Charlie Alice Raya

book 1, beginning

or drafting a town experiment

Alice Adler, a Berliner, sets out to convince the US billionaire Tom Holbon to build a town experiment.

The aim of the experiment is to rethink— well, everything.

It’s not easy to get Tom on board, but eventually he agrees to finance the first draft for the town project.

With experts for all main teams coming together, Alice focuses on one team a week.

And by the by, the town emerges — on paper.

It’s not that straight forward

Of course, the story isn’t that straight forward.

The characters bring their past and faults and hopes into the story.

Alice would frown if you asked her about her hopes. ‘Ask me again when we’ve built our town,’ she might say, and then add: ‘My first priority is not getting angry any more. And my hope is,’ here she would smile and continue: ‘–my hope is that our town experiment is successful so I won’t get angry about the state of the world any more.’

Jack, on the other hand, struggles with the contradiction of being a famous British actor while feeling like an outsider within the project team. Admittedly, that’s only one of his worries. But he puts up with this, because he is on a mission to unearth something he lost decades ago.

Tom argues with himself that he has a successful life, and therefore he has every right to indulge in a crazy idea. Not that he thinks the town idea is crazy, but he knows that most of his acquaintances will think just that.

There are other characters of different ages, origins, professions and constitutions, bringing their own stories into the story while venturing to rethink— well, everything.

And there is opposition from influential players in business and politics. Though most of that only becomes apparent at the first Easy Town Conference, at the end of book 1, beginning.

quote book 1

‘About half an hour later, Alice fired the final punch, her hands hurting, her face burning. But she was feeling a little better.
Jack passed her a towel and a bottle of water.
‘How badly did I mess up?’ she asked, after emptying half the bottle.
Jack looked thoughtful. ‘That depends on whom you ask. Judging by some faces, I’d say quite badly. In my books, you didn’t mess up, as such.’

book 1, beginning

The playground

Book 1 is the first book of the easy town books.

While the book series tells the story of a town, and of the characters involved in creating, building and running it, the story also includes thought experiments.

In these thought experiments, the town serves as the playground, a playground where any question can be asked, and where any idea can be tested.

quote book 1

There was anger in Tom’s eyes when he said: ‘How is any of this going to end hunger, war, illness, injustice, fanaticism, terrorism, global warming?’
‘It’s half past nine. And that’s what you want to talk about now? All right. In short: With a single town we can help to rethink whatever needs rethinking. We can test ideas and deliver tangible and reproducible results. War, hunger, global warming and all the rest are consequences of inadequate practices. By tackling root problems in our town experiment, we might find adequate practices which in turn might influence all of the above positively.’

book 1, beginning

Preview

book 1, beginning, chapter 1

book 1, beginning, book cover

book 1, beginning

Alice Adler sets out to convince the US billionaire Tom Holbon to build a town experiment. The aim of the experiment is to rethink— well, everything.

Pages: 456 pages, 134k
Format: ePub
Price: €8.78 (incl. VAT)

ISBN 978-3-00-060915-2

Contents


Before

Week 1 — Settling in
Week 2 — Health & Care
Week 3 — Economics & Business
Week 4 — Ecology & Agriculture
Week 5 — Arts & Crafts
Week 6 — Admin & Society
Week 7 — Research & Education
Week 8 — Design

New York

The First Easy Town Conference

Back at Tom’s