Freeconomy Blog
Sat
28 Aug
The Moneyless Man review
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Three years ago, whilst living in my old houseboat (a converted yacht whose eventual sale, ironically, paid for this website originally) on Bristol harbour, I read a fantastic book called The Earth Care Manual, a seminal work by a permaculturalist called Patrick Whitefield. It had a huge impact on my thinking; it not only inspired me to design my life in a smarter way, it gave me the tools to do so. I now call what I do 'permaculture-without-the-cash', which I believe is permaculture in its truest form.
At the time, Patrick was one of my personal heroes, he wrote (and done) things that made complete sense to me, and he's still one of my heroes today.
So you can imagine what a honour it was for me to have him to not just read, but review, The Moneyless Man, for the latest edition of Permaculture Magazine. I haven't linked to any reviews about the book yet, so thought it was probably about time, and as it comes from a man who inspired me to go moneyless in the first place, I thought it was appropriate to chose this one.
Permaculture Magazine review, The Moneyless Man
By Patrick Whitefield (author of The Earth Care Manual and The Living Landscape):
Mark Boyle doesn’t use money. It’s a simple thing to say but a much more difficult one to do. Whittling down your lifestyle till you can survive on very little is one thing but doing without money altogether takes you into a whole other reality.
After a degree in economics and six years in the organic food business, Mark became convinced of two important facts. Firstly, that most of the social and ecological problems of the world have to do with remoteness: we don’t see the consequences of our actions because they’re so far removed from us. Secondly, that this remoteness is only possible because of money. Inspired by this belief, he sold the houseboat he was living in and used the money to set up Freeconomy, an online community that helps people share their skills, tools and spaces for free. Then he decided to put his whole way of life where his mouth was and live for a year without using money; this book is his account of that year.
Mark had no intention of giving up his life as an activist in Bristol, 18 miles from his caravan, nor his friends who live there, nor running the Freeconomy website, let alone turning down a single request for an interview from the media. As though that wasn’t enough he started the year by putting on a feast of freely sourced food for 150 people and ended it with a whole day festival, including an even bigger meal. Round trips of 36 miles by bike in all weathers, often in the dark, became part of his way of life and all in all it’s been a hard year for him, though an enjoyable one. There’s bound to be a certain degree of artificiality in living money-free in a society where virtually everything you touch has been paid for by someone.
To cope with this he started out by making himself some simple rules about what he could and couldn’t do. On the whole they served him well, but dilemmas large and small did crop up. What do you do when you’re down to your last puncture repair patch? Where do you get a pen when you need to write something? Do you enter a public waiting room whose heating system only comes on when someone goes in?
Mark has a wicked sense of humour and he had me laughing out loud but he’s also deeply serious, compassionate and passionate about what he does. His deepest passion is for free giving without any expectation of being repaid. Although direct barter is well within the rules he set himself, what really inspires him is to simply give. One of the first, and most important, lessons I was taught by moneyless living was to trust life. I firmly believe that if we live each day in the spirit of giving, we’ll receive whatever we need whenever we need it. And that is what happened to him, again and again. At the end of his year Mark decided to continue living without money, and he still does.
Not many of us can follow Mark’s example directly – he’s young, exceptionally fit and has no dependents. So how relevant is this book to the rest of us? Well for a start it’s an excellent read, a real page-turner, and worth reading just for the enjoyment of the story it tells. It also contains a series of practical tips for moneyless living which would be useful for anyone wanting to cut down on their use of money, and probably to all of us in the coming uncertain times. But it’s also a book that makes you think. Money is so much a part of our lives that we take it for granted. By totally giving it up Mark has highlighted many of the ways, large and small, that it affects almost everything we do.
***
If anyone is interested in the book, I would highly recommend buying it from here, as not only do all the royalties due to me go to the Freeconomy Charitable Trust, whose objectives will be to create a moneyless village (using once-off payments to buy land from the money economy, after which it won't use any money) and where any one of you will be able to come for an agreed period of time to learn and experience moneyless living for free and to be able to do all our weekly workshops and courses for free. But also, the money that is due to the team at Permaculture Magazine goes to making Permaculture accessible to more and more people.
In the UK, it's also available in all bookshops and Amazon.co.uk (your independent bookstore will stock it for you also). In the US its out in hardback, it's available in Barnes and Noble, Paradies, Bookazine and Hudson News, and on Amazon.com there also. It's also just out in all good bookshops in Australia and Ireland also, and translations are under way for German, Portuguese, Korean, Japanese and Chinese (complex characters).
THE FREECONOMY BLOG is written by Mark Boyle, who has been living for 19 months without money, and is the founder of the Freeconomy Community. He is the author of The Moneyless Man.
Comment on this Post:
Mickey comments ...
Yes I read it cover to cover in a few days, which I never do. It really gave me a very new perspective on money and the implications of it.
I think you've saved me a couple of grand already too mate!
Best wishes, Mickey
Cosmospolitan comments ...
Permaculture most certainly is the way forward, especially given the fact that it can be applied by anyone regardless what they're situation is, to some extent, all of which helps.
Thanks for the links and for pushing the limits.
Janet Moore comments ...
Just ordered a copy, was recommended to me by a friend, so look forward to reading it!
Simon from Oxford comments ...
I've just googled permaculture and I must say it sounds fascinating, I'd never heard of it before, though I've read about your life a number of times and have just got round to checking out this site - love it by the way.
A quick question - I live in a four bedroomed house in Oxford, with a reasonable sized back garden, how can I apply permaculture to my life, or can I at all given that I live in a city?
Louise Brookes comments ...
Nice review! I can't wait to read it - ironically - I'm broke so waiting for the pennies from heaven so that I can! Ah, here they are... lol :) When we did the Natty gathering 'positive impact living' in 98 that was all on Magic Hat donations and was a superb experience plus raised sufficient money to buy the land (which was the aim as it was a take off of the National trust which included humans living sustainably). It helped both landowners get to know who would potentially buy their land and, embodied long term thinking and stewardship principles as well as offering a free 1month permaculture course. It was also participatory so a meeting in the morning decided who did Water, wood, food runs; compost loo digging and maintenance, and cooking sumptuous feasts - not to mention all the creative workshops. Moneyless man - please throw a free festival! With magic hat for land buying etc. Help british folk buy back britain! Oh and how's the EC thing going?
Mark Boyle comments ...
@ Louise - I'd love to hear more about your experience! I did throw a free festival last year in Bristol (all the details in the book), I just forgot the 'magic hat' bit! It sounds like it was a great experience though.
Yes the plan is to buy land out of private ownership, collectively steward it for anyone who wants to come along and experience moneyless living or take part in any of our free weekly workshops and courses, and to build and refine it as a model of true sustainability with future groups can use as a resource.
Thanks Louise, feel free to share more details of your experience here.
The Fresh Prince comments ...
There's a big debate going on about you in America's biggest online newspaper, The Huffington Post if you're interested, it would be great if you got involved.
Here's the link -
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/08/28/moneyless-man-dollar_n_697279.html
It seems people either love you or hate you!
Laurie Clark comments ...
Invigorating, refreshing...you are a pioneer in your field - a visionary ! It will happen...your moneyless community will grow, evolve, transform because sustainable moneyless communities is all we will have left to turn - the wave of the future global community - I just watched the documentary 'Collapse' which is full of information that reconfirms your lifestyle choices...
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Laurie Clark
Banff Alberta Canada
artandmusicforchildren@yahoo.ca
sagey comments ...
Eh up Mark , a good morning to you fella, hope this finds you in good health and enjoying the day?
Been thinking about your reply: 'living of the proverbial back of others'. It is true that money has allowed this to happen, but so to have market forces way beyond the control of the individual (thinking here about companies shifting their operations to where labour is cheap - and profit/money, being the motivator, is always intrinsically linked). Is it wrong to think that many citizens in the UK would not willingly want to live of the back of others, but are simply strongly goverened/forced by the hand that feeds them?
We are beautiful and compassionate beings, but we're all complicit, as tax payers and current account holders, in our destructuve system, I agree. However, some of the last blog entry felt so gloomy about the current system (ie, birth, slave factory, job etc..) that a sprayed comment on a bridge in Nottingham came to my mind, 'Save the planet, Kill yourself'.
I encourage what you are doing Mark, but all, as i'm sure you know, is not monotony and un-creative. Can we hear from this side too, please. Living on Earth is difficult but it is made worse if we see our species and the system we are all apart of as being a negative force.
Anyway, sometimes i'm not even sure that what i'm writing makes any sense!
Would be more fun in person.
In gratitude,
Thanks,
Sagey
Jacqui comments ...
I've just finished reading it - insightful, witty, informative, very inspiring. Highly recommended.
I honestly can't see myself going the whole way myself, but I am going to aim to put many of the fascinating tips into practice from now on, and maybe, just maybe, finally cut back on the hours I need to work.
Life shouldn't be spent working 40-50 hrs a week in a job I don't like to pay for silly stuff I don't even need. Thank you.
Shannon Rose comments ...
I can NOT wait to read this book!!! There is no single person I admire more than Mark, and all he has taught me over the past few years. How exciting!
Des Troy comments ...
I was in Somerset last week and wanted to call in and say hello but couldn't find your exact location. Is this deliberate or am I simply not looking in the right places on the internet? I can imagine you would soon get fed up of hundreds of people interfering with your routine.
jason palmer comments ...
The book would also make a great christmas present for all your relatives :)
Jason Palmer comments ...
I sent out a message on freeconomy to ask about local allotments, got good feedback, talk about freeconomy more :)
Seamus is leading a coastal walk on saturday, here in Dublin.
Freeconomy rocks !
frantasia comments ...
Sagey wrote:
I encourage what you are doing Mark, but all, as i'm sure you know, is not monotony and un-creative. Can we hear from this side too, please. Living on Earth is difficult but it is made worse if we see our species and the system we are all apart of as being a negative force.
Well said, Sagey, I agree.
Thalie comments ...
Hi Mark,
Can I live with you for 1 week just to see how it is to live without cash? please...
Thanks
Thalie. thaliel@yahoo.co.uk
caro comments ...
Admirer of your achievements, managed to see part of your talk at off grid but had to work (volunteering, ha ha). But I want to say I would love to be part of any community you start, have lots of energy to do whatever needs to be done. And ancient wisdom for community maintenance... Giving freely has always been my main vision and incentive for true life.... Please let me know if you get anything started or need doing help...
John comments ...
Mark
I relate strongly to your lifestyle. So, can you advise me here as I'm in a dilemma, I would love to buy your book, but I don't have any money, any idea's?
And, how would people buy it if we all lived as you do.
Warmest wishes
John
Mark Boyle comments ...
@ John - if everyone lived as I did, what would be the point of the book?
Feel free to read it from your local library though. Thanks for your thoughts.
@ caro - drop me an email sometime
@ Thalie - Things are very busy here at the moment, so that probably isn't possible, but drop me an email sometime and I'll see what I can do.
@ Des - if you want to come and visit sometime, drop me a line.
Pan Mal comments ...
Mark
This is amazing.
Have you thought of the economic recession for taking the decision?
Or just you got enough of the modern style of life?
Could anybody do this?!
I would like to meet you personally
Thanks
Trish Young comments ...
A positive comment on moneyless living in this short film by Alex Ansary, slightly different because he's in the US but still good points.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0GZgkpn9ck&feature=related
John comments ...
Mark. Have you heard of Suelo, an American who is living just like you. He does sprout from the bible now and gain, but well, he is American! here's both his site and his blog:
http://zerocurrency.blogspot.com/
http://sites.google.com/site/livingwithoutmoney/
Also, do you know of this site, you can watch hundreds of free documeraries here, including many on permaculture, monelyless economies and many more:
http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/
Mark Boyle comments ...
@ John - yeah I'm in contact Daniel Suelo, really lovely and fascinating guy.
inkheart (david) comments ...
just like to thankyou for writing this book., etc.,
you have help me to understand about life, now i am going to give it a try and see how i do, i ve got my house up for sales so hopeful i then can move on.
justacomment comments ...
its such a good idea why not put the book as a free e-book on the web?- or am i stating the obvious.?
justacommonsensecomment comments ...
why not put the book on the web for free - as an e-book? or am i too intelligent?
another comment comments ...
Why did you not make your goal - giving the free book on the internet - that would give you and everybody else some FREE interest at least.
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Rachel comments ...
Couldn't agree more.
As many others have, I have worked my way through it within days, and I already have a queue of people who now want to borrow it!
I must say Mark, I started reading this book at the beginning of the week and I already feel that it has changed my life and ethos on life.
Thank You, and well done.
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