There's Going to Be a Book!

Okay, it’s true that we will profit from this experiment in a small way—much smaller than I’d like, believe me—because I’ve been contracted to write a book on our no impact experiences by the publishers Farrar, Straus, Giroux (and yeah, I’m totally psyched to be an FSG author).

By profession I’m a writer and by temperament a megalomaniac (though I like to think a nice one). Until now, I’ve happily satisfied my little family’s need for cash (nearly…ok, not even nearly) and my weak ego’s need for recognition by writing history books.

Okay, it’s true that we will profit from this experiment in a small way—much smaller than I’d like, believe me—because I’ve been contracted to write a book on our no impact experiences by the publishers Farrar, Straus, Giroux (and yeah, I’m totally psyched to be an FSG author).

By profession I’m a writer and by temperament a megalomaniac (though I like to think a nice one). Until now, I’ve happily satisfied my little family’s need for cash (nearly…ok, not even nearly) and my weak ego’s need for recognition by writing history books.

My first book, Fingerprints: The Origins of Crime Detection and The Murder Case That Launched Forensic Science (Hyperion, 2001) intertwines the story of the first-ever murder case solved by fingerprints with the story of the man, Henry Faulds, who first suggested fingerprints as a method of crime scene identification, but who was later cheated out of the credit.

My second book, Operation Jedburgh: D-Day and America’s First Shadow War is about the 276 men who, as part of the United States’s first large-scale, behind-the-lines special operation, rallied the French Resistance to attack the Germans and delay their convergence on Normandy. I wrote it because my grandfather, Gerry Miller, was a big wig in the CIA and Operation Jedburgh was part of my investigation into his early career. (And don’t judge a book by its cover: I’m not pro-war and neither is the book!)

I’m proud of both those books, but throughout my career I’ve wanted to have my work align with my political and personal values. That is, I’ve wanted my writing to encourage us all to take care of each other (yes, I’m soppy). Psychologists who are experts in happiness say that the highest pinnacle when it comes to personal satisfaction is to use your highest skills in pursuance of your most dearly held values.

So guess what? With this new contract to write No Impact Man I am officially happy. No Impact Man, the book, is my chance to join the chorus of voices promoting some of the ideas about living and conservation that we all need to hear. I like to think that the fact that my mercenary need to make a living and my writer’s egomaniacal need for bylines line up with the higher of my motives means that there is all the more energy heading in a good direction. One may never get to erase one’s karma but one can use it for some sort of a useful purpose.

Anyway, the book will come out some time in 2009 (assuming the world, me and FSG all still exist). It will be printed and produced in some, yet to be determined, sustainable way. And here is some information about my new publishing home:

Farrar, Straus and Giroux was founded in 1946 by Roger W. Straus. The firm is renowned for its international list of literary fiction, nonfiction, poetry and children’s books. Farrar, Straus and Giroux authors have won extraordinary acclaim over the years, including numerous National Book Awards, Pulitzer Prizes, and Nobel Prizes in literature.

Farrar, Straus & Giroux
19 Union Square West
New York, NY 10003

For more information on FSG, please visit their Web site. 

Comments

[Mike A]

Read about you guys in the Times. Don't sweat the "best of four" agent comments - it didn't come off poorly, even to a skeptic like me. More importantly, I am truly impressed by what your family is doing. I don't care if you're writing a book, making a movie, and starting a sitcom - the point is, you're actually DOING this. When I thought of the implications, I could really commiserate - if only mentally. While I am concerned daily with a "less carbon" (rather than carbonless) lifestyle, and try to do things daily to focus on it in ways that I can, I really don't think that I (or my wife, dog and cat, for that matter) could take this simple, powerful approach. I salute you all. Your own "Frontier House" in the city.

[allen]

perhaps a little late for this critique to be relevant, but wouldn't it be more accurate to call yourself and your contract "net impact man". i have to say that i agree with one of your posted comments on the philosophy page (humberto)...comes across just a bit too much like a clever phrase that will surely sell. of course it's easy for us to be skeptical or find holes, but it just seems you would probably avoid some of the criticism if your language were a little more in line with your goal?

beside my personal critique, best of luck. if nothing else i appreciate the message that WE are ultimately responsible for our own lives. yuppie or not, it's a choice and you either believe you can change the market and society with your actions or you don't. in the end, i wonder if it will come down to something that simple? who knows. in the meantime i'll have something new to talk about and will be waiting to hear how it turns out. might even buy the book!

[Carl K]

All those beautiful trees dying, not to mention the noisy,carbon belching chainsaws, loaders, saw mills and trucks to produce your book. How do you explain this?

[Lucy]

Hi Colin,

You are great! I hope you'll get stinking rich from your book and film and whatever you do. I'm so surpised by people calling this a scam, so surprised by the aggression. So what if you make money from pursuing a good cause or making a point!?
Why are most people thinking and walking along the old paths? Because we are used to doing that. So I'm very happy that you and your family have decided to walk along a different path and show us that it is not only possible but perhaps fulfilling you more that watching TV and driving around in a SUV.

The critique on what a book means to the environment seems rather short sighted. There are many ways to publish a book and many materials to print it on and with. Please people think WITH this man!

Perhaps you have heard of ecologically intelligent design? In the book Cradle to Cradle, remaking the way we make things, McDonough and Braungart describe a totally new way of how we should design our products. And actually this is a very old way, as nature is their example. Nature is not thrifty, not efficient at all. Nature litters all the time! But nature never creates anything that can't be reused and that's the crux. McDonough and Braungart make the case that an industrial system that "takes, makes and wastes" can become a creator of goods and services that generate ecological, social and economic value. Please check out their book here .

They have done impressive projects with Ford, Nike and many more companies in changing their production methods. By doing that they are not only saving the earth but also saving a lot of money, which is one thing that gives me hope: producing in sustainable ways is actually profitable, so businesses would be very stupid if they wouldn't change their ways!
In China the book is now being used as a bible for creating the millions of houses that need to be built for the people that are moving from the country toward the urban areas.

If we were to produce and live by this book, we would be allowed to have a lot of impact, since that impact will be a contribution instead of damaging. Everything we would make would, in their second life cycle, serve as nutrients for either micro organisms or products in the technosphere.

Dear No Impact Man, and dear people in the world, please read Cradle to Cradle. It brings hope and inspiration for a good and abundant life style! It is printed on synthetic 'paper'. Actually it is some kind of polypropylene and you could take a shower with it (if of course one were to take showers ;-)). The book can be used as a nutrient for other products. It can be upcycled.

Perhaps your book could be produced by the same publisher, North Point Press.

All the best and keep discussing; keep waking up the world!

Warm regards, Lucy

[Brody]

You do realize that trees (paper) are one of our most renewable (read: SUSTAINABLE) resources...right?