Book Info
Cheap Land Colorado: Off-Gridders at America’s Edge by Ted Conover (2024)
Genre: Nonfiction, Memoir, History
LibraryThing: https://www.librarything.com/work/28281260/book/300006632
Acquired from: Little Free Library, Denver, Colorado, USA
Started reading: November 13, 2025
Finished reading: December 2, 2025 (DNF)
Reading Notes
Page 20: It’s hard not to be a little judgmental of people who buy land and put a house up and then have no money to sustain themselves afterwards but this author is supremely kind and writes in an un-sensationalistic manner which I appreciate.
Page 28:
Perhaps more of a problem is what could happen when a would-be settler’s dreams fell through. In pioneer days, they would leave behind a log cabin or an adobe hut, which would weather and decay in picturesque fashion. But in the era of prefab mobile homes, what gets left behind can be a piece of junk that just looks junkier over time, as windows get broken and the shell gets stripped of wiring and any other parts that have value.
Page 36: (The author is renting land from some people.) $150/month to put your trailer in someone’s lot with no electricity or water??? Okay…and then $4k for a 1998 trailer too, jfc.
Page 70: How is it Earthships‘ fault people have unfinished projects littering their yard? That was weird phrasing. It’s like he’s blaming them for somebody else’s decision to keep junk.
Page 102: Should probably mention fairly graphic animal death throughout, including a pet dog.
Word List
- Exurb
See also: Books Read (2025) / All Reading Logs
tozka | 📖 reading log: cheap lands colorado by ted conover