Customer Reviews

A Walden Two experiment;: The first five years of Twin Oaks Community

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This book was writen after five years of the development of Twin Oaks community based roughly on a book by B. F. Skinner. The premise of Twin Oaks was to establish a community where all members were equal in finance, labor, and living. Kat Kenkade, on of the founding members, relays the difficulties of starting a working commune in the late 1960's in rural Virgina. From farming to manufacture, living in a barn to building their own houses. This book makes a good follow-up to Walden Two.

In 1967, Kathleen Kinkade's life changed when she read BF SKinner's utopian novel, Walden Two. Inspired by this vision of
community, Kinkade founded Twin Oaks Community in rural Virginia (an income-sharing intentional community still in existence today).

In this first account of the early history of Twin Oaks, Kinkade outlines the community's earliest struggles for everything from
enough money for survival to learning how to erect buildings with
virtually no material or skill. She tells the stories of Twin Oaks' earliest members and how they contributed to this communal experiment. Throughout these struggles, Kinkade maintains both her wry sense of humor and her humanistic vision.

Kinkade's book remains as fresh and funny as it was in 1972. I highly recommend it as an introduction both to the intentional communities movement as well as for those with dreams of pioneering their own community someday.

I am interested in getting involved in, or help build and intentional community. This book was perfect for helping me see the ins and outs of community life. The author was candid about their mistakes, as well as their accomplishments, in the first few years. I found this very helpful.

i can't believe such a funny & influential book (for me at least *grin*) is out of print! my advice is to send in a request. ask for a copy for yourself, your crazy hippie kid sister (no apologies offered as i wear that title with honor), your library, your child's school, for everyone you know. this is an honest, funny, and inspiring look into the early days of one of the longest standing intentional communities in the u.s. (yep, it's still around) the sequel perhaps provides more insight (as they'd been experimenting an additional 20 years), but this first account makes a great supplement to b.f. skinner's _walden two_ as you can feel more of its presence with the group of motivated readers who decided to see if they could actualize his ideas. b.f. skinner even wrote the introduction to this account!

fact is often stranger than fiction ~ go ahead, indulge yourself!

Not particularly eloquently written, but as straight expository does a great job of describing the details of life in the early years of a Virginia commune. Although certainly influenced by the cultural revolution of the late 1960's, Twin Oaks was far more structured (many rules such as no drugs) and less free-wheeling than other hippie communes across the country. For a taste of anarchical commune life try Huerfano or Sleeping Where I Fall.

The Twin Oaks community was founded in 1967 on a 123-acre tobacco farm in Virginia by eight people, who were inspired by B.F. Skinner's utopian novel, Walden Two. Kathleen Kinkade was one of these eight, and she wrote this book in 1973 to describe the first five years of the community. Skinner himself contributes an introduction to the book, where he observes, "Whether or not the kind of life I described in Walden Two was feasible and worthwhile nevertheless remained to be shown, and this book is the story of a practical test."

The book is filled with fascinating descriptions of the community; e.g., "From then until now sexual freedom has been the Community's norm, both in theory and in practice." "Because we have Walden Two, we do not need a leader or teacher." "But a Walden Two community is not a hierarchy. Nobody is on top of anybody."

There were obviously problems, as well. For example, at the time this book was written, only two of the original eight members were still there. But in a concluding chapter, Kinkade notes, "If we aren't Utopia, we are still happier than most people."

Today the community has largely turned away from Skinner's original vision, but has developed into one of the most successful intentional communities in North America, and is committed to "sustainability" as an eco-village. (See Kinkade's 1994 book, Is It Utopia Yet?: An Insider's View of Twin Oaks Community in Its Twenty-Sixth Year, for an updated perspective.)

For persons interested in intentional communities, communes, utopian societies, Walden Two, and B.F. Skinner, this book will be fascinating reading.

I stumbled across this book many years ago, while searching for information about 'Walden Two' (the book by BF Skinner).

A Walden Two Experiment is the first-hand account of a real life community inspired by the fictional community in the book Walden Two. Written by the only surviving founder of Twin Oaks (the community this book is actually about) who still lives there over 40 years later, this book chronicles the first five years (but primarily the first three years) as the community struggles to stay above water.

The book details the community trials with economics, personal relationships, labor, housing... and pretty much everything a fledgling community faces as it tries to reach equilibrium. The book is straight forward and a bit grim, as the author explains toward the end of the book, she decided to focus on the difficult aspects to try and create 'a more interesting read'. Personally, I wish there had been more focus on the joys and happier times, but the book is well worth reading and very informative for anyone considering joining an Intentional Community, or perhaps trying to found one themselves.

Another important book to read is her follow-up Is It Utopia Yet?: An Insider's View of Twin Oaks Community in Its Twenty-Sixth Year written in the community's 26th year. And Ingrid Komar's "Living the Dream" - which is another perspective on Twin Oaks from 1979-1982.