The Scavengers' Manifesto

by Kristan Lawson and Anneli Rufus

Book Overview

Destined to become the bible for a bold new subculture of eco-minded people who are creating a lifestyle out of recycling, reusing, and repurposing rather than buying new.

An exciting new movement is afoot that brings together environmentalists, anticonsumerists, do-it-yourselfers, bargain-hunters, and treasure-seekers of all stripes. You can see it in the enormous popularity of many websites: millions of Americans are breaking free...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1585427179
• ISBN13: 9781585427178
• Release Date: March 2009
• Publisher: Penguin Adult Hc/Tr
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 0.99 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.4" x 8.1"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

You just might be a scavenger

Rufus and Lawson take a pretty wide view of scavenging and include everything from coupon clipping and bargain hunting to more traditional scavenger activities such as dumpster diving and searching out curbside finds. The book is part how-to with useful tips for scavengers or anyone looking to save a buck or two and part philsophy. With a history of scavenging, many arguments made for why scavenging is good for the world at large and philosophical musings on scavenging/being cheap, readers will encouragement and support from Rufus and Lawson. The message of this book: It's OK to be a cheapskate; you are not alone! At a time when everyone is cutting back, the authors find that their sort of lifestyle is suddenly in vogue. Well, sort of. Maybe not everyone is ready to go to the extremes to which they go, but it is encouraging to see that there are more ways out there to save money that most would have realized. The Scavengers' Manifesto is an amazingly readable book. Part how-to book, part memoir, this light-hearted book is able to put something of a positive spin on these bleak economic times.

It must be hard to sell a book on getting things for free

It seems like the obvious joke, right? How do you sell a book about getting things for free? Hopefully in large numbers, as fear of economic downturn prods folks into a bit of frugality! The book takes on a lot of different topics, all related to scavenging. I found the histories of scavengers across the world and how this related to ethnicity, social standing and portrayals in religion and literature to be the most interesting part of the book. In many places the history of social outsiders and the history of scavengers are one in the same, for reasons that are oftentimes obvious (the poorer classes doing it to survive) but at other times surprising. The parts on being a modern day scavenger weren't exactly ground breaking for me, but I've been a cheap sort since a young age and have never balked at the idea of getting something used or from the garbage. I can see how it would be useful for scavenger-curious types but I'm having trouble imagining that sort. Not what I'd call groundbreaking (the idea that we manufacture new things we don't need is addressed on a near daily basis in any anti-consumerism blogs/magazines/books/journals) but still a fun read on a quiet afternoon.