In his book, How To Live Well Without Owning A Car author Chris Balish exposes the true costs of car ownership, and shows how car-free living can put anyone on the path to financial freedom. Take a look at the book’s car cost worksheet, and see how much owning a car really costs — you’ll be surprised. Then, see how easy it is to transition to a car-free or car-lite lifestyle using Chris’s strategies for commuting, running errands, taking trips, dating, socializing, and more. Without car payments, rising gas prices, and traffic jams to worry about, you’ll have more money and leisure time to spend as you choose. Peppered with comics in the sidebars, this book is an entertaining and convincing read. The book is available from Amazon.

See also my review of the Carfree Cities book.

Imagine life in a city free from the noise, stench, and danger of cars, trucks, and buses. Imagine that all basic needs, from groceries to child care, lie within a five-minute walk of every doorstep. Imagine that no commute takes more than 35 minutes from door to door, and that service is provided by a fast, cheap, safe, comfortable public transport system. This is the future that J.H. Crawford envisions in Carfree Cities.

Crawford argues unapologetically that the car is a technology that has run wild, and that the time has come to reclaim city streets for human activities.

He proposes a city planned to maximize the quality of life for individuals and communities, and gives practical suggestions for implementing this basic design in both new and existing cities. He examines Venice as an example of a modern city that runs quite well with very few cars.

By rejecting the assumption that continued car use in cities is inevitable, Crawford takes us a step closer to the tantalizing possibility of a return to the pattern of lively, attractive streets that we had enjoyed for thousands of years, until the advent of automobiles. The book is available from Amazon.

Website: Carfree Cities.