The nation's economy is in trouble, but one cash crop has the potential to turn it around: cannabis. ABC News reports that underground cannabis industry produces $35.8 billion in annual revenues. But, thanks to Nixon and the War on Drugs, marijuana is still synonymous with heroin on the federal level even though it has won mainstream acceptance. Too High to Fail is an objectively (if humorously) reported account of how one plant can change the shape of our country, culturally, politically, and economically. It covers everything from a brief history of hemp to an insider's perspective on a growing season in Mendocino County, where cannabis drives 80 percent of the economy. Doug Fine follows one plant from seed to patient in the first American county to fully legalize and regulate cannabis farming. He profiles a critical issue to lawmakers, media pundits, an ordinary Americans. It is a wild ride that includes college tuitions paid with cash, cannabis-friendly sheriffs, and access to the world of the emerging legitimate, taxpaying "ganjaprenneur."

Advance praise for Farewell, My Subaru
"Fine is Bryson Funny." ----"Santa Cruz Sentinel "
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""Fine is an amiable and self-deprecating storyteller in the mold of Douglas Adams. If you're a fan of "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy"-style humor -- and also looking to find out how to raise your own livestock to feed your ice-cream fetish -- "Farewell" may prove a vital tool." ---- "The Washington Post "
"Fine is an eco-hero for our time.." ---- "Miami Herald"
"An afterward offers solid advice and sources for learning more." ---- "On Earth Magazine," Natural Resources Defense Fund
"This is Green Acres for the smart set--: a witty and educational look at sustainable living. Buy it, read it, compost it."
-A. J. Jacobs, author of The Year of Living Biblically
"The details of Doug Fine's experiment in green living are great fun----but more important is the spirit, the dawning understanding that living in connection to something more tangible than a computer mouse is what we were built for. It'll make you want to move!"
-Bill McKibben, author of Deep Economy: The Wealth of Communities and the Durable Future
Like many Americans, Doug Fine enjoys his creature comforts, but he also knows full well they keep him addicted to oil. So he wonders: Is it possible to keep his Netflix and his car, his Wi-Fi and his subwoofers, and still" "reduce his carbon footprint?
In an attempt to find out, Fine up and moves to a remote ranch in New Mexico, where he brazenly vows to grow his own food, use sunlight to power his world, and drive on restaurant grease. Never mind that he's never raised so much as a chicken or a bean. Or that he has no mechanical or electrical skills.
Whether installing Japanese solar panels, defending the goats he found on Craigslist against coyotes, or co-opting waste oil from the local Chinese restaurant to try and fill the new "veggie oil" tank in his ROAT (short for Ridiculously Oversized American Truck), Fine's extraordinary undertaking makes one thing clear: It ain't easy being green. In fact, his journey uncovers a slew of surprising facts about alternative energy, organic and locally grown food, and climate change.
Both a hilarious romp and an inspiring call to action, Farewell, My Subaru makes a profound statement about trading today's instant gratifications for a deeper, more enduring kind of satisfaction.

"From the Hardcover edition."