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misskeesa's review against another edition
3.0
I picked up this book because it's mentioned in Marie Kondo's book, but I enjoyed Marie's book more. From what I understand, this book was one of the first books on minimalism and getting rid of things, and I respect it for that, but Marie Kondo took a good thing and made it better. (Also, Myquillin Smith's book on Cozy Minimalist is better still.) So this was a good book, I enjoyed it, but there are other, possibly better, books out there, and reading this one after those is a bit redundant.
laurafigueiredo's review
2.0
Advertised as "The book that inspired Marie Kondo's The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up". Which says a lot.
Kondo's book was fine. I did not love it and I don't think it's sooooo special, but it was fine.
But this one is a bit boring to read, and although it tries to be practical it was not actually helpful for me.
The author keeps repeating "discard it, discard it ALL, discard no matter what!" and at certain point it gets annoying. I specially disliked her insistence on discarding things such as paperwork without worrying a bit (a topic which would require caution imho).
As a general rule I agree with the main idea but the exposition was poor.
Even so I found two paragraphs which made me wonder if her pupil Marie Kondo keeps loving this book so much now that she is world-famous:
"Experts in storage and organization are generally people who enjoy such things. [···] You character is different to theirs. So however much you try to follow their methods, you're bound to fail at some stage."
"But I think it is best not to suppose we can easily introduce a different lifestyle from a foreign country."
And I certainly agree with Nagisa Tatsumi on this.
Kondo's book was fine. I did not love it and I don't think it's sooooo special, but it was fine.
But this one is a bit boring to read, and although it tries to be practical it was not actually helpful for me.
The author keeps repeating "discard it, discard it ALL, discard no matter what!" and at certain point it gets annoying. I specially disliked her insistence on discarding things such as paperwork without worrying a bit (a topic which would require caution imho).
As a general rule I agree with the main idea but the exposition was poor.
Even so I found two paragraphs which made me wonder if her pupil Marie Kondo keeps loving this book so much now that she is world-famous:
"Experts in storage and organization are generally people who enjoy such things. [···] You character is different to theirs. So however much you try to follow their methods, you're bound to fail at some stage."
"But I think it is best not to suppose we can easily introduce a different lifestyle from a foreign country."
And I certainly agree with Nagisa Tatsumi on this.
kristy's review
2.0
Just meh. She could have decluttered half of the words in here.
I'm giving it two stars because she has a sentence here and there that is worth it:
"The way to cherish something is to use it"
"Are you living a really inconvenient life surrounded by 'really convenient' devices?"
"If you reduce the number of things you have, then a system for storage and organization won't be necessary"
And that sums up the book for me.
I'm giving it two stars because she has a sentence here and there that is worth it:
"The way to cherish something is to use it"
"Are you living a really inconvenient life surrounded by 'really convenient' devices?"
"If you reduce the number of things you have, then a system for storage and organization won't be necessary"
And that sums up the book for me.
ceruleanjen's review
3.0
I can see where Marie Kondo got her inspiration from, though this goes more into the psychology of why we find parting with items difficult, as well as ways in which to discard of items. This book definitely felt more like a “tough love” than Marie Kondo’s, and the categories are even more broad.
Several examples of why discarding is difficult resonated with me and some of the tips seemed useful, but this one isn’t as helpful to me now as it may have been years ago. I didn’t agree that storage and organization aren’t necessary. I get that neither solve the problem of having too much but I find both a great help once I have decluttered in keeping things tidy.
This is more catered to those who live in Japan in some sections, such as tips on where to discard items, but you should be able to use those suggestions in other countries with ease. It was interesting to see how Japan views certain items more differently than my country does (USA).
I didn’t particularly care for the writing style and I feel Marie Kondo did a better job at expressing the “joy” part, but overall I’m glad I read this and did find some valuable information in it. Seeing examples of my own or similar thought processes was probably the most helpful parts for me.
Several examples of why discarding is difficult resonated with me and some of the tips seemed useful, but this one isn’t as helpful to me now as it may have been years ago. I didn’t agree that storage and organization aren’t necessary. I get that neither solve the problem of having too much but I find both a great help once I have decluttered in keeping things tidy.
This is more catered to those who live in Japan in some sections, such as tips on where to discard items, but you should be able to use those suggestions in other countries with ease. It was interesting to see how Japan views certain items more differently than my country does (USA).
I didn’t particularly care for the writing style and I feel Marie Kondo did a better job at expressing the “joy” part, but overall I’m glad I read this and did find some valuable information in it. Seeing examples of my own or similar thought processes was probably the most helpful parts for me.
purplemuskogee's review
2.0
This was not a very good book. I liked the fact it talked a lot about the environment - more than Marie Kondo's - but overall, the book felt a little dry and not very inspiring.
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