Almost Amish: One Woman's Quest for a Slower, Simpler, More Sustainable Life

I have bought several copies of this book as gifts! I tend to do that when a book helps me as much as this one has! I first read Almost Amish about the time I felt we were being led to learn to live debt-free - and how timely! We are working on it! Oh if we would all learn to live beneath our means! Such freedom! Very inspiring book!

Almost Amish is the true-story of how one Christian family took inspiration from how the Amish community lives and applied these principles in their own family. This book covers everything from technology and family to money and faith. Nancy Sleeth shares how her family adopted practices from the Amish into their modern, "English" lives.

The main idea behind the book was Nancy's quest for a simpler, slower life. This led the family to downsizing their home, planting a garden, buying locally, and embracing their community. There wasn't one thing that I didn't like about this book. It actually left me wanting to be Nancy's neighbor.

Almost Amish is not about trading in your SUV for a horse and buggy (although with these gas prices, one might consider it). It is not about unplugging completely from the grid. It is about balancing our dependency on technology so we can engage more fully with our families and communities. It is about taking better care of our environment. It is about putting God in the center of our world and putting our faith into everything we do. I encourage you to read it. It will make you think and question and, quite possible, make some changes in the way you live.

(Tyndale House Publishers provided me with a complimentary copy of this book.)

Ever wanted to take a closer look at the way in which the Amish live? Nancy Sleeth will give you a look inside the traditions and ways in which the Amish live their lives for God. She also gives tips on how these Amish ways of living can be incorporated into our own lives creating a much simpler living for us.

This book was very informative and insightful. Some subjects covered are home life, nature, finances, technology, and service. Mrs. Sleeth gives background on the Amish way of living and how it has been incorporated into the life of herself and her family. It was helpful to read how the author integrated the principles of the Amish into her life. While reading this book I became very aware of some of my own daily habits and decided to make changes of my own. There is also a surprise at the end of the book: Amish recipes for you to try! While I have not tried any yet, I am looking forward to doing so.

If you have ever wanted to live a simpler way of life or learn more about Amish ways, you should pick up this book. It was a good read, filled with practical tips on how to achieve a simpler life centered on the Lord.

Note: I have received a free copy of this book from Tyndale House Publishers in exchange for a review.

Nancy Sleeth and her family desired to "incorporate the best of Amish principles" into their modern lives. They found Amish principles in the areas of homes, technology, finances, nature, simplicity, service, security, community, families and faith and tries to incorporate them into their lives, by making some unusual choices for their family. However, rather than being like a personal journal of their experiences, this book is more a list of some common sense ideas and principles with some Amish and Biblical backing.

I must say that I high higher hopes for this book. Sleeth book is more how to take some Amish ideas regarding life and try to fit them into our culture. It doesn't really work. It also seemed like it was very selective in what ideas Sleeth took from the Amish to incorporate into her own families life. Based on the title, I had the idea that the book was going to be more of a personal journal of the family's "quest for a slower, simpler, more sustainable life", but what it really was was 10 categories of Amish ideas and how we can try to fit them into our American, modern culture. This is not to say that the examples she gives do not work, but its not because they are Amish ideas. A lot of it is just plain common sense, such as needing a time to just unplug from technology (computers, phones, email, etc), and just spend time as family and friends together to build relationships or being wise with your money.

I give this book 3 stars. It wasn't a bad book, but I was not at all impressed with it.

Almost Amish is a book by Nancy Sleeth about how we can incorporate Amish daily habits and traditions into our own lives. I enjoyed this book. She includes many helpful hints on how to save money and how to live with less. She also includes tips on how to reduce waste, electricity use and stretch your every day items. There are also Amish recipes, including bread and soup that will be fun to try.

I recommend this book as a nice light read and to help get over our nation's current overabundance craze.