
Just the thought of “going green” can make you feel blue. Trying to live sustainably sounds like a whole lot of work and a whole lot of deprivation. Well, Josh Piven aims to both shrink your carbon footprint and soothe your eco-anxiety. In a guidebook that’s as funny as it is practical, Piven shows you how to green every room of the house—and have a good time doing it. Projects range from the playful (raising trout in your swimming pool) all the way to big-time, serious home alterations (installing a root cellar) that will have your neighbors green with envy. Don’t fret if you’re not a natural wrench-turner: Most of Piven’s suggestions are inexpensive, totally approachable, and accompanied by clear illustrations. This Green House is likely to be the most entertaining homeowner’s manual you’ve ever used.
Author

Josh Piven is a television writer and producer, speechwriter, playwright, and the author or co-author of more than twenty non-fiction and humor books, including the worldwide best-selling The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook series. He wrote the teleplay and serves as producer of Don The Beekeeper, a half-hour children’s TV show about honeybees and urban beekeeping. His most recent stage play, a holiday farce called No Reservations, had its world premiere in November-December, 2013, to great success and critical acclaim. More information. His next play is Muddled. Josh likes to refer to himself in the third person. Piven is perhaps best known for his famously tongue-in-cheek worst-case books, books that offer readers real-world (though often hilarious) advice on surviving worst-case situations that they might—but hopefully won’t—encounter: everything from “how to fend off a shark” and “how to wrestle an alligator” to “how to avoid the Freshman 15” and “how to determine if your date is an axe murderer.” Piven is an honors graduate of the University of Pennsylvania—and living proof that English majors aren't necessarily failures.