The premise of ‘the way home’ is that Mark Boyle has given up electricity and modern living to live in a small cabin somewhere in the west of Ireland, working the land and existing without any equipment - essentially living a life without technology. Homesteading, to use a modern term.

Technology

I listened to this audiobook on my lovely sleek airpods via Bluetooth and my Iphone (11, if you’re interested)  feeling smug whilst Mark talked about collecting his toilet deposits to fertilise his garden. My main engagement with nature comes on my walks through the glens and parks of my local area, and the only swiping I am doing is with my beautiful Apple Watch when I go to pay. I know what you’re thinking;  I probably wouldn’t flourish as well as Mark does in this book.

 There is a lot to admire in Mark Boyle’s story and it did make think about my own life and how dependent I am on modern technology. I could probably do without the aforementioned apple products but I do love their little bells and whistles and I enjoy how they streamline a lot of things in my life.

To live a more sustainable lifestyle is something we’re all going to have to do, if we’re not already doing it. I certainly have changed my behaviours and actions over the past few years, though I am aware that I too can do more. The Cop 26 summit currently taking place in Glasgow is scaring the absolute shite out of me, like it should do. We certainly all seem to be heading to hell in a handbasket.

Sustainable living

I’m getting away from Mark Boyle. ‘Be the change you want to see in the world,’ said Gandhi and I completely understand that. It just feels here that what Mark is doing is not something all of us could commit to – he has taken sustainable living to its absolute limits, and I’m not always sure why.  Not that he is imploring us to do that. But there are times when he does come across as slightly arrogant and a bit preachy. He certainly doesn’t romanticise his life here, and lots of it comes across as a struggle. There is something beautiful in his reconnection with nature, living just to live. I’d certainly love to have that balance with nature again and you have to admire his conviction. It’s not an easy life, and I felt a bit for him when his girlfriend didn’t return from a trip to England – it’s certainly not for everybody.

 His thoughts on how man has contributed to his own demise are certainly persuasive and depressing. Again, this is my opportunity to crowbar some Bob Dylan lyrics into the review – 

 ‘Man thinks 'cause he rules the Earth, he can do with it as he please
And if things don't change soon, he will
Oh, man has invented his doom
First step was touching the moon

Now, there's a woman on my block
She just sit there as the night grows still
She say who, gonna take away his license to kill?’

 Bob Dylan ‘Licence to kill’

Summary

Like I say, the message is a strong one throughout ‘The way home’ about sustainable living and homesteading. However, the writing style really started to grate on me after a while – I just didn’t find it engaging, and my attention drifted a lot. It probably wasn’t helped by the narrator, who had an older, softer Irish lilt which didn’t always work for me because it didn’t alway suit the subject.

I haven’t read Mark’s previous book, ‘The moneyless man’ so I can’t compare the two. Apparently it’s Marks story of how he spent a year without spending or even touching money. I’ve read that it contains lots of tips on economical living, and in this time of austerity and escalating bills, I’ll be picking up a copy. Compost toilets, solar panels and cuttlefish toothpaste, he sounds like a modern day Walden.

The fact that there was no structure to ‘the way home’ as such didn’t really bother me, as I don’t mind aimless, especially as this book is about a lifestyle choice, not traditional fiction. And nowhere does Mark Boyle say he is a writer, so I’m probably being a bit hard on the stylish aspect of it.

 This is a well meaning, fascinating account of one man’s attempt to overhaul his way of life so that it resembles that of our ancestors, before we started bending the world to our will. Mark Boyle is sincere and honest, but I did get the sense that he would have preferred to have been born as a deer or a fish. But ‘the way home’ is one of the best books about homesteading that I have read.

Book review - The way home: Tales from a life without technology - Mark Boyle

304 pages

Published April 4th 2019 by Oneworld Publications

 Audiobook narrated by: Gerard Doyle

Length: 8 hrs and 36 mins