Chapter 22

The last chapter is an appropriate ending to the book as it shows how the Brende family is able to find a place where they were they can minimize and adapt the amount of technology to their needs. They stay strong to their beliefs despite the community’s affinity for motorized and metallic things. In addition, I think it’s great they still used many of the laborsaving techniques they have learned from the Minimites, having to work about 3 hours a day for their livelihood. Nevertheless, I think the area will become more and more modernized, since supermarkets, bridge constructions and restaurants are all things that people in the community want. This might make it harder for the Brendes to maintain their simplistic way of living, and increase their need for technology. For example, with the supermarket now outside walking distance, they will need the car to get to do their shopping.
Having great role models in their parents, the children read a lot of books, and are very creative and helpful around the house. However, one thing that worries me, is that by living this different and aheltered lifestyle, an being homeschooled, they seem to miss out on a lot of social interaction and woder how that is going to affect them in the future.

Chapter 21

The fact that Mary is allergic to horses gives the two a reason to reconsider their stay, and it seems that Eric is the one that feels that he might not meet some of the requirements of the community. I am glad they've experienced their curiosity and now return to civilization to hopefully live a more fulfilling life. The decision to leave is an emotional one as they have learned a lot of lessons and have formed a lot of friendships throughout their time here. Most importantly, Eric found the answer to his question of how much technology is really needed: no more than what the Minimites were using. Overall it was a great learning experience and I hope they get to apply some of their findings in the modern world.

Chapter 20

Now the two are finally considering giving up the car in order to fully experience the Minimite lifestyle. Given that this represented their last thread of technology use, it was huge. Not being really sure when or how to go about that, it all worked out well since the license was out of order and they didn’t have insurance. They were able to sell it and with that money bought a horse and buggy. I understand that this was the whole purpose, but I think that limits them greatly, now they have no choice but to really spend their entire time in the community, without random escapades. Stripping their last technological resource, this may really mean they have decided to live here permanently. They are even signing papers to buy a farm, and with Wilbur being elected, things seem to fall into place. At the same time we see that not everyone is cut out for this lifestyle, with Bill returning to his old ways in the city.

Chapter 19

In this chapter I hope that Eric can he handle prioritizing and multitasking all the house chores. Maybe a little more technology would help give them a little more time to enjoy being a family and ease their responsibilities. I wonder if this would make them change their minds about using technology, especially since it looks like they are going to have more children in the future. With increased responsibilities from the new baby, Eric and Mary are having a hard time dividing the workload. Since Eric is the husband, it seems only normal that he would end up with the tasks more physical in nature, while Mary would take the easier ones around the household. I found a little contradicting the idea that Eric doesn’t mind driving a little more when he finds out that this puts the baby to sleep (and this is not even a main purpose of the technology they are trying so hard to escape).

Chapter 18

The helpfulness of the Millers is exhibited again through the lending of the horse in the beginning of the chapter. Eric is finally starting to come out of his funk, possibly because he is sensing the new birth about to take place. I believe they took a pretty high risk in choosing to give birth in the house, not in a hospital setting, where both the mother’s and the baby’s health could be constantly monitored. It doesn't even seem that they were agaist it, rather they didn't really have a choice since they didn't have insurance anymore. Happily everything turned out well, despite the feelings of despair that both Mary and Eric went through, with the irregularity of contractions and Eric’s car breaking down on his way to get the nurse. Funny how after all the physical endurance tests he has been trough lately, this birth was Eric's toughest test. The continued support from the Millers during and after the birth of little Hans is undeniable.

Chapter 17

In this chapter Eric seems to be fighting the winter blues. First he almost feels the need to justify himself in front of the wealthy man that bought a jar of molasses, feeling that he might have been perceived as a poor, lonesome “Amish”. Is it possible that he may be a little embarrassed of his current state? He also feels inappropriate around Sylvan, the one that has helped him a lot so far, being worried that the men might dislike him, considering him to be a freeholder, and possibly trying to make some money off of him. Then Mary gets upset at him for leaving the meat outside where the dog could steal it, despite her warnings.

Although irrelevant, I thought it was kind of funny how they couldn’t distinguish the chicken from the pork jars. It reminded me of Jessica Simpson’s famous line: “Is this chicken or fish?” The struggle with the chicken and smaller pot demoralized both Eric and Mary.

Having unsuccessfully tried to shake his blues by inviting himself for a game of bridge over at some acquaintances', towards the end of the chapter Eric is able to find a source of joy in sharing work with one of the Miller’s younger sons, Caleb. Maybe the slow pace of the season's activities is what caused his depression in the first place.

Chapter 16

Now that the summer and threshing season is coming to an end, the more relaxed activities of fall and winter begin to take place. Although Eric was worried that the pumpkins would ripen ahead of time and get bad before he has a chance to sell them, with a little haste in picking and storing them, he is able to make a nice profit. It is good to see that their efforts paid off and the goal of earning a living by the labor of their own hands is further achieved through the sorghum crop.

The slower winter season activities that include preparing meat and cutting cedars give everyone a chance to relax and unwind. This also gives Eric a little more time to spend with his wife that is getting ready to have a baby. The Lamaze exercises they do together makes their bond even stronger.

Chapter 15

As threshing continues, Eric tries to follow the workflow, measure productivity as well as leisure time. As meaningful conversations take place, questions come out about how human moods can make the work seem harder or easier, concept that can be applied to any work situation. As the heat becomes unbearable, work and conversation began taking a conscious effort.

Upon measuring a total of about nine and a half hours for a full day’s work, Eric recognizes that some of the workload could actually be reduced without losing profits. The Menonites were a profitable, debt-free community because of the very fact they didn’t use costly laborsaving equipment. Nevertheless, considering that threshing didn’t even pay what ended up happening is it was used for feeding the horses that were utilized in the process of threshing. In a way, horses replaced technology and they added costs that could be eliminated. After sharing with Wilbur his finding that there was no need for threshing or horses, Eric almost convinces him of reducing operations. However, this uncovers another belief of working for the sake of working, or for its intrinsic benefits. Furthermore, the fact that there is a resistance to think of ideas not related with the daily reality seems a little close-minded to me.
The chapter ends with a slightly disturbing accident where Eric finds out that a needle from Wilbur’s machine ran through Edward’s finger; although it doesn't seem clear from the text, I hope that was a just an accident and not a deliberate attempt to physically hurt someone.

Chapter 14

After returning from the trip, Eric finds himself performing the exhausting task of threshing during the unbearably hot summer days. This may be one the first times that he begins questioning the need for labor-saving motorized devices. I find kind of ironic that Eric spent all those years at MIT, getting his education, only to be subjected to this strenuous type work that an agrarian community entails, lifestyle that he chose for himself. Eventually, he rationalizes his lack of endurance as being caused by the fact that he lost his ability to cool himself down after being in air-conditioning during his trip. He gradually acclimatizes himself to the environment and is able to perform the work alongside the other men; getting lost in conversations, the physical tasks become automated without him even realizing it.

Toward the end of the chapter we can see that Eric is not only a good observant of characters, but also of nature. He says that wealthy westerners that feel the need to escape the frustrations of modern life by traveling to exotic locations could just as well rely on changes in weather for daily variety. While weather changes do bring variety, I don’t believe they are quite as relevant as seeing new places. Looking at it from a religious standpoint, why wouldn’t the Menonites be curious in visiting other beautiful places that God created?

Chapter 13

In this chapter we find out about the council, which is the Minimte form of government, where decisions are being taken regarding the amount of technology that should be used. The council takes into consideration the group’s needs, but its decisions are of course very much guided by the religious belief of “willingness” or “self-surrender”. Keeping the quietness, mindfulness and perceptivity, away from the impulse or irrationality of the modern world is essential to preserving this community. Issues ranging from the use of the telephone to land speculation and its aggressive purchase are being discussed here.

Finding out that educated but extreme Edward Pendleton, who is very convinced that the Minimite way is the only answer, Eric and Mary decide to keep an open mind and explore other options of living areas. I am happy to see that upon Eric’s mom’s suggestion, they are able to find a nice place near Topeka, that had some of the attributes they were seeking: quietness and social cohesion. Since there was no college here where Eric could teach for a living, maybe he would be able to use some of the skills he learned from living with the Minimites instead.

Chapter 12

In this chapter, Eric gets to know some of the neighbors on a more personal level. Once more this confirms the Menonite’s diversity in beliefs and their intensity. We also get to see a marriage that has issues and one where there is understanding. This goes to show that despite the lack of divorces, there is need for marital counseling, fact that was also mentioned earlier in the book. Digging deeper into their backgrounds, the neighbors may have different reasons for joining, but it seems as though they all had some bad experiences or disappointments with the modern world, which lead them here. For Edward it was the Vietnam war, while for Cornelius it was the futility of the struggle in the modern world. While Edward was a strong believer the group’s interpretation of the Scripture was the only correct one, Harvey’s religious beliefs were more relaxed. Edward’s strictness is further proven by how inflexible and tough he is with Bill, his employee. The meetings with the neighbors reinforce Eric’s perception that they are all in a quest for simplicity, which just makes sense to them. Are they really making things simpler though? Seems to me they are all putting in a tremendous amount of work in order to sustain themselves.

Chapter 11

The dating game describes a very traditional, conservative way that young unmarried guys and girls are allowed to interact in. It’s kind of cute how the guys are so bashful, and they have to go through all the trouble of requesting permission in writing from the girl’s parents to be able to see the girl, and then go on visits…it sounds like such a pain though! They probably must be so happy once the parents and the girl accept them, that they wouldn’t even think of pursuing another girl, which is probably not allowed in the community, given the zero divorce rate. This protective environment the Minimites created for their children is one of the main reasons why most of them decided to adopt this lifestyle. I wonder if these marriages are indeed happy ones since it sounds like the two are pretty inexperienced when it comes to knowing what they want or look for in a relationship. What happens if they get married and realize they are not suited for each other, since as mentioned in the text, once there is mutual acceptance the marriage happens pretty quickly. On the other hand, they have been raised to be religious and obedient (maybe that is partly they don’t get divorced). However, this is their culture, and they seem to have found a way to make it work.

Chapter 10

The barn raising event represents an opportunity for the author to really get to know the Minimite men, mingle and bond with them. It is interesting to see all the different personality types and temperaments that not even the author expected. Also quite common is the fact that the majority of men seem to be transplants, not born Minimites but coming from other areas with various degrees of technology use. Despite their differing backgrounds and characters, they all come together in working side by side as they all decided to give up some labor saving technologies by coming here. In a society where technology is limited, relationships become very important as people need and depend on each other’s help to meet their needs. The very belief of self-surrender may have caused the sense of self and fostered its existence by the acceptance of each other; it seems as though they are accepting even the less conventional types as the bishop’s son for example.
For the first time in the book the author uses graphical illustrations of posts and boards that are put together to create the house extension. This kind of helps explain the process but can’t help but wonder why the author chose to exemplify this situation and not some of the other contraptions described so far.

Chapter 9

Coming back “home” the protagonists realize how attached they’ve actually become to this place and to the peace of mind it provides. He appreciated the social growth that the community fostered in not allowing technology to prevent them from socializing with one another. It seems that technology in and itself was against their main belief of “self-surrender” since that allowed for the possibility of filtering out people with whom communication is not wanted at a particular moment. If that is so, then my argument would be that the lack of it encloses them in this community, sheltered from the rest, thus preventing them from interacting with a majority of people that do embrace technology. Doesn’t that actually reduce possibilities for social growth? I feel that deprives them from getting to know a variety of people and personalities, which is something that I personally enjoy and consider an important part of social growth. Giving the direction communication is heading is highly influenced and facilitated by technology, the ones that do not use those these means actually miss out. Guess that Eric’s point is that for this community it is not the breadth of social relations, but the depth that is important.

Chapter 8

At the height of the summer, tending to the animals and the garden became very time consuming. In a way, this contradicts with the previous chapter where Eric valued the slower way of doing things in a non-technological setting. In this community people can be just as busy, but focusing or more basic things around the household, solving problems that have already been solved through the use of technology. The scope is to eliminate the negative effects of technology, but at the same time it eliminates the speed and efficiency that come from its’ use and that is the tradeoff that this community has made.
It seems that the road trip the two take in an effort to scout places to live post-experiment has made them realize how much they actually liked this new found lifestyle. At this point, I even wonder if they will leave the community at the end of the year-and-a-half.

Chapter 7

Now the protagonists find the pleasure of enjoying the peace and quiet of the evenings, while reading a good book and without being interrupted by technological appliances. I think that the fact the author can finally focus while reading a book he had been putting of for years, can be attributed to the lack of contact with the outside world, and this book being a sort of outlet from the highly involved daily work in this community.

I find interesting the concept that “in being slower, time is more capacious”, and according to this description, we are all “captives of technology”. I also agree that in today’s faced-paced society that is very hard to achieve, and if you do slow down you get left behind. For me, when I slow down it’s usually because I get tired of the pace, and if I take it easy for too long I find it hard re-adjusting to the rhythm when I get back.

On a similar note, I believe that technology is not something that society as whole cannot fight. Maybe small groups such as this one can choose not to use it, but overall it’s too big of a phenomenon to ignore and it represents the future.

Chapter 6

This chapter was pretty short and it presented the problem of cooking and preserving food without having a refrigerator. I liked how helpful Eric offered to be when it came sharing duties around the house. I also agree with Mary in not minding doing house chores as long it was her will to do so, and not imposed on her by others, or societal gender roles.

With canning being a rather long process and not really suited for short term food preservation, without being able to use a refrigerator or eat at restaurants, food becomes a frustrating issue. Eric contemplates a few options that seem unfeasible, and again, I can’t help but question why go through all that trouble just to be able to cook a meal. It’s pretty impressive how creative these people become in order to stick to their values and beliefs, when an easy alternative already exists, only that it requires technology.

Not having a meal waiting for him when he gets home after a long days’ work, Eric is getting frustrated, while it seems like Mary has almost given up on trying to come up with cooking ideas, it until she runs across a cookbook. I can understand that, as I don’t do much cooking myself, but agree that cooking a nice meal can be fun from time to time and looking at it as a sort of art or using creative recipes makes it more fun and easy.

Chapter 5

This chapter illustrates the ingenuity of man in building machines to ease the way of living in the absence of electric power and with limited technology. Despite the author’s cool realization of how skill is expanding “when the quantity of machine shrinks”, I found parts of the chapter hard to read, and was confused by the description of inventions such as the ram and the water mill. That may just prove the author’s point that the more basic human know-how gets lost with the use of technology. However I strongly believe that overall human knowledge today is far greater because of advancements in technology.

In the beginning Eric seems hesitant at the idea of getting running water and possibly compromising his experiment, but throughout the chapter he comes to realize that these people aren’t afraid of all technology and actually embrace some of it. For example, I found the versatility of the wood cookstove pretty impressive. In addition, all of the inventions seem so much better for the environment than their electric counterparts.

The parts where the author struggles with the cultipacker contraption and is being chased by the cattle were funny. Discovering how to run the machines gives Eric a sense of accomplishment, similar I believe to any learning of a new skill, while the chase by harmless baby steers leaves the author a little embarrassed.

Chapter 4

Chapter four reinforces the feeling of togetherness even more so as it seems that the very reason why the community is choosing to forgo technology is because they seek that camaraderie that natural occurrences generate an opportunity for. Furthermore, when nature doesn’t do its’ job, Mr. Miller artificially creates the adversity himself, such as taking down the maple tree in front of the author’s house. I find this to be an idealistic view of just looking at occurrences a different way, welcoming and actually creating obstacles and seeing them as occasions. Although I can see the point, I must admit this is very different form what I am used to: I’m certainly not a fan of obstacles, and would not go out of my way to create them, but once they happen I found it’s best to accept them and do whatever necessary to overcome them.

It’s interesting to see that most of the community members are not traditionally Amish, but they have chose this lifestyle for various theological and ideological reasons. Mr. Miller lists some of the negative effects that a more technologically advanced habitat could have on his children: underage drinking, teenage pregnancy and drug use. Therefore, by minimizing technology this community is trying to preserve its’ purity and religious beliefs.

Chapter 3

I find the third chapter to be a good illustration of the concept of teamwork. Eric and Mary are being pleasantly surprised by the Millers’ and Jones’s constant willingness to help. It is the very lack of technology and the nature of the tedious work that revolves around the garden and food preparation (i.e.: hoeing vegetables, cultivating, weeding, canning food) that brings people together in magical way. This bond has the potential to be even stronger than that of a regular work team, since the actual subsistence of people is involved, meaning that they have to be able to cultivate their garden in order to survive in the winter. Therefore, the families in the community feel the need to show the newcomers how do the necessary tasks better. As the physical aspect of work fades into the background, friendships are formed through working together and having meaningful conversations.

Work is being seen as an occasion to do something else, and I can see how focusing too much on the mechanics of the job actually makes the work fastidious and less efficient. Also, I like how the author describes how not even dull and tiresome work such as that of bean picking and weeding doesn’t seem that bad once you realize it has to be done, start doing it and don’t even realize how you detach yourself from your body and get lost in thoughts and conversations. In way I could say that I was using a similar “laborsaving mechanism” when I used to do a lot of conditioning and physical training for tennis.

Chapter 2

The adventure begins in the second chapter and our protagonists get a taste of life without all the technology. I found it funny how Eric got so paranoid about what they were about to experience, only to be welcomed to a comfortable living arrangement and people willing to offer their knowledge and helping them adapt to the new environment. I can see how the community’s closeness with nature and the now more physical, but not too strenuous, type of work that needs to be done in absence of electricity can be refreshing. The health benefits of being outdoors, enjoying the beautiful scenery and getting some exercise while doing daily chores are both physical and mental.

The author learns that life without modern technology doesn’t necessarily entail “brawn alone”, as human wits can save us from a lot of strenuous and unnecessary work. There is also a sense of achievement and satisfaction that comes with successfully adapting the means to match the goals precisely. What he realizes, and I also think it’s true, is how we take the uses of modern technology as given. We have forgotten how to do the simple things and rely on technology to do them for us, but what happens when technology fails? We have to retrain ourselves to do those things.

So far it looks like Eric and Mary are really enjoying their adventure in this community, which seems mostly rural-agrarian. For Mary, I would imagine it being a nice change from her monotonous job, while the author’s frustration and discontent with technology turned into an appreciation for a simpler life. I am curious to see what experiences lie ahead and if their positive attitude will change.

Chapter 1

The first chapter caught my interest and I am curious to see what happens next. I liked the way the author set the stage by explaining how his childhood fascination with technology quickly became frustration and discontent. I agree with the negative ways that technology has affected our society, and think it’s quite sad when children would rather watch TV or play video games than play outside. This not only affects their physical health, turning them into a more sedentary generation, but also hinders the development of their social and interpersonal skills, as there is less face-to-face interaction. From this point of view I am very interested to see if the author will be able to find a happy medium of just the right amount of technology.

As people become more and more dependent on technology, it’s hard to imagine life without the use of all the appliances that make it easier (just as Professor Keniston would not want to move heavy rocks without the help of a backhoe). That is why the author’s quest seems more of an informational one, since technology is a part of evolution, which would be hard to stop, let alone reverse it. It will be interesting to see how the author and his wife, now used to the convenience of technology, will be able to adapt to the Amish lifestyle. They will probably have to re-learn to do the basic things such as clothes washing and food preparation on their own, and these would take longer to do than in a technological environment. I know I would not want to imagine my life without the appliances that I am so accustomed to. To me the very point of it is to gain efficiency and more time to focus on the more important things in life.