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3.82 AVERAGE
3.82 AVERAGE
I was enjoying it, but it seems longer than it needs to be and I am losing interest. We'll see if I pick this back up later.
I went into this thinking it was about how Libertarians (The Ayn Rand kind) created a bear problem. The impression I got upon reading was that they didn't. Yes, there was someone feeding the bears, whose lawyer tells her it's kind of a legal gray area, but I was under the impression she had been in Grafton pre-Libertarian. This is also set against a story of a bear in Hanover, who was also fed. The book tells a story of a town taken over by Libertarians and a parallel story of an increasing bear problem that just so happened at the same time, but doesn't fully illustrate how one led to the worsening of the other, if that was the case. It certainly implies as such, mentioning Vermont has a similar population, but half the bear complaints. There is certainly lax garbage practices in Grafton, but it doesn't illustrate that Vermont (or anywhere else) is better.
The stories of bears were interesting, but I was more interested in the results of the Free Town Project. Most of the story around the Free Town centered around a church trying to avoid taxation but refusing to fill out the paperwork to be recognized as a religious organization. Since that would involve recognizing legal government authority. I wasn't terribly invested in this bit. I was more interested in the practical community aspects, like the roads falling apart and the police being practically de-funded into complete ineffectiveness. I thought the internal battles (most notably an argument about a campfire) were interesting as well, with them basically turning around and calling each other Statist and Not Real Libertarians.
The things I didn't care for were the chapter epigraphs, which all contain the word bear and then didn't seem to have anything else to do with the book. Except maybe for at the end where the author talks about how bears are whatever people see them as? The most annoying bit was about T. gondii. Ok, if he wants to imply the bears are acting the way they are because of toxoplasmosis (especially because some of them are eating cats), fine. It doesn't hold up because he says other states have high T. gondii infection rates in bears. But then the author goes on a tangent about how maybe the Libertarians are also infected at high rates and that's why they act the way they do. All a guess, mind you, with no data to back it up, or even a possible reason as to why there might be a high infection rate. It's insulting and there was absolutely no reason to put this in the book.
Overall, I think the author was very fair to the Libertarians, pointing out actual facts as to what happened and also illustrating their disparate views. Almost to the point I could get behind the firefighter, who strongly believes you need to have a responsibility to the community to make it work. It's naive to think people will behave this way, but it's a nice viewpoint. The beginning of the book, in fact, goes to great pains to mention how Libertarianism is highly correlated with logical thinking.
The stories of bears were interesting, but I was more interested in the results of the Free Town Project. Most of the story around the Free Town centered around a church trying to avoid taxation but refusing to fill out the paperwork to be recognized as a religious organization. Since that would involve recognizing legal government authority. I wasn't terribly invested in this bit. I was more interested in the practical community aspects, like the roads falling apart and the police being practically de-funded into complete ineffectiveness. I thought the internal battles (most notably an argument about a campfire) were interesting as well, with them basically turning around and calling each other Statist and Not Real Libertarians.
The things I didn't care for were the chapter epigraphs, which all contain the word bear and then didn't seem to have anything else to do with the book. Except maybe for at the end where the author talks about how bears are whatever people see them as? The most annoying bit was about T. gondii. Ok, if he wants to imply the bears are acting the way they are because of toxoplasmosis (especially because some of them are eating cats), fine. It doesn't hold up because he says other states have high T. gondii infection rates in bears. But then the author goes on a tangent about how maybe the Libertarians are also infected at high rates and that's why they act the way they do. All a guess, mind you, with no data to back it up, or even a possible reason as to why there might be a high infection rate. It's insulting and there was absolutely no reason to put this in the book.
Overall, I think the author was very fair to the Libertarians, pointing out actual facts as to what happened and also illustrating their disparate views. Almost to the point I could get behind the firefighter, who strongly believes you need to have a responsibility to the community to make it work. It's naive to think people will behave this way, but it's a nice viewpoint. The beginning of the book, in fact, goes to great pains to mention how Libertarianism is highly correlated with logical thinking.
fast-paced
adventurous
funny
fast-paced
Do you hate Libertarians? Do you love bears?
Then, this book is for you!
In 2004, a group of online libertarians decided to invade the town of Grafton, New Hampshire and free it from … well on second thought… I’ll let the book speak for itself on that.
Instead of the promised freedom, the libertarians destroy the tax base, defund public services, including the library and the fire station, and start what becomes a very serious bear problem in the town.
Believe me when I tell you that you will root for the bears.
Although I did feel in a few places that the book dragged, overall, I found the writing incredibly lucid and engaging. In some cases, it’s downright hysterically funny if it weren’t so epically tragic at the same time.
If you are trying to understand what’s going on with the federal government right now, I recommend you read this book because this is actually what doge is doing to the federal government.
Then, this book is for you!
In 2004, a group of online libertarians decided to invade the town of Grafton, New Hampshire and free it from … well on second thought… I’ll let the book speak for itself on that.
Instead of the promised freedom, the libertarians destroy the tax base, defund public services, including the library and the fire station, and start what becomes a very serious bear problem in the town.
Believe me when I tell you that you will root for the bears.
Although I did feel in a few places that the book dragged, overall, I found the writing incredibly lucid and engaging. In some cases, it’s downright hysterically funny if it weren’t so epically tragic at the same time.
If you are trying to understand what’s going on with the federal government right now, I recommend you read this book because this is actually what doge is doing to the federal government.
dark
funny
reflective
fast-paced
funny
informative
medium-paced
medium-paced
This was less interesting than I thought it would be. These people are incredibly stupid. Don’t feed the
challenging
informative
reflective
tense
fast-paced
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Death