"Almost Green: How I built an eco-shed, Ditched my SUV, Alienated the In-Laws, and Changed My Life Forever" by James Glave:

The title of this book (the one I received, which I believe was revised from “Almost Green: How I saved 1/6th of a billionth of the planet”) is actually very descriptive. Glave describes exactly how he built an eco-shed, how he sold his SUV, and how he (somewhat, not really) alienated his in-laws⎯that he changed his life forever can be assumed.
The cover of the book would lead one to expect a series of comically absurd situations that some quirky but loveable characters get into along the way to becoming more environmentally friendly. This is somewhat misleading⎯it is, actually, just what it says. The story is a first-person tale of how James Glave built an eco-shed. While the back cover displays a quote from “Padre” (the author’s father-in-law) recommending against buying the book, the character Padre is not so over-emphasized as one would think. In fact, the in-laws are never really alienated⎯in the book, Glave dismantles a car port, a gift from Padre, and worries that Padre will be upset, but he isn’t really.
The book contains a lot of discussion regarding building materials and their assembly, energy ratings and the companies that have them, and green building methods to reduce energy consumption. Glave is a journalist, and this book is a report⎯but a somewhat funny report. The situations he gets himself into are realistic (I assume they are situations he actually found himself in while constructing an eco-shed); the humour is in how he describes them, often using plays on words and other such high-brow humour, other times pointing out little quirky tendencies of humanity in general (like how men working in construction eventually learn to speak solely in sexual innuendos).
I don’t know if I’m the intended reader of this book. Perhaps I will be in 20 years. At times, however, I couldn’t relate to Glave’s suburban problems. For instance, the book makes much of the idea of being green on a budget, but this budget is by no means as low as most families would have (Glave’s eco-shed budget was $75,000, which he extended by about $15,000 by the end, I believe). I did, however, enjoy playing voyeur to his adventures.