
Okay, I'm going with Zero Waste Home.
Tracy Stone
I've always been a bookworm, so picking just one book, hoo, that's hard! One that I just read that inspired me was Happier at Home, by Gretchen Rubin. I can always use a reminder that I have more control than I think about my own happiness, and when I'm happier that ripples out to everyone With whom I come in contact. So many other books have influenced my journey. I'd love to read this one!
sounds like a good one.
Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder about the work of Paul Farmer and Partners in Health, about TB and HIV in Haiti and beyond, very inspirational (and I'm going to hear Kidder TONIGHT!! woohoo)
Just finished "The End of Your Life Book Club" and was very inspired!
So many! Most recent, Happier at Home by Gretchen Rubin
One of my favorite books is Sinner by Lino Rulli! Great book, I highly recommend it!
Wow, this sounds like an awesome book to read!
The Tightwad Gazette is my favorite 🙂
Disability is Natural by Kathie Snow
Dianna
168 hours: You Have More Time Than You Think
Omnivore's Dilemma or, most recently, The Little Way of Ruthie Leming (Rod Dreher).
I keep thinking about Gretchen Rubin's The Happiness Project even a couple years after reading it.
Can't wait to get a copy of Walden on Wheels that I have on hold at the library.
One of my fave, and I can't for the life of me remember the authors name, is Simple Abudance. Also the original Walden be Thoreau.
My personal favorite book is "Plastic-Free: How I Kicked the Plastic Habit and How You Can Too" by Beth Terry. Reading her book helped me get plastic out of my life. Meeting her showed me what one person can do to make a huge difference.
Would love to win a book. Thanks for the offer Katy!
I'd love to read this book! Hope I can win a copy!
My favorite inspirational book is Dave Ramsey's "Financial Peace"
I would love to win a copy, just heard about it a week ago. Another memoir that I really enjoyed was "The World Needs More Pie" by Beth Howard.
I am inspired by Making It: Radical Home Ec for a Post Consumer World by Kelly Coyne and Eric Knutsen. Would love to win a copy of Walden on Wheels. Thanks for the opportunity!
Probably the most inspirational book I've ever read was A Wrinkle In Time. This looks like a great read, though! I can see why it was necessary to stay quiet about vandwelling but I still think it's a shame that there's so little discussion about affordable student housing options if you don't live with parents nearby. Thanks for the giveaway!
This looks super interesting! The most recent inspiring book I've read is Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver. Fascinating...
Amanda
Ice by Ice-T
Karen Taylor
Your Money or Your Life by Robins and Dominguez is a favorite inspirational book. I actually completed the exercises in it more than a decade ago and I think it was a pivotal time for changing my perspective on the value of consumerism versus minimalism.
Thanks for the chance at winning a copy of Walden on Wheels- sounds like going off the grid and hitting the road....right up my alley 🙂
Samantha Ryan
My most recent favorite inspirational book has been "Steering By Starlight" by Martha Beck.
Kathleen
Confessions of an Eco sinner: tracking down the source of my stuff by Fred Pearce
Two books that I have found to be a wonderful Inspiration are Extreme Simplicity: Homesteading in the City and Radical Homemakers: Reclaiming Domesticity From A Consumer Culture. The first book is about a couple that homesteaded in Los Angeles and shows what is possible for self-sufficiency in a city. The second book Radical Homemakers is inspiring and it really made me reevaluate what my priorities and values really were. I also have Walden on Wheels on hold at my Library and would LOVE a chance to win it, thanks for the chance.
Too many to mention. But here are a few.
Oh, the places you'll go
The Tightwad Gazette
The Secret--( not the one you're thinking of. It's about motivational coaching)
The Tweilfth Angel
Awesome! I used to read this guy's blog years ago (up until a few months before he went on the farm) and was just talking about it the other day. We currently live in an RV and were talking about maybe doing the conversion van thing instead - smaller, more manageable. Anyway, I don't have a favorite inspirational story but I did read Bill Bryson's books (A Walk in the Woods) and one or two more which were good. Hermann Hesse is my favorite author and he write fiction 🙂
Beth moore ; get out of that pit!
Rachel Carson - Silent Spring... Changed the way I live my life.
Bettina Schaden
Another vote for "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle" by Barbara Kingsolver.
"Animal, Vegetable, Miracle" by Kingsolver has probably had the most impact on my life. I love memoirs and would love to win this book!
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. I love a story in that period and the constant examples of resiliency!
This books looks great, will reserve it at the library in case I don't win. My favourite inspirational book is The Happiness Project, by Gretchen Rubin. It literally made me stop and think.
Kerrie
I just put this book on my list of books I'd like to read! I recently read A Simple Act of Gratitude by John Kralik - it helped me to really start counting my blessings 🙂
I recall an earlier article he wrote..."Get Rich Slowly"
My favorites is Everyday acts & Small Subversions, by Andee Hochman.
Sacred economics.
The China Study....trying to live in a whole food plant based world is not easy though.
The book that opened my eyes was Exploring New Ethics for Survival: The Voyage of the Spaceship Beagle by Garrett Hardin. I read the book back in the 70s and saw our planet a whole new way.
Leenie Hobbie would LOVE to win a copy of this book. Favorite current inspirational read is Goatwalking by Jim Corbett. 😉
Your Money or Your Life and Omnivore's Dilemma are two that have shaped my life.
My favorite is The Tightwad Gazette.
My Life in France by Julia Child is my favorite inspirational book. It's a wonderful account of a life well-lived.
Mt pick for financial inspiration would be be Money Rules by Gail Vaz-Oxlade.
Lisa
I recently read Pandora's Lunch Box which is making me look closely at everything we eat.
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. Barbara Kingsolver
Hard to put the top title on anything but 2 books I read last year that I loved were Wild and Animal, Vegetable, Miracle.
Inspirational book? Drives of a Lifetime.
I'm currently on hold at the library, so I'd love to have my own copy. Probably my favorite inspirational book is YOUR MONEY OR YOUR LIFE -- Shannon
Hi, my name is Anne Weber-Falk and the book(s) that most inspire me are the Little House books by Laura Ingalls Wilder. When money is tight I think about what Caroline did to make things stretch for her family. I think about how they all lived in that one room dugout. That snaps me out of any gloom I might be feeling pretty quick. If I may, I want to add the series of Tightwad Gazette books too. When my children were small I used her ideas all the time.
Joan Sutton
My favorite inspirational book is the entire Tightwad Gazette series. It made me see frugality as a joyful choice, not a punishment.
I'm Christine Cole and my most inspirational book is a religious book called Desperate: Hope for the Mom Who Needs to Breathe. Really helped me during this season of my life. This book looks amazing though. A good friend of mine was very involved with studying the Keystone Pipeline and the environmental impacts. I'd love to lend this to her!
I am ellen,
I dont' know that I have a inspirational book. I love to read, but not sure I have one that has inspired me...
but I would still like a chance to win...
I quite like Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, as do lots of other people, I see from the comments!
I loved:
See You in a Hundred Years: Discover One Young Family's Search for a Simpler Life . . . Four Seasons of Living in the Year 1900 Paperback
by Logan Ward
Alison
I always go back to "Writing Down the Bones" by Natalie Goldberg
My name is Rachel Krom. I read Ken's book from the Library as well and would love my own copy.
I think the book that is most inspiring to me is by CrimeThinc. It is called Days of War, Nights of Love and has this one line that I love.
"What I am begging you to do here is not to put faith in the impossible, but have the courage to face that terrible possibility that our lives really are in our own hands, and to act accordingly"
The book that was transformative for me was "Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger" by Ronald Sider. Read it in college when it was just out and now its on its 5th or 6th edition.
I'd love for my son, in his first semester of college, to read this along with me. He's living at home, going to one of the top 3 community colleges in the country, to get his prerequisites done on the cheap before transferring to the University.
Your Money or Your Life -- it's a classic!
Cyndi
The Man Who Planted Trees
Jennifer Stringfellow
Even though they are young adult novels from the turn of the 20th century, The Anne of Green Gables series were instrumental for me as a teen. These books inspired me to be my own unique self, and make no apologies for who I am or whether or not I had the material things coveted by my peers.
Ditto on a number of books listed above... I am reading Off The Grid by Nick Rosen and have found it fascinating and inspirational. 180 degrees south, is a movie I loved watching and don't know if it is a book.
Jenny
I have to add to the pile who choose Your Momey Or Your Life
I definitely agree with some of the others that The Tightwad Gazette has inspired me to be a joyful frugal girl.
The last book that made me think of doing things differently was Wild: from lost to found on the pacific crest trail
Mary
I vote for Animal Vegetable Miracle and also Tightwad Gazette.
Love the chance to win this book, totally intrigued by this post, checked out his photos and now I want to know more!
Mary
I vote for Animal Vegetable Miracle and also Tightwad Gazette.
Love the chance to win this book, totally intrigued by this post, checked out his photos and now I want to know more!
My name is Claire Mulvey and this book sounds incredible! I am fresh out of college and I did a lot of tricks to try to avoid debt (I made it out with only about $10,000 so I think I did pretty well.)
My favorite inspirational book so far has to be In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan. Although I have gotten a lot out of various nonfiction books, too. If this blog were a book I'd have chosen that 😉
Katy, interesting interview! Thanks, as always, for something to think about. I'm enjoying everyone's book recommendations, too.
I don't think I can choose just one favorite inspirational book, so here are a handful that have profoundly affected me:
The Tightwad Gazette (complete series) - Amy Dacyczyn
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle - Barbara Kingsolver
An Everlasting Meal - Tamar Adler
Not Buying It - Judith Levine
The Not So Big House - Sarah Susanka
Pieces of White Shell - Terry Tempest Williams
"Fast Food Nation" by Eric Schlosser ...this is the first book I read that really started opening my eyes to what was going on in the U.S. with the food supply, Big Agriculture, etc. Totally changed the way I thought about food and led me to many more insightful books.
And I have to give a shout out to "The Complete Tightwad Gazette"!! Completely changed my attitude towards money...
Too many inspirational books to list here, so let me say that the most recent one was Katherine Boo's Behind the Beautiful Forevers.
Love reading others' favorites. Not very original, but I will be the 40th or so person recommending Your Money or Your Life and the Tightwad Gazette. They are true classics. My Tightwad is terribly dog-eared and marked up. I take it as a point of pride.
Naming my favorite inspirational book is a tough call as I'm more of a faction reader. How about "Lolita" because it's the first book I remember being awed by the language... and maybe was the inspiration for some raunchy high school jokes.
My favorite inspirational book is "The Omnivore's Dilemma" by Michael Pollan and also I really enjoy Katie Couric's book "The Best Advice I Ever Got."
Would love a "free" copy as I have been wanting to read this book and just graduated with my masters degree with far too much student loan debt.
Callings by Gregg Levoy (an absolutely inspirational book about uncovering and listening to what calls to us in life rather than following "shoulds" or "musts")
Bonnie Kloos-best book lately was I hate my Neck by Nora Ephron.
One of my favorite books is "a walk for sunshine" which is about a man who walks the Appalachian Trail to raise money for his brothers group home.
One of my favorites is The Little Prince by St. Exupery. I've recently rediscovered it on my granddaughter's book shelf. It works as a children's book and also as a study for how to live in this world and be a good person.
A book that is impossible to put down is "left to tell". It chronicles the months that a Rwanda woman spent hiding in a bathroom with three other woman while her country was consumed in a genocide war. One of my favorite books, her story is unbelievable. Undaunted courage is a non fiction read about Meriweather Lewis and tells the story of the Lewis and Clark expedition, talk about roughing it!
I love the book, You Can Buy Happiness and It's Cheap by Tammy Stobel. I checked this book out from the library. Love it:)
My favorite would probably be The Tightwad Gazette. Thanks, Kathleen Tillotson
Books which have really inspired me are
Your Money or Your Life - Vickie Robin and Joe Dominguez
Early Retirement Extreme
Simple Living by Janet Luhrs
Tales of a Female Nomad by Rita Golden Gelman
Wild by Cheryl Strayed
Zen Under Fire by Marianne Elliott
I would have to say, A Sand County Almanac by Aldo Leopold. 🙂 thanks for your great blog! Sandra Jensen
My favorite inspirational book is the Bible. It's chok full of failed humans doing asinine things and yet still being used by God!
A favorite, that's high on my list is:
Comfort Me with Apples: Love, Adventure and a Passion for Cooking by Ruth Reichl
Also a favorite is:
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life by Barbara Kingsolver
Both about food..but in very different ways. And they inspire me to cook, grow my own, and pay attention to what I'm eating.
Inspiration comes from all sorts in my house 😉
My favorite non consumer inspirational book has to be The Complete Tightwad Gazzette.
My favorite non consumer type book is The Complete Tightwad Gazzette
I would have to say the tightwad gazette is my favorite and the book that started me on my journey. I would love to win a copy of walden on wheels though 🙂
The most inspirational book that comes to mind is "One Call Away" by Brenda Warner, Kurt Warner's wife. I never wanted it to end!
I love the Bucolic Plague by Josh Kilmer-Purcell.
I would LOVE to read this book but, unfortunately, they don't have a copy at my library. So please pick me!!!
Somehow I pressed Submit before I told you my book ~ I recently read Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer and it blew me away. I also loved the book, Farewell My Subaru....one of the funniest books I've ever read!
The book "Born to Run" inspired my children to take up running as a hobby 2 years ago and 3 marathons ago.
I would if I could, but instead I walk a lot more. Surprisingly fascinating read.
An odd choice but..
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
A few of my favorite inspirational books through the years have been Karen by Marie Killilea, The Hiding Place by Corrie ten Boom, and The Search for Significance by Robert S. McGee.
Fascinating! I remember my mother telling me that when she was in college in northern MN there was a guy who lived in an ice fishing house for most of the year and would couch surf during the more temperate times of year. I always admired that ingenuity.
To answer your question though: Animal Vegetable Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver. I don't care that she made up her own rules, she stuck to them and I learned a ton from that book. Doesn't hurt that it's incredibly well-written too.
I don't want to be entered in the contest, but I wanted to leave some "Walden on Wheels" love for Ken. I thoroughly enjoyed this memoir and can't wait to read the next installment of his adventures. I greatly admire the gumption it takes to live out your values no matter what!
I too have a well-loved, beat up copy of the Complete Tightwad Gazette and my very first book about the frugal life-style - Your Money or Your Life. But, also have to mention my third favorite - Getting a Life. I am looking forward to reading Walden on Wheels!
I read just a bit of his story in a magazine in the doctors office and have been sharing it ever since. I would love to read more!
Right now I'm reading Anne of Green Gables again and it's inspiring me to be more positive and creative in my outlook. I also just started Overdressed (about the 'costs' of cheap fashion) and it's amazing to learn about how our culture has changed so much. I'm always inspired by your blog to do better, to be smarter with my money and resources and take good care of things. Thank you!
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. Katie Nolan could do ANYTHING while living in poverty, and I just loved the tin can banks nailed in their closets.
Randy Pausch's Last Lecture.
I think it's Zero Waste Home by Bea Johnson. And maybe soon Walden on Wheels? The book sounds really interesting!
I'm not big on non-fiction but this book really sounds interesting to me.
My most inspirational book is actually fiction - To Kill a Mocking Bird by Harper Lee. It's still my favorite and Atticus's character still inspires me to do the right thing every day.
For inspiration, I always go back to "On the Road." Love me some Kerouac. 🙂 And of course there's always "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance."
I wouldn't call it quite as inspirational, but my favorite book in the history of books is "The Sun Also Rises." In fact, now that I think of it, it's inspirational in its way, too -- it inspires me to write better, to live more, to love deeply. All this from Hemingway -- who knew? 😉
This one sounds fantastic, but I have a tie between inspirational books: The Art of Non-Conformity by Chris Guillebeau; and one I'm reading right now, Be A Free Range Human by Marianne Cantwell.
My most favorite book, this year, is Plan B, Further Thoughts on Faith, by Anne Lamott. It has nothing to do with saving money but everything to do with feeding my soul. I've read it twice and plan to read it again.
Thanks for the chance to win this interesting book!
I would love to read this book 🙂
My favorite book is Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey. If you follow his advice on debt payoff you won't be sorry!
I really started getting in to thrifty meets living off the earth meets recycle/reduce queen after reading Radical Homemakers by Shannon Hayes. It is a great read! ~ Erin B
Crap! I've been reading Ken since he started his vandwelling experience. I'd love to read his book. I guess I'll have to follow your lead and request it from the library since I can't seem to post a comment these days.
Favorite inspirational book, with huge apologies to Amy D, who was a close second (or perhaps it's because of her that I had any money to invest in the first place) ,"Ordinary People, Extraordinary Wealth" by Ric Edelman.
I would love to read Ken's book! My most recent inspirational book read is Thousand Mile Summer by Colin Fletcher. I am feeling some serious wanderlust and this book stoked the wanderlust fire even higher!
I loved Wild by Cheryl Strayed, I am not sure if she meant for it to be "inspirational" , but it's helped me to believe a little bit more in the kindness of strangers.
I love your blog. One thing we share is we both have our first child (my only child) getting ready to enter college next fall. I enjoy seeing what you're doing to get ready for this phase!
The Complete Tightwad Gazette is still my favorite inspirational book. Even though a lot of the articles are dated it's the philosophy behind the articles that make it a great book. My husband and I are Financial Peace University coordinators and I recommend several of the articles in the Tightwad Gazette to the people who participate in the classes.
The next favorite inspirational book is the Millionaire Next Door. I believe everyone should read this book to help them realize the little things we do every day can determine whether you're a millionaire or not.
Although I am years beyond my college and grad school days, I am interested in all alternative living arrangements. Recently retired and yearning to be unencumbered by my large and yet affordable home, I think my sincerely strong interest lies in the fact the older I get: the less I want/need/care to manage and the less titles mean. I think
I can learn from many vantage points and this book/author's experience would further that pursuit. I also hope to limit my footprint except through intangible ways for my daughter, niece and nephew. Love Katy's blog!!
Bloom by Kelle Hampton
My most inspirational book read was required reading in he fifth grade. Cry the beloved country. What an eye opening experience.
I'd love to read Ken's book. I loved reading his story in his blog. My current inspirational book is Gretchen Rubin's "Happiness at Home". Thanks!
I have read so many inspirational books, but I have to say the one that got me started on being passionate about living a thrifty lifestyle as a mom with 3 young kids was The Tightwad Gazette. Felt like I had found a soulmate; Amy made me feel proud of being frugal:)
I would have to say the book that got me started on being proud of having a thrifty lifestyle was The Tightwad Gazette. I was a young mom with 3 kids trying to work part time as a nurse, and felt like I had found a soulmate:). Would love to read Walden on Wheels, my kids are grown now, and struggling with college loans.
Definitely the Tightwad Gazette! And I am always inspired by cookbooks:)
Gifts from the Sea.
This Organic Life: Confessions of a Suburban Homesteader by Joan Dye Gussow
Animal Vegetable Miracle--what a fantastic book!
-Starr
The Tightwad Gazette (given as a gift) started it all for me!
I love the tight wad Gazzette books.
and the old cook books that have tips from way back when on how to save on doing different things.
Square Foot Gardening
The total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey. its changing my life.
The Bible.
The Tightwad Gazette has been one of my favorites for the past 15 years. I reread all three volumes regularly because they help me see my spending in fresh ways.
The 5 Lessons a Millionaire Taught Me
Animal, vegetable, miracle - I loved that book, might have to re-read it.
The Good Life - Helen and Scott Nearing
"Living the Savvy Life" by Melissa Tosetti and Kevin Gibbons
"The Joy of Less" by Francine Jay.
Made from Scratch, by Jenna Woginrich.
Forks Over Knives (the books AND the movie) inspired me to cook and eat more simple, real food - and that had a great snowball effect. Simplifying everything and getting back to what's real and important is now my biggest goal!
The Millionaire Next Door by Thomas Stanley.