Burned-out after years of doing development work around the world, William Powers spent a season in a 12-foot-by-12-foot cabin off the grid in North Carolina, as recounted in his award-winning memoir Twelve by Twelve. Could he live a similarly minimalist life in the heart of New York City? To find out, Powers and his wife jettisoned 80 percent of their stuff, left their 2,000-square-foot Queens townhouse, and moved into a 350-square-foot "micro-apartment" in Greenwich Village. Downshifting to a two-day workweek, Powers explores the viability of Slow Food and Slow Money, technology fasts and urban sanctuaries. Discovering a colorful cast of New Yorkers attempting to resist the culture of Total Work, Powers offers an inspiring exploration for anyone trying to make urban life more people- and planet-friendly. Burned-out after years of doing development work around the world, William Powers spent a season in a 12-foot-by-12-foot cabin off the grid in North Carolina, as recounted in his award-winning memoir Twelve by Twelve. Could he live a similarly minimalist life in the heart of New York City? To find out, Powers and his wife jettisoned 80 percent of their stuff, left their 2,000-square-foot Queens townhouse, and moved into a 350-square-foot "micro-apartment" in Greenwich Village. Downshifting to a two-day workweek, Powers explores the viability of Slow Food and Slow Money, technology fasts and urban sanctuaries. Discovering a colorful cast of New Yorkers attempting to resist the culture of Total Work, Powers offers an inspiring exploration for anyone trying to make urban life more people- and planet-friendly.
"All of us sense that we could live better, kinder lives. But Bill Powers has the courage to try to change and then - ever so artfully, without the slightest wag of a finger - to show us how."
- Colin Beavan, author of No Impact Man
"Bill Powers has done it again - taken us on an honest, touching journey into living lightly and intelligently in a distracted world. And he's such a good writer that we don't even know we are being educated, challenged, and changed."
- Vicki Robin, coauthor of the international bestseller Your Money or Your Life and author of Blessing the Hands That Feed Us
"The reenchantment of urban life - so compromised by the accelerated techno-industrial culture - takes work, and William Powers saves us a lot of time on the learning curve. Hats off, especially to his courage."
- Douglas Tompkins, founder of the North Face clothing company and the Foundation for Deep Ecology
"Empowered by his experiences, [Powers] gives readers an inside view into a more contemplative, ecofriendly life, no matter the environment. This honest, engaging memoir will please readers looking for inspiration to slow down."
- Library Journal
"In the City That Never Sleeps, in a place whose very definition of success is 'bigger, better, faster,' Powers attempts to lead a more deliberate life, to paraphrase Thoreau....Will his time spent off the grid in rural North Carolina prepare him for downsizing to a 340-square-foot micro apartment in the heart of Manhattan? With his new bride? Who soon becomes pregnant? Analyzing what it means to 'want what we want,' Powers turns his ecologically contemplative gaze both inward and outward, to matters both personal and global, to reconnect with those increasingly rare pockets of peace, tranquility, and mindfulness that will allow him to appreciate life at a slower pace and from a simpler vantage point. One need not live in a city to savor Powers' languid, albeit unconventional, advocacy for an unhurried pace."
- Booklist
"Is it possible to live an earth-friendly and spiritually fulfilling life in the middle of the bustle of a big city? William Powers and his wife are the perfect people to find out. I found that the tales of the remarkable people they meet, the challenges they confront, and the beauty and joy they discove
