By Tyra and James Arraj. 154pp, large format, 7 3/4" x 11", double columns, paper, $1 7.95 .

* * * * * See also the DVD of Simple Living, a companion DVD to this book:



You can see this video for free on youtube at:

Simple Living The Treasures of Simple Living - book $17.95 How to Order Simple Living - DVD $ 8.95 * * * * * To Elizabeth and John

who lived out this adventure with us

A note to this edition: We published The Treasures of Simple Living in 1987, and have left it here much as it first appeared. Radical Simplicity and the Fourth Step updates that story, but more importantly, tries to describe and distill how living in the forest changed the way we saw the world we had grown up in, and convinced us a better way of living was possible. Jim and Tyra, the forest, Summer 2004

Front Cover:

THE TREASURES OF SIMPLE LIVING RADICAL SIMPLICITY AND

THE FOURTH STEP











Tyra and James Arraj

Back Cover:

THE TREASURES OF SIMPLE LIVING RADICAL SIMPLICITY AND THE FOURTH STEP

INNER GROWTH BOOKS & VIDEOS , LLC ISBN 0-914073-14-1



Introduction

Our future was set out for us: full-time jobs, mortgage payments for the next 20 years, and retirement at 65. Our children would go to school and we would see them as much as our busy schedules allowed. But such a future held no attraction for us. So we packed up, left it all behind and drove into the unknown.

Our journey took us beyond the electric lines, telephone, paved roads and television. We built our own house, grew salads year-round in a solar greenhouse, and taught our children at home, all in the midst of a forest where the nearest neighbors are wild animals, and the snow gets four feet deep.

The inconveniences were soon forgotten in the joys of living under our own roof, watching our children blossom, and discovering abilities we never knew we had. The simplicity took away economic pressures and gave us time to search for lifes deeper meanings.

PART I explains why we left the city, how we solved the problem of earning a living and what we went through once we bought a piece of land in the middle of a forest.

PART II tells about the treasures we found in our simple life, and why our experiment paid us back a thousand-fold.

PART III describes common obstacles to creating a new lifestyle closer to nature, and some important skills that helped us along the way.

Reviews

The Treasures of Simple Living "is engrossing reading - a new Swiss Family Robinson in the late 20th Century!" Catholic Sentinel

"An idyllic but passionately challenging account of transition from middle-class, city turmoil to taking personal control..." Learning Unlimited Network of Oregon

"...full of practical tips and resources for creating your own simple living adventure." The Mail Order Catalog, The Farm, Summertown, TN

Readers' comments: "I received it in yesterday's mail and stayed up much too late..." "I greatly enjoyed The Treasures...It was like living through the whole experience with you..." "I picked up your book at my local library last night. I can hardly put it down!" "...such a free-flowing easy read - an encouragement in down to earth practicality without getting overburdened with detail."

Table of Contents

PART I, Section 1: SIMPLE LIVING

CHAPTER 1: THE RAT RACE

Conspicuous Consumption Reports

Instant Gratification

Money

The Beginning of Money

Looking Back

The Tropical Island Fantasy

The Tropical Island - Visited

CHAPTER 2: LEAVING

Our Own Business

The Search for Land

Amateur Surveyors

Our Own Land

CHAPTER 3: HOME

The Sun

Building

Heat

Non-Instant Gratification Time

House Building Conclusions

CHAPTER 4: PLEASE DON'T DRINK THE TADPOLES AND OTHER BASICS

Wild Life

Wastes

Electricity

Telephone

Mail

Heat

Wood

Basics

Neighbors and Community

CHAPTER 5: THE BIOSHELTER

The $20 Lettuce Sandwich

Even More Needs

The Greenhouse

Mad Inventors

More Inventions

The Inner Room

The Root Cellar

Why Bother?



PART I, Section 2: SIMPLE LIVING

CHAPTER 6: FOOD

Meat vs. Tofu

Bread

The Bread Factory

Yogurt

Salads

Wild Edibles

Town Eating

Vitamins

Going Shopping

CHAPTER 7: WINTERS TRAVEL AND WILD PLACES

Snow Bound

Trip To Town

Travel

Skis

The Snow as Guardian

A Winter Retreat

More Trips

Wild Places

Spring

CHAPTER 8: TELEVISION

Passivity

Emotions

Concentration

CHAPTER 9: HOME SCHOOL

School and What It Does

Love of Learning

Socialization

Individual Difference

Boredom

Together and Apart

Books

Tests

Trust

Play

Touching

Home School Today

No Diploma

PART II: TREASURES

CHAPTER 10: THE REAL WORLD

CHAPTER 11: SIMPLICITY'S GIFTS

Time Warps

The Psyche and the Simple Life

Mindfulness

Spirit

CHAPTER 12: A DREAM FOR THE FUTURE:

A BIOSHELTER COMMUNITY

PART III: TOOLS

CHAPTER 13: MISTAKES

Money

Self-Employed

Search for Land

Home

Utilities

Food

Winter Travel

Wild Places

Trees

TV

Home School

Why?

CHAPTER 14: TOFU AND TEMPEH

CHAPTER 15: CRAFTS: SEARCHING FOR RIGHT LIVELIHOOD IN A WACKY

WORLD

The Right Product

Making It

Selling

CHAPTER 16: BACK TO ECONOMIC: BASICS

CHAPTER 17: HEALTH OF THE WHOLE PERSON

Food as Medicine

Psychological and Spiritual Medicine

CHAPTER 18: HUMAN DIFFERENCES: A HIDDEN DIMENSION OF LIFE AND LOVE

Dr. William Sheldon (1898-1977)

Dr. C.G. Jung (1875-1961)

Human Differences in Daily Life

Practical Possibilities

See also:

RADICAL SIMPLICITY AND THE FOURTH STEP

and