There are things to like about this book. Photos of the beautiful earthships that Michael Reynolds has built will have you yearning for one of your own. He is an inventive and original thinker, and it is fun to read about what he has tried over the years, what has worked and what hasn't. But if you are looking for a "how-to" book, to build your own rainwater collection system, this is not it. At least half of it is a preachy thesis about everything that is wrong with the world and how earthships will fix it. Mr. Reynolds writes in a folksy vernacular that I personally find very irritating. If ya gotta charge thirty bucks for a book, at least ya can use darn good grammar and make it easy on the folks reading yer book. Also, his system is very complicated, though he will make it easy on you by selling you his plans and filters etc, available for thousands of dollars on his website. I have no objection to a man making a living, but it would be nice if he also offered simpler solutions for those of us who cannot afford his pre-made systems. He goes all over the world helping impoverished people build earthships, and presumably those do not have the expensive systems in them.