Unfortunately, the book did not meet my needs since I have already done a fair amount of research on country living, and have some real-life experience in that area. It was too broad and general to be of much help to me. Therefore I caution the informed would-be rural landowner - seek out another source for specifics about buying and settling in your area of choice. If you have reached the level of self-education where you already know to ask about deeded easements and percolation tests, this book is not for you. Also, if you already know which region of the US you want to live in, this book will probably disappoint you. It is aimed at helping people with preliminary decisions such as, "Do you want to live somewhere hot, cold or temperate?"
If you are currently an urban/suburban dweller and you have begun to toy with the idea of getting back to nature, this book will be of immense help to you. After reading it, you will be more realistic and generally informed about country living. If you still have the itch to "get out of Dodge" at that point, you'll be needing another book - one with more specifics.
The other part of this book that I found extremely useful was the maps and detailed illustrations. I have found no other books that have the detailed info that this book has. And if its any further indication on just how much I liked this book, I bought several copies and gave them to friends and family.
You will not be disappointed with this book.
1) There are way to many quotes in this book. The flow of Mr. GeRue's argument is constantly interrupted by quotes of varying quality and relevance. One begins to wish Mr. GeRue had more original thoughts to share himself.
2) The information provided is often shallow and obvious. The argument gets made over and over that rural areas are more quiet, more peaceful, more healthy, less violent, etc. etc. All of this we already know; that's why we bought this book to find out how to get some rural life ourselves. Mr. GeRue relies excessively on trends, mostly as anticipated by others. Even in the most recent incarnation of this book, many of these trends are already outdated and have been proven incorrect.
3) Mr. GeRue has a problem with California. He used to live in Concord, which is not the most scenic place in California, and he probably has some leftover trauma from that experience. He constantly makes negative remarks about California and Californians, which is very annoying for someone trying to use his book to find rural land in California. This bias shows up throughout the book. For example, in his discussion of bio-regions, GeRue simply lumps the entire state of California together with Nevada and Arizona, as if the climate and land in Sonoma County is at all comparable to the desert outside Phoenix.
So maybe Mr. GeRue's book is helpful if you are looking for a place in the social paradise that is Southern Appalachia (just ignore the casinos), but don't buy this book if you are interested in land in the West.