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chaitanyasethi's review
4.0
4.5 stars
John Lane's 100 page book is about the benefits of living a simple and less cluttered life. It's not about destitution, nor poverty, nor a clarion call to abandon materialism. He mentions early on that if you're someone who enjoys the pursuit of wealth and is motivated by a desire to earn and spend more, then this book is not for you. It's aimed towards those who feel discontentment by participating in the consumerist and materialist race that we see around us.
Across 6 chapters, he builds on the argument from multiple angles - historical precedent, present day unhappiness, religious and spiritual examples, and a global environmentalist point of view. He's critical of industrial production because it catered more towards running machines to produce things rather than thinking whether people needed it or not. Once goods started being produced in hoards, people had to figure out how to sell it, and thus we are where we are where tons of advertisements nudge us to earn more to spend more.
I was inching towards a perfect rating because I felt as though he went into my head and worded my thoughts onto paper but there were errant points that I didn't agree with - comments like higher divorce rates in the last century indicating increased levels of unhappiness, increase in crime, violence, and addiction as response to materialistic discontent, and glorification of poverty of some communities as spiritual richness. Nonetheless, it's a book I can come back to year after year if I get caught up in the rat race, just to remind myself of what I believe in.
“The industrialist was horrified to find the fisherman lying beside his boat, smoking a pipe. - Why aren’t you fishing?, said the industrialist.
Because I have caught enough fish for the day.
Why don’t you catch some more?
What would I do with them?
Earn more money. Then you could have a motor fixed to your boat and go into deeper waters and catch more fish. That would bring you money to buy nylon nets, so more fish, more money. Soon you would have enough to buy two boats even a fleet of boats. Then you could be rich like me.
What would I do then?
Then you could sit back and enjoy life.
What do you think I’m doing now?”
John Lane's 100 page book is about the benefits of living a simple and less cluttered life. It's not about destitution, nor poverty, nor a clarion call to abandon materialism. He mentions early on that if you're someone who enjoys the pursuit of wealth and is motivated by a desire to earn and spend more, then this book is not for you. It's aimed towards those who feel discontentment by participating in the consumerist and materialist race that we see around us.
Across 6 chapters, he builds on the argument from multiple angles - historical precedent, present day unhappiness, religious and spiritual examples, and a global environmentalist point of view. He's critical of industrial production because it catered more towards running machines to produce things rather than thinking whether people needed it or not. Once goods started being produced in hoards, people had to figure out how to sell it, and thus we are where we are where tons of advertisements nudge us to earn more to spend more.
I was inching towards a perfect rating because I felt as though he went into my head and worded my thoughts onto paper but there were errant points that I didn't agree with - comments like higher divorce rates in the last century indicating increased levels of unhappiness, increase in crime, violence, and addiction as response to materialistic discontent, and glorification of poverty of some communities as spiritual richness. Nonetheless, it's a book I can come back to year after year if I get caught up in the rat race, just to remind myself of what I believe in.
traceychick's review
5.0
I have just finished reading this and was hooked from the first paragraph of the introduction.
This is a book about simplicity-not destitution, not parsimoniousness, not self-denial-but the restoration of wealth in the midst of an affluence in which we are starving of the spirit. It is a book about the advantages of living a less cluttered, stressful life than that which many of us now live, in the over-crowded and manic-paced consuming nations.
If any of you are feeling that you need to find a slower pace of life, I recommend that you read this as a good starting point. It is only just over 100 pages long and is a gentle but absorbing read. The book is organised into 6 chapters and covers subjects such as how to reduce expenditure, adopting a positive attitude and following your bliss.
It has taken me many years of struggling and a recent severe bout of depression for me to finally start to make positive changes to my life. I have given up my job and begun to take pleasure in performing simple activities such as cooking and knitting. These combined with my love of reading and desire to write and I finally feel that I am living the life I should be.
What could you be doing?
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