Car Living: How to Make It a Successful, Sane, Safe Experience [Paperback]

a Jane Archer (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0964957310 | ISBN-13: 978-0964957312 | Publication Date: July 1999

Car Living is a how-to for those who find themselves in a situation where they want to, or have to, live in a car- either temporarily or as long as 28 years!

Car Living is about an alternative type of living or traveling.

Many car livers have money in the bank and choose to live in their cars. Many explore the country by living in their cars. Others earn money as they need it,and live in their cars for days, weeks, months or years.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

A. J. (Heim) Archer has been actively involved in forming small businesses, writing books, and lecturing to various civic and private groups since 1975. She is the author of "The Directory of Working Women" from 1978-1982, and "What to Do When the Stock Market Falls" in 1996. Articles about her work have appeared in the "Chicago Tribune, Des Moines Register, Crain's Chicago Business, Savvy, Vogue and Working Mother." Associated Press and UPI have written feature stories that have appeared in newspapers throughout the United States and Europe. Ms. Archer has made guest appearances on the "ABC NEWS", a "CBS Special News Report", "AM Chicago", and had conducted radio interviews throughout the United States and Canada, such as on the "Jim Bohannon Show."

"The Woman's Advocate" chose Ms. Archer for the first Outstanding Working Woman's "Exceptional Achievement Award." She was also chosen "Career Woman of the Month" by Cosmopolitan magazine.

Ms. Archer originated the First Cherry Creek Distance Learning Pilot Project in 1989-1990. This semester-long project included traveling 20,000 miles in a van throughout the United States, Canada and Mexico with her two children, who were in the 6th and 10th grades. During the 4-month trip,her children telecommunicated with their schools in suburban Denver, Colorado.

Ms. Archer created and directed an organic education center for an prestigious organic certifying agency in the Pacific Northwest. She is currently writing an enlarged second book entitled "Car Living Your Way" which will be published December, 2000.

Product Details

• Paperback: 72 pages
• Publisher: Touchstone Adventures (July 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0964957310
• ISBN-13: 978-0964957312
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.4 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,232,725 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Dissapointing, lacking detail, May 26, 2006

By 

Jason M. Chapman "Spammers must pay a $550.00... (Melbourne, Australia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Car Living: How to Make It a Successful, Sane, Safe Experience (Paperback)

I was very disappointed with this book. I had read previous reviews and realised it was not a very large book. So I was not expecting a huge tome, just the basics. This book however failed to deliver in many key areas of car living. Most notably was the complete lack of information on how to safely use your car's electrical system to provide you with power to run appliances.

Page 27 mentions the psychological factors of not having a TV. It suggests a solution is to "keep your eyes open to find a devoted soap fan willing to share his or her television." I would have though it would at the very least indicate that a small television could be run from an inverter. Laundry mats often have TVs in them. Do your laundry when you want to watch TV. Plenty of other places have free TV.

Page 29 states; "If your computer is your favourite thing, take it with you. If it is a laptop you can use it right in your car. You will have to decide how to recharge the batteries, but that should not be too difficult to figure out." It then goes on to mention that you will not be able to use the Internet from your car, but states "I am sure this has been done."

I was appalled by those sentences. If it is not too difficult to figure out, why did the author not figure it out for people and include it in the book instead of writing a cop out sentence? If the author is sure that people have accessed the Internet from in their car, why write that people will not be able to do it? If they are sure it has been done, why not research the details and include them? Admittedly when the book was published in 1999 Wifi was not as available as now, but other wireless technology was. As far back as 1996 I was accessing the Interent wirelessly.

There was no mention of the dangers of using a camp stove in a car. Not only from the aspect of fire, but also for fumes and carbon monoxide.

The recommendations for sleeping in a car during hot weather were worse than useless. Sleeping in a tent could offer serious safety issues and is impractical in suburban areas. It could also result in an illegal camping charge. Fly screens would have been a much easier solution, as would the use of reflective window shades.

The cold weather survival tips were likewise laughable. Go to a homeless shelter was about it. No mention of hot water bottles, rugging up, insulation, reusable heat packs.

Having also read Craig S Roberts Ten consecutive years of living in cars... I'd say it is definitely the better of the two books. It is obvious that he has been there and done that. It may read a little paranoid at times, but the advice is good and ample. He offers practical solutions. Jane's book on the other hand reads too much like a psychology essay based on a limited number of interviews wit people who have lived in cars.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Not worth the money, August 4, 2003

By 

Connie (Indiana United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Car Living: How to Make It a Successful, Sane, Safe Experience (Paperback)

This book measures 8.5 x 5.5 inches and is 72 pages long from title page to last page. It is not much bigger than a thick pamphlet. Ms. Archer tends to repeat herself throughout the chapters, and the contents of this book could've probably been narrowed down to 30 pages. For instance, the index shows that dealing with the police is mentioned once, but I counted at least six places where she wrote about how to work around law enforcement.

It's not that the information in this book in not helpful. I just expected more useful material than the commonsense information such as the importance of bathroom facilities and the necessity keeping warm.

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars rip off book F.J Archer should try another topic., July 1, 2004

By 

Joseph R. Dupont (gillette,NJ) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Car Living: How to Make It a Successful, Sane, Safe Experience (Paperback)

This book is over priced at anything more than 5 bucks.
The information on living in a car is much less than
what you can find just poking around the internet.
http://www.carliving.net/intro.html is a good resource.
There was no mention of cooking using a thermos in your car.
nothing about using extra car batteries for cooking , heat, light, entertainment. I know a lady who washed her cloths in
a ice chess on the way to work.
nothing on using solar cells to keep your car charged.
Nothing about Kmart's that allow for over night parking.
You can set up a satellite link for internet , internet phone,
etc.

This book does not give you bad info.. only info that most of
us would already guess. Too much talking about peoples situations
that have no or little bearing on the topic.
64 pages is too little info for this subject.
Add to that too little specifics and there you are.
Yes I got ripped off by A. J Heim Archer.