• Off Grid and Free

  • My Path to the Wilderness
  • By: Ron Melchiore
  • Narrated by: Ron Melchiore
  • Length: 8 hrs and 21 mins
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars (135 ratings)

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Off Grid and Free  By  cover art

Off Grid and Free

By: Ron Melchiore
Narrated by: Ron Melchiore
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Publisher's summary

Off Grid and Free: My Path to the Wilderness is the story of the journey Ron Melchiore undertook as a young man from the city, first to homesteading in northern Maine and then to living in the bush of northern Saskatchewan. He has lived off grid since approximately 1980 and speaks candidly about the joys and the tribulations of his chosen lifestyle. In this adventure, Ron shares the diversity of his experiences in an easy, humorous, and sometimes harrowing narrative. The book includes his hiking of the 2,100 mile Appalachian Trail in winter, bicycling across the United States, homesteading off grid, the terror of being surrounded by a wildfire, surprise encounters with bears, and more. For listeners with an outdoors spirit, people with an off grid and self-sufficiency bent, and dreamers who like to hear about adventure, Ron hopes to inspire others to "take the road less traveled".

©2016 Ron Melchiore (P)2016 Ron Melchiore

What listeners say about Off Grid and Free

Average customer ratings
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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Loved it.

When I first started listening to this book I was a bit worried. My first thought was..Why did the author narrate this himself? Half way through the first chapter I realized that I wouldn't have wanted it any other way. Filled with wit, humor, humbleness, and even some advice on living in the wild this book doesn't have any of the self - righteousness that I find in other books in the same genre. My advice is to listen to the audio version of this book over reading it so you will get the whole experience of Mr. Melchiore. Thank you for telling your story. It was wonderful and I was sorry to see it end.

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12 people found this helpful

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    2 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Stick to offgrid and avoid comedy & sarcasm

Overall I was pretty disappointed. I was excited after the reviews and subject matter of this book but was left enduring the last few hours so i could just finish it.

1) Narration - Like others my initial thoughts were WHY! The only way i could put up with the narration was due to respecting the author wanting to read his own works. If this narration was to any other audiobook it would be terrible.

2) Attempts at comedy - nothing about this was whity, funny and the attempts at comedy/sarcasm in the narrated voice were cringe-worthy. You could see where he was going a mile away and it was pointless.

3) Subject matter - many minutes were wasted with digressions on useless points. The story just jumped from topic to topic without much connecting it. I could image the endless subject matter for the author to draw upon but instead there are many pointless anecdotes.

4) Do not recommend.

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3 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Great adventure

I really liked the fact that the author narrated the audiobook himself. Highly recommended for anyone that loves the outdoor lifestyle.

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2 people found this helpful

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    2 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

can't get past the narration

The narration is painful and sounds like he's reading with marbles in his mouth and is painful to listen to

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2 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Dream big or go to the city...

Amazing story of taking steps through life to prepare for a remote life in the bush. Good balance of how great it can be with reminders of how hard life when alone or in a remote area is. Gotta go... time to put my dream into action.
: )

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2 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

great stories and lifestyle expectations

not a manual by any means but a valuable account of the author's personal journey and life of experience.

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1 person found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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WOW

If you like reading or listening to back-to-the-land adventure stories, you'll love this. My husband and I have lived as simply as possible in the modern world--growing and preserving food and heating only with wood--but Ron Melchiore and his wife sound super human! They live their "simple" life isolated and off grid in the Canadian wilderness. What an adventure to read or listen to! Enjoy!

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1 person found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

great information

Loved this book more and more by the end. It was very interesting, because I'd love to live of grid.

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1 person found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Great listen, many stories!

loved all the different stories in the book, alot of information and first time experiences. make me want to pack up and move to the woods, I just have some convincing to do with the lady!

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Please get yourself a Narrator!

Great story and a great guy, but corny, nerdy narrative & accent. All that effort, wow.

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1 person found this helpful