Whilst there was plenty of food for thought in here, I just couldn't find the biographical part of the story interesting.

The book was split into three: the build up to the move to sri lanka; time in sri lanka (inc tsunami) and then 100 pages on "green" concepts using the tenuous backronym "the web of hope".

Whilst not a raconteur I naturally warmed to, the latter third of the book seemed to suit his journalistic style and genuinely gave me a lot to think about and some pointers on how to go about adopting a more sustainable lifestyle.

Unfortunately, the first two thirds of the book was not as interesting (in my opinion) as the writer clearly thought it was. Which is a shame as clearly he, his friends and family went through a lot - it just didn't capture my attention for a lot of it. Moreover, I couldn't help but dislike the writer: talking of being broke as he flew back and forth from Barbados to Sri Lanka to USA to UK and of growing up on acres and acres of land in the English countryside. "Woe is me" indeed.

As the book progressed, the writer fell very much in line with all the boarding school, expensively-educated toffs who preach this stuff from a position of privilege.

It's a shame: I feel that this vitally important, positive, progressive movement would catch on at the speed it needs to if it was filled with more likeable characters rather than the usual stereotypes (eccentrics, toffs and hippies).

Ps how many times can a guy describe people he meets as having high foreheads?

Left on book case in living room by kitchen