ISBN 978-0-9549171-6-6. "Wind & Solar Electricity - a practical DIY Guide" was published by the Low Impact Living Initiative in late 2009. Your £10 will buy you 187 pages which includes Introduction, ten chapters, appendix and index. There are a large number of illustrations throughout but, other than the front cover, nothing is in colour which reflects the non-profit nature of LILI. The LILI mission is to "help people reduce their impact on the environment, improve their quality of life, gain new skills, live in a healthier and more satisfying way, have fun and save money" all of which is totally laudable. We must pay them a visit sometime as they are based in Winslow not far from us in Buckinghamshire, UK. No doubt many a Transition Towner has been through their doors. Andy's book is a perfect result of the "gain new skills" part of that mission. Indeed the "practical DIY guide" subtitle is the real clue here. This is the second LILI book we have reviewed and the second by Andy. Although duty-bound to 'cheer-on' LILI we expect the most useful skills (that many of us will be learning) would center around the garden and chicken-raising. A glance through the many services supplied by LILI we can spy such topics as making biodiesel, composting toilets, rammed earth building, sustainable sewage, building yurts and pig keeping......

....so it is largely aimed at the converted. Nothing wrong with that as long as we don't all come over as too esoteric and start reinforcing prejudices. Sustainable living has to become the predominant paradigm if it is to sustain everyone all of the time. Since the tide has largely surged in the other direction most of us have been dragged under without even knowing. Some of ...   more »