If You Could Live Anywhere: The Surprising Importance of Place in a Work-from-Anywhere World

This out-of-touch manual from journalist Warnick (This Is Where You Belong) offers remote workers guidance on finding a home base. Warnick suggests that those who are able to work remotely (whom she calls “Anywhereists”) should reconsider where they live, taking into account different locations’ economic incentives, such as Vermont’s grant program that reimbursed remote workers up to $10,000 to move to the state. She also highlights the benefits of moving somewhere with a low cost of living, noting that a cheaper locale could mean fewer work hours, earlier retirement, or being able to afford more nice things. On the importance of connection, the author tells how a Denver woman relocated to a small Oregon town and created a work community by opening a coworking space in an old opera house. The author’s glib treatment of gentrification will likely rankle some (she describes those opposed to unchecked development as “CAVE people—citizens against virtually everything”), and the advice is often impractical, such as the recommendation to “ask for what you want” from a town’s chamber of commerce before moving. This is a missed opportunity. Agent: Lisa Grubka, Fletcher & Co. (June)