Nothing Left to Lose, or, How Not to Start a Commune - by Jeff Richards (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

In pursuit of a meaningful life, Jeff Richards and his friend Rick Sager decide to start a commune out in the Rocky Mountains. It doesn't go as planned. Instead of the self-sufficient ranch they envision, they can only afford a crumbling crash pad in Denver; half their friends who agreed to join them (including most of the women) decide to move to Boulder instead; romantic entanglements between group members cause disarray; drug-addicted drifters steal their record collections; and though Rick and Jeff fall in love with every hippie chick that crosses their paths, they rarely fall in love back. Through it all, they learn you don't always accomplish what you set out to do, but you can still take pride in the attempt.

Review Quotes

"Nothing Left to Lose has all the sex, drugs, and rock and roll, harebrained schemes, and showdowns with authority that you'd hope for in a wild, freewheeling memoir of the sixties. But what makes this such a uniquely appealing book is its narrator: bumbling adventurer, gentle seeker, thoughtful observer of the sunset of Aquarius. Jeff Richards is a wonderful storyteller who, page after page, never forgets what Wavy Gravy once told him: 'Laughter is the valve on the pressure cooker of life.'" -Porter Shreve, author of The Obituary Writer, Drives Like a Dream, When the White House Was Ours, and The End of the Book

"Memoirs can be about nothing and everything. Or they can be Nothing Left to Lose, one person's story that represents so many people's stories. Drugs, sex, road trips, communes, you name it. Jeff Richards has done it. Some memoirs are about the content; some about the prose. This is both." -Independent Book Review