Books about Independence from Amazon.com

Most people know that there are 70 million Baby Boomers in America today....but what is less known is that there are approximately 100 million people in America between the ages of 16 and 30. This generation has just entered, or will soon be entering the work force. And they have no idea how to invest, save, or handle their money.

Young people today come out of school having had little or no formal education on the basics of money management. Many have large debts from student loans looming over their heads. And many feel confused and powerless when their pricey educations don't translate into high paying jobs. They feel that their $30,000-$40,000 salary is too meager to bother with investing, and they constantly fear that there will be "too much month left at the end of their money."

Douglas R. Andrew has shown the parents of this generation a different pathway to financial freedom. Now Doug and his sons, Emron and Aaron - both of whom are in their mid-20s - show the under-30 crowd how they can break from traditional 401k investment plans and instead can find a better way by investing in real estate, budgeting effectively, avoiding unnecessary taxes and using life insurance to create tax-free income.

With the principles outlined in Millionaire by Thirty, recent graduates will be earning enough interest on their savings to meet their basic living expenses by the time they're 30. And by the time they're 35, their investments will be earning more money than they are, guaranteeing them a happy, wealthy future..
Price: $13.96 [Notify me when price goes down.]

As oil prices continue to rise, many people are starting to think about how to unhook from the power grid. The Renewable Energy Handbook focuses completely on off-grid, sustainable living and energy independence in a rural setting.

Author William Kemp and his wife designed their own high-efficiency off-grid home in 1991. They worked methodically to produce a home which has all of the standard "middle-class" creature comforts while using six times less heating, cooling, and electrical energy than the average Ontario home. Soon they were inundated with inquiries and decided to put their experience into book form in 2003.

This updated edition focuses specifically on off-grid concerns and contains chapters on:

Energy conservation
Heating and cooling
Photovoltaic, wind and microhydro energy generation
Battery selection, voltage regulation and inverters
Backup power

Twice the page count of the first edition, it also includes enhanced chapters on home and domestic water heating, wireless communications and biofuels. A "Showcase of Homes" chapter provides a tour of various off-grid cottages and homes, and details the type of lifestyle that can be achieved for a given capital cost. The book is augmented with appendices and hundreds of illustrations, line drawings and photographs.

William Kemp is VP Engineering of Powerbase Automation Systems Inc. and a consulting electronics/software designer who develops control systems for low environmental impact hydroelectric utilities worldwide. He is a sustainable living and clean energy advocate working in renewable energy heating, energy efficiency, photovoltaic, microhydro and wind electric systems.

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Price: $18.14 [Notify me when price goes down.]

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Price: $14.79 [Notify me when price goes down.]

There's a big difference between "making a living" and making a life. Do you spend more than you earn? Does making a living feel more like making a dying? Do you dislike your job but can't afford to leave it? Is money fragmenting your time, your relationships with family and friends? If so, Your Money or Your Life is for you.

From this inspiring book, learn how to

• get out of debt and develop savings
• reorder material priorities and live well for less
• resolve inner conflicts between values and lifestyles
• convert problems into opportunities to learn new skills
• attain a wholeness of livelihood and lifestyle
• save the planet while saving money
• and much more

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Price: $5.99 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Gandhi's nonviolent struggles in South Africa and India had already brought him to such a level of notoriety, adulation, and controversy that when asked to write an autobiography midway through his career, he took it as an opportunity to explain himself. Although accepting of his status as a great innovator in the struggle against racism, violence, and, just then, colonialism, Gandhi feared that enthusiasm for his ideas tended to exceed a deeper understanding. He says that he was after truth rooted in devotion to God and attributed the turning points, successes, and challenges in his life to the will of God. His attempts to get closer to this divine power led him to seek purity through simple living, dietary practices (he called himself a fruitarian), celibacy, and ahimsa, a life without violence. It is in this sense that he calls his book The Story of My Experiments with Truth, offering it also as a reference for those who would follow in his footsteps. A reader expecting a complete accounting of his actions, however, will be sorely disappointed.

Although Gandhi presents his episodes chronologically, he happily leaves wide gaps, such as the entire satyagraha struggle in South Africa, for which he refers the reader to another of his books. And writing for his contemporaries, he takes it for granted that the reader is familiar with the major events of his life and of the political milieu of early 20th-century India. For the objective story, try Yogesh Chadha's Gandhi: A Life. For the inner world of a man held as a criminal by the British, a hero by Muslims, and a holy man by Hindus, look no further than these experiments. --Brian Bruya.
Price: $5.12 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Though tightwad seems like a derogatory term, author Amy Dacyczyn wants to assure you that it's okay to be a penny-pincher This self-styled "Frugal Zealot" wrote and published The Tightwad Gazette for over six years to spread the frugal gospel. Each issue contained tips from her personal experience and from her many readers. The wealth of information contained in all these issues has been compiled into one volume for the first time. You'll find literally thousands of ideas for saving money, from the simple or practical to the difficult or bizarre. On the simple, practical side, Dacyczyn advises would-be tightwads to keep track of price trends at several stores in a "price book" and to buy in bulk when prices are low. Other, stranger offerings include tips for turning margarine-tub lids into playing-card holders, old credit cards into guitar picks, and six-pack rings into a hammock or volleyball net. More helpful are inexpensive recipes for making homemade versions of pricey, well-known products and ingenious ways to fix broken or damaged items. The book's disorganization encourages browsing, but the detailed index will point you to the exact page for specific items. Dacyczyn's occasional "thriftier than thou" tone is balanced by the friendly support for frugality that infuses every page. She even reminds her readers that it's okay to "sweat the small stuff"--because this small stuff is the essence of frugality. --C.B. Delaney.
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Many people believe that the key to success in the stock market is buying low and selling high. But how many investors have the time, talent, and luck to earn consistent returns this way? In The Ultimate Dividend Playbook: Income, Insight, and Independence for Today’s Investor, Josh Peters, editor of the monthly Morningstar DividendInvestor newsletter, shows you why you don’t have to try to beat the market and how you can use dividends to capture the income and growth you seek..
Price: $13.78 [Notify me when price goes down.]

A unique new approach to treating eating disorders

Eight million women in the United States suffer from anorexia nervosa and/or bulimia For these women, the road to recovery is a rocky one. Many succumb to their eating disorders. Life Without Ed offers hope to all those who suffer from these often deadly disorders. For years, author Jennifer Schaefer lived with both anorexia and bulimia. She credits her successful recovery to the technique she learned from her psychologist, Thom Rutledge.

This groundbreaking book illustrates Rutledge's technique. As in the author's case, readers are encouraged to think of an eating disorder as if it were a distinct being with a personality of its own. Further, they are encouraged to treat the disorder as a relationship rather than as a condition. Schaefer named her eating disorder Ed; her recovery involved "breaking up" with Ed

• Shares the points of view of both patient and therapist in this approach to treatment
• Helps people see the disease as a relationship from which they can distance themselves
• Techniques to defeat negative thoughts that plague eating disorder patients

Prescriptive, supportive, and inspirational, Life Without Ed shows readers how they too can overcome their eating disorders.

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Price: $9.55 [Notify me when price goes down.]

In this compelling argument for a new direction in US energy policy, world-renowned engineer and best-selling author Robert Zubrin lays out a bold plan for breaking the economic stranglehold that the OPEC oil cartel has on our country and the world. Zubrin presents persuasive evidence that our decades-long relationship with OPEC has resulted in the looting of our economy, the corruption of our political system, and now the funding and protection of terrorist regimes and movements that are committed to our destruction. Debunking the false solutions and myths that have deterred us from taking necessary action, Zubrin exposes the fakery that has allowed many politicians -- including current US president George W. Bush -- to posture that they are acting to resolve this problem while actually doing nothing significant toward that goal. Zubrin's plan is straightforward and practical. He argues that if Congress passed a law requiring that all new cars sold in the USA be flex-fueled -- that is, able to run on any combination of gasoline or alcohol fuels -- this one action would destroy the monopoly that the oil cartel has maintained on the globe's transportation fuel supply, opening it up to competition from alcohol fuels produced by farmers worldwide. According to Zubrin's estimates, within three years of enactment, such a regulation would put 50 million cars on the road in the USA capable of running on high-alcohol fuels, and at least an equal number overseas.

Energy Victory shows how we could be using fuel dollars that are now being sent to countries with ties to terrorism to help farmers here and abroad, boosting our own economy and funding world development. Furthermore, by switching to alcohol fuels, which pollute less than gasoline and are made from plants that draw carbon dioxide from the air, this plan will facilitate the worldwide economic growth required to eliminate global poverty without the fear of greenhouse warming. Energy Victory offers an exciting vision for a dynamic, new energy policy, which will go a long way toward safeguarding homeland security in the future and provide solutions for global warming and Third World development..
Price: $11.92 [Notify me when price goes down.]