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How to Be Alive: No Impact Man's Guide to a High Impact Life
The author of No Impact Man and founder of the No Impact Project returns with this trailblazing guide to living a meaningful and fulfilling life while also contributing to the wellbeing of our communities and the planet.
Deeply concerned about the environment, Colin Beavan went on a yearlong experiment to lead a zero net-impact existence in the middle of New York City. The project went far beyond the typical “reduce, reuse, recycle” credo and had a profound effect on Colin and those around him, in the process prompting what he came to refer to as a “lifestyle redesign.” His project, chronicled in a book, a documentary, and an ongoing lecture series, has provoked and inspired tens of thousands of people.
But most people cannot make the extreme changes that Colin explored. In this thoughtful, enlightening guide, Colin offers insight to help readers negotiate the maze of dilemmas and questions that confront us all when trying to do right by themselves and the planet. He shares his own experiences alongside those of the many people he has met along his journey who have discovered thousands of transformational lifestyle adjustments—small and large—that offer both security and meaning in a world plagued by ecological disaster, failing economies, war, and social injustice. In the process, he helps readers embark on the quest for a “good life”—both better for themselves and the world.
Deeply concerned about the environment, Colin Beavan went on a yearlong experiment to lead a zero net-impact existence in the middle of New York City. The project went far beyond the typical “reduce, reuse, recycle” credo and had a profound effect on Colin and those around him, in the process prompting what he came to refer to as a “lifestyle redesign.” His project, chronicled in a book, a documentary, and an ongoing lecture series, has provoked and inspired tens of thousands of people.
But most people cannot make the extreme changes that Colin explored. In this thoughtful, enlightening guide, Colin offers insight to help readers negotiate the maze of dilemmas and questions that confront us all when trying to do right by themselves and the planet. He shares his own experiences alongside those of the many people he has met along his journey who have discovered thousands of transformational lifestyle adjustments—small and large—that offer both security and meaning in a world plagued by ecological disaster, failing economies, war, and social injustice. In the process, he helps readers embark on the quest for a “good life”—both better for themselves and the world.
451 pages, Kindle Edition
First published August 11, 2015
96 people are currently reading
1799 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 68 reviews
September 18, 2016
Ha! I got this book because the title intrigued me. I actually know how to be alive, and I happily help the world every day. But I was interested in how someone else does this. um, yeah. Some serious *rolls the eyes*. The premise of the book is to find one little thing in your life to fix, and then ALL OF A SUDDEN! the universe makes it easier to fix bigger things which helps others and the planet and of course makes you happy. gah.
January 17, 2016
I loved this book. I found it helpful to break up my life into small segments and start making small changes instead of seeing improving my life as a major undertaking. It is easy to feel completely disabled by personal and world problems that you do nothing because it is so overwhelming. Instead, I was able to look at one small thing I could do to improve my life and the world and make that change. I have also been changing my mindset, instead of feeling helpless to feeling like there is something I can do.
May 3, 2016
I think I would like this guy a lot - but he's kind of "preaching to the choir" with this book. Some good advice about priorities, most of which I already follow, and some really good insights about social connections that made me rethink some things about how I tend to be a bit "isolated". Some of it gets a little "hippy-dippy" for me, but I think his heart is in the right place and I didn't feel offended at all by any of this. Nothing profound, but a pretty good little read if you are looking for more "happiness/lifestyle" type books.
July 29, 2016
What... What is this? I fell asleep during this book several times. Who signed this off? This weird self help book is embarrassing
March 17, 2017
Ugh. I grabbed this after seeing it on the UUA bookstore in hopes of finding something vaguely spiritual for Lent, but I wasn't impressed.
His advice was mostly based on the idea that you have some inner True Self, and if you can just find it and act accordingly you'll be happier yourself and improve the world. I find that kind of individualism theologically questionable and morally insufficient - what if the desires that you decide make up your True Self are kind of shitty?
On this shaky foundation he gives some deeply unoriginal advice about things like being less materialist, making friends, and finding a job you like, all while congratulating himself for avoiding "standard life solutions," which seems to be any choice or mindset that he finds insufficiently enlightened. There's bad biblical interpretation, wrong history, and questionable evolutionary psychology. At some points his privilege is truly blinding ("Instead of buying a boat, take two months off in the summer to crew a yacht!").
That all said, much of the advice was fine, and there were a few interesting exercises for thinking through how you might live in accordance with your values. But it wasn't really worth plodding through the whole book for.
His advice was mostly based on the idea that you have some inner True Self, and if you can just find it and act accordingly you'll be happier yourself and improve the world. I find that kind of individualism theologically questionable and morally insufficient - what if the desires that you decide make up your True Self are kind of shitty?
On this shaky foundation he gives some deeply unoriginal advice about things like being less materialist, making friends, and finding a job you like, all while congratulating himself for avoiding "standard life solutions," which seems to be any choice or mindset that he finds insufficiently enlightened. There's bad biblical interpretation, wrong history, and questionable evolutionary psychology. At some points his privilege is truly blinding ("Instead of buying a boat, take two months off in the summer to crew a yacht!").
That all said, much of the advice was fine, and there were a few interesting exercises for thinking through how you might live in accordance with your values. But it wasn't really worth plodding through the whole book for.
June 9, 2018
I would like to give 3.5 stars, but I will round up because I think Colin is a good guy and I would like to encourage people to read his stuff. This book, as well as his blog and other activities, focus on finding the way to being happy while helping the world. His premise, which I very much agree with, is that being happy and helping the world are not mutually exclusive goals, and are often quite in alignment. The book includes stories of real or imagined individuals to illustrate ideas, and there are numerous helpful exercises for the reader to do to further their own exploration of what life would bring them true fulfillment. I have read other authors on this topic, most notably Robin and Dominguez ("Your Money or Your Life" - a book that really did change my life), whom Beavan quotes and is inspired by.
The book was longer than it needed to be - I understand the desire to explain things thoughtfully, and take your time leading people through these ideas. But I had to push to get through it, because it really just was a bit too slow. Maybe a reader who had not already been introduced to these ideas by other authors might find this book more revolutionary, and thus more interesting despite the length.
The book was longer than it needed to be - I understand the desire to explain things thoughtfully, and take your time leading people through these ideas. But I had to push to get through it, because it really just was a bit too slow. Maybe a reader who had not already been introduced to these ideas by other authors might find this book more revolutionary, and thus more interesting despite the length.
January 18, 2020
How to be Alive is a terrific book! It is so very detailed and well thought-out. The author Colin Beavan has considered every aspect of the modern life and offered thoughtful, well-considered suggestions on how to make the most of the one-time offer that is life. Among other things, he helps us decide how to eat, how to engage with community, how to make friends, how to live in alignment with one’s values, and how to find purpose in life. He proposes that we think about how we can help the world and also help ourselves—such that one does not feel that one is sacrificing one’s happiness for the sake of the world. His tone throughout is conversational, inviting, and often funny, making the book a delightful read.
Self-development books are plentiful, and I have read some of them, but How to be Alive is the most detailed and specific one that I have come across. What that means is: the book’s tips can be applied directly and immediately. In fact, I read the book just at the turn of the new year, and I found that it helped me make a plan for the year 2020. I liked the book so much that I got copies as gifts for my parents and sister.
Self-development books are plentiful, and I have read some of them, but How to be Alive is the most detailed and specific one that I have come across. What that means is: the book’s tips can be applied directly and immediately. In fact, I read the book just at the turn of the new year, and I found that it helped me make a plan for the year 2020. I liked the book so much that I got copies as gifts for my parents and sister.
March 11, 2019
While there was some good material in the book, I found it disappointing. It promised much, and delivered little. I was intrigued with his last book--No Impact Man. His honesty, and philosophical inquiry in that book was matched by his pithy advice. No Impact Man had a specific purpose and the author's experience was to the point. With this book the subject was too broad, and the advice too diffuse and unsubstantial. It is basically a "follow your heart" (so long as your heart encourages you to make the world a better place) kind of book, that takes itself too seriously. Perhaps I expected too much. Some may find it inspiring. I found it sadly insipid.
February 19, 2016
Fantastic book. It's clear, well-written, and inspiring. I think it's 5 star for many people, a lot of this I already knew, there were a few chapters less meaningful (though still a good read), like the ones on kids was less significant for me, but many good stories and lessons on here on how to live a good life, be useful, and make the world a better place.
March 25, 2016
I wanted to like this book. In fact when I started to read it I was a bit excited by what I was reading. Yet overall I was disappointed by the book.
It doesn't really cover much new material so if you read similar books you won't learn anything new. Also there were long parts that were not needed and seemed to repeat similar concepts.
In the end, save your time and read something else.
It doesn't really cover much new material so if you read similar books you won't learn anything new. Also there were long parts that were not needed and seemed to repeat similar concepts.
In the end, save your time and read something else.
July 15, 2017
I found this on a library bookshelf and skimmed for 3 hrs - I was always interested in the story of No Impact Man, but the book doesn't really address lowering your carbon footprint so much. It's simply a good refresher for life inspiration, but could have been edited down. Always interested in learning new tools that make people tick.
March 29, 2016
I did not care for the underlying agenda of the author, who is very biased against things like oil exploration and eating meat, neither of have anything to do with living a meaningful and balanced life.
May 1, 2018
Funny. I really enjoyed the No Impact Man. But this book was just... tedious. The style is turbid and feels unedited. Like a mind-flow. I don't know how many times I read "bear with me, I will get to this later". If you have to write down instructions like that, there IS a problem with your style.
January 5, 2016
3.5 stars. Full review on The Verbal Thing.
November 15, 2017
I loved the no impact man documentary but did not enjoy this. Not what I was hoping for. Long winded and overly philosophical.
Read
January 11, 2018I picked this up while going through a hard time and did not finish it. I started running instead.
January 24, 2019
This book is what people who make fun of self-help books think self-help books are.
January 9, 2020
1. Pay attention to the stories you tell yourself about the world and notice how they have huge assumptions you can likely prove false/how they shape your worldview.
2. Small steps and changes will accumulate into much bigger actions
3. Be true to yourself
There, I saved you from having to read this extremely long and meandering and self-praising self-help book.
2. Small steps and changes will accumulate into much bigger actions
3. Be true to yourself
There, I saved you from having to read this extremely long and meandering and self-praising self-help book.
July 31, 2020
Pretty repetitive and I didn't like how the author used capitals for words like Truth and Self and his own made-up jargon a lot. I got something out of it but not heaps, and it felt longer than it needed to be.
March 9, 2023
Great book. There are many paths one could go!
August 4, 2018
Generally agree with the message of the book, which is care for each other, and start with yourself. Form a community, question the status quo, build your own life. My main beef with it is that it's very Ameri-centric. Still, a worthy goal to strive towards, especially personal community.
___
Shifting from self-help to each-other help gives you a deeper, wider and more satisfying idea of what success means.
The time when "you have to grow up" is actually the time many of us stunt our own growth. Because we decide that we are too scared to go our own way. We force ourselves to forget that life is magical. We learn to override ourselves.
It's okay to desire things for yourself if you point the energy of that desire in a direction that will help others. Use your karma to help the world.
The surprising result of No Impact Man was learning that we don't have to deprive ourselves for the sake of the world. It is not about not wanting things, but simply learning to want the things that actually make us happy. Nurturing wisdom, not suppressing desire.
Lifequesters are the people who have begun or are ready to begin the search for the kind of life choices that are both true to themselves and to the world.
Ask yourself: "Is the world your stories are creating the one you actually want to live in?"
Call out your limiting stories. Ask yourself what is stopping you from being more heroic, from changing your life in the way you want to, from making a difference.
Often, we suffer not because of what is, but because of our stories about what is.
Ask yourself then: "Who would I be, without that story?"
To deny our individual agency is to refuse to be the hand of God or the universe or any other force for good. There is no movement towards utopia without our participation.
Two components of a good life: Security and Meaning.
Security is what you need to be alive, safe, healthy and comfortable. It comes from what you get from the world through your relationships.
Meaning is the buzz you get from being alive, and includes self-expression, the ability to change things, adventure, and service, all of which come from what you give to the world through your relationships.
When you find yourself alienated from society's stories and standard life approaches, you are not supposed to leave society, you are supposed to lead it.
Whoever's fault it mostly is, yours is the only part we can actually change.
Part of the essence of optimism is holding a vision of the world we want to live in. Give thanks for a wonderful world and help that wonderfulness spread to others.
The key to economic prosperity is the organised creation of dissatisfaction.
With money you can so easily buy isolation. Conversely, when you don't have money you start to be more aware of the interdependence of people.
The research shows that people who grow up in insecure circumstances turn to materialistic goals.
Research by Tim Kasser suggests that being in the presence of "a person who clearly likes you, tends to be very accepting and non-evaluative of you, and simply accepts you for who you are" causes a shift away from extrinsic values and towards intrinsic values.
Americans eat 48 pints of ice cream per person per year, and 2/3s of Americans most frequently eat their ice cream in front of the TV or the couch.
Food itself cannot give comfort. Comfort at a meal comes when someone you love sits and eats with you and talks to you and listens to you and cares for you.
To train your self-reliance muscles do things that show you are capable of meeting your own challenges, like growing and choosing and cooking your own food, or walking/biking.
Ownership is a good paradigm for things we use all the time and want no one else to use. The standard relationship with stuff - long-term ownership - makes the stuff less effective in bringing us happiness because of its storage and upkeep cost. Renting or borrowing can let you enjoy stuff without the downside of owning it.
Never plan to shop with your friends as a social activity, you simply end up buying things you don't need when you just wanted to spend time with your friends.
The quality of your commute can be as important to your overall life satisfaction as having a life partner or child. Solo drivers are the least happy of all commuters.
A government or society acts a certain way only as long as the people who participate in it agree to follow the rules.
Beginning or committing more fully to one's lifequest has a great fear. The fear that we will no longer be acceptable to those around us, that we won't be loved and liked, and that we won't be supportable.
By stripping off our masks, we break our promises to our groups about who we will be.
This is one reason why the heroic act of becoming your True Self is such an act of bravery. It is to venture into the unknown and the vulnerability of demonstrating parts of yourself that your groups have not agreed to accept.
Social integration in a personal community and spending time with unconnected best friends or a partner can't replace each other.
Interconnectedness makes us feel safer (by knowing you'll be taken care of), which in turn helps our bodies and brains function better (lower stress levels).
When we are not with our group, loneliness predisposes our brains and bodies to believe that any stranger we encounter is a potential threat. This is how loneliness breeds loneliness.
When setting up your personal community: the key word is to diversify.
Don't have too many colleagues who might disappear if you changed job.
Don't have only friends and family of your romantic partner, which stifles richness and is putting all your eggs in one basket.
Don't be the only person of your type (e.g. gay, parent), you will spend forever explaining your needs.
Don't have only one of each type of friend.
Mix the network with people of different ages, employment situations.
Don't let the community stagnate.
There is a biological drive to nurture creatures weaker than ourselves. This nurturant bonding systems involving oxytocin and dopamine is part of why we love puppies and kittens and babies so much.
Being a child's primary caregiver requires nonmentoring activities like doing their laundry and working to support them, unlike when you parent other peoples' kids.
Douglas Steere - The question "who am I" inevitably leads to a deeper one, "whose am I?" because there is no identity outside of relationship. You can't be a person by yourself.
Let yourself wander. Then build your corral where you find yourself staying.
At all times a simple question rose in his mind: "Given my situation, how can I help?"
If delusions are endless, why get upset about the fact that we are deluded? If I can avoid being inside fucked up - if I can accept the noise - then I won't have to put my energy into trying to change what can't be changed: being human. I will have freedom.
Use whatever argument you are most passionate about. Because it may not be what they can hear best, but it is what you can say best.
___
Shifting from self-help to each-other help gives you a deeper, wider and more satisfying idea of what success means.
The time when "you have to grow up" is actually the time many of us stunt our own growth. Because we decide that we are too scared to go our own way. We force ourselves to forget that life is magical. We learn to override ourselves.
It's okay to desire things for yourself if you point the energy of that desire in a direction that will help others. Use your karma to help the world.
The surprising result of No Impact Man was learning that we don't have to deprive ourselves for the sake of the world. It is not about not wanting things, but simply learning to want the things that actually make us happy. Nurturing wisdom, not suppressing desire.
Lifequesters are the people who have begun or are ready to begin the search for the kind of life choices that are both true to themselves and to the world.
Ask yourself: "Is the world your stories are creating the one you actually want to live in?"
Call out your limiting stories. Ask yourself what is stopping you from being more heroic, from changing your life in the way you want to, from making a difference.
Often, we suffer not because of what is, but because of our stories about what is.
Ask yourself then: "Who would I be, without that story?"
To deny our individual agency is to refuse to be the hand of God or the universe or any other force for good. There is no movement towards utopia without our participation.
Two components of a good life: Security and Meaning.
Security is what you need to be alive, safe, healthy and comfortable. It comes from what you get from the world through your relationships.
Meaning is the buzz you get from being alive, and includes self-expression, the ability to change things, adventure, and service, all of which come from what you give to the world through your relationships.
When you find yourself alienated from society's stories and standard life approaches, you are not supposed to leave society, you are supposed to lead it.
Whoever's fault it mostly is, yours is the only part we can actually change.
Part of the essence of optimism is holding a vision of the world we want to live in. Give thanks for a wonderful world and help that wonderfulness spread to others.
The key to economic prosperity is the organised creation of dissatisfaction.
With money you can so easily buy isolation. Conversely, when you don't have money you start to be more aware of the interdependence of people.
The research shows that people who grow up in insecure circumstances turn to materialistic goals.
Research by Tim Kasser suggests that being in the presence of "a person who clearly likes you, tends to be very accepting and non-evaluative of you, and simply accepts you for who you are" causes a shift away from extrinsic values and towards intrinsic values.
Americans eat 48 pints of ice cream per person per year, and 2/3s of Americans most frequently eat their ice cream in front of the TV or the couch.
Food itself cannot give comfort. Comfort at a meal comes when someone you love sits and eats with you and talks to you and listens to you and cares for you.
To train your self-reliance muscles do things that show you are capable of meeting your own challenges, like growing and choosing and cooking your own food, or walking/biking.
Ownership is a good paradigm for things we use all the time and want no one else to use. The standard relationship with stuff - long-term ownership - makes the stuff less effective in bringing us happiness because of its storage and upkeep cost. Renting or borrowing can let you enjoy stuff without the downside of owning it.
Never plan to shop with your friends as a social activity, you simply end up buying things you don't need when you just wanted to spend time with your friends.
The quality of your commute can be as important to your overall life satisfaction as having a life partner or child. Solo drivers are the least happy of all commuters.
A government or society acts a certain way only as long as the people who participate in it agree to follow the rules.
Beginning or committing more fully to one's lifequest has a great fear. The fear that we will no longer be acceptable to those around us, that we won't be loved and liked, and that we won't be supportable.
By stripping off our masks, we break our promises to our groups about who we will be.
This is one reason why the heroic act of becoming your True Self is such an act of bravery. It is to venture into the unknown and the vulnerability of demonstrating parts of yourself that your groups have not agreed to accept.
Social integration in a personal community and spending time with unconnected best friends or a partner can't replace each other.
Interconnectedness makes us feel safer (by knowing you'll be taken care of), which in turn helps our bodies and brains function better (lower stress levels).
When we are not with our group, loneliness predisposes our brains and bodies to believe that any stranger we encounter is a potential threat. This is how loneliness breeds loneliness.
When setting up your personal community: the key word is to diversify.
Don't have too many colleagues who might disappear if you changed job.
Don't have only friends and family of your romantic partner, which stifles richness and is putting all your eggs in one basket.
Don't be the only person of your type (e.g. gay, parent), you will spend forever explaining your needs.
Don't have only one of each type of friend.
Mix the network with people of different ages, employment situations.
Don't let the community stagnate.
There is a biological drive to nurture creatures weaker than ourselves. This nurturant bonding systems involving oxytocin and dopamine is part of why we love puppies and kittens and babies so much.
Being a child's primary caregiver requires nonmentoring activities like doing their laundry and working to support them, unlike when you parent other peoples' kids.
Douglas Steere - The question "who am I" inevitably leads to a deeper one, "whose am I?" because there is no identity outside of relationship. You can't be a person by yourself.
Let yourself wander. Then build your corral where you find yourself staying.
At all times a simple question rose in his mind: "Given my situation, how can I help?"
If delusions are endless, why get upset about the fact that we are deluded? If I can avoid being inside fucked up - if I can accept the noise - then I won't have to put my energy into trying to change what can't be changed: being human. I will have freedom.
Use whatever argument you are most passionate about. Because it may not be what they can hear best, but it is what you can say best.
February 21, 2019
A book that has joined me on a personal journey over the last couple of years from the moment I spotted it in the UN bookshop in NYC.. Some truly thought provoking activities to help ourselves and the planet at the same time.
February 13, 2018
The standard life approach doesn't work for most people: get good grades, go to a good college, land the perfect career that makes enough money to live well, marry the love of your life, live happily ever after. That might have worked at one time, but the world has changed. So why not take responsibility and develop the life you want? Live in line with what matters to you. Ask "How can I help?" in each situation, and see what happens.
I read the first section, then started skimming (it is long...), then read sections that interested me. Some good stuff, but funny, not all that life-changing, truly. I picked up Designing Your Life (Burnett & Evans) at the same time - though they're different, they are variations on a theme and that one is shorter and better.
I read the first section, then started skimming (it is long...), then read sections that interested me. Some good stuff, but funny, not all that life-changing, truly. I picked up Designing Your Life (Burnett & Evans) at the same time - though they're different, they are variations on a theme and that one is shorter and better.
March 5, 2017
Beavan brings a wealth of norm-challenging ideas to the table. How to Be Alive is truly an interesting and challenging read which calls the reader to examine various aspects of their life and see where they are aligned with their "True Self, " and even calls into focus what that "True Self" and essentially "good life" exactly means for them. The biggest take away for me from this book was to question and rethink some of the norms or "standard life approaches" we're born into given the society we're in and that the "standard life approach" isn't the only way to live.
December 10, 2017
As far as self-help lit goes (is this that?), I find this book to be helpful thoughts to have swirling around one's life. Doing or even reflecting upon many of the exercises in here are interesting and useful. Sometimes I wondered if it wasn't a call to Occupy or dumpster dive, but I...given my poetic leanings...didn't mind that too much. Reminds me of the admirable John Dewey's overall philosophy quite a bit (and I'm paraphrasing here): be simple & by the way, being simple is one of the hardest endeavors out there kids.
March 10, 2017
I went into this book fresh of of No Impact Man. I loved No Impact Man. It was a great memoir: funny, informative, challenging. I loved it. This, however, was not good. It was preachy, it was bordering on pretentious, and I just do not love or like it one bit. I finished it cause I kept thinking it would change, and it never did.
October 1, 2018
The book has intriguing ideas, but the research included are not well cited. Nonetheless, I believe there is value in learning his theories and perspectives. After that, we can start finding evidence to either support or refute his theories. I thought of it as an idea bank to at least get the conversation going.
January 28, 2019
An indispensable toolbox of multidisciplinary magic for 'life questers' learning to survive and thrive in a world largely disconnected from everything that actually matters. Superb storytelling by someone who continues to walk his talk with remarkable generosity, creativity and compassion. Thank you Colin!
April 7, 2018
If you’re wondering why am I here and what’s my mission, this book is for you! How to Be Alive is a meditation in thinking about what you do, and how that fits with what you value and the contributions you want to make in the world. I loved it!
April 27, 2019
Seek your true inner self, a lot of this book are common truths and common sense, that we all strive for on some level. I enjoyed it and would give some of what he talks about a go, especially on the carbon footprint and environmental factors anyway enjoyed it and a decent self help romp around.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 68 reviews