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3.54 AVERAGE
3.54 AVERAGE
I love a book that gives you a good jolt and gets you moving and Joshua Becker's The More of Less did exactly that for me. He gives a good introduction to the ideas of minimalism and tells his family's story. Minimalism is a journey and I have been donating, selling and throwing away everything I don't need. For the first time in my life I have more bookcases than things to fill them. It feels great as the things left are things that I love. No meh or guilt left. Every time I read a minimalist book more goes. Marie Kondo's got me started, Beckers got me refining, one more and moving might not be such a stress each time. I recommend either of their books if you are having trouble finding things and cleaning! You don't need to throw everything away, amazing how good a small selective paring can be.
When I was new to minimalism I didn’t like him. But now it’s been a few years and I enjoy his words so much.
I for whatever reason enjoy hearing from men about this subject more than women, and I liked his point of view. I had a few ah ha moments and found this book worth my time.
I for whatever reason enjoy hearing from men about this subject more than women, and I liked his point of view. I had a few ah ha moments and found this book worth my time.
informative
medium-paced
Very good book. Just ignore his random unwarranted diet advice at the end though, and read The Big Fat Surprise by Nina Techolz instead. Other than that pretty good stuff.
Nuggets of inspiration throughout. I have just begun my minimalist journey and unlike many other books on the topic, I found this one precise and full of motivation. I found myself wanting to immediately take action. Not from scare tactics and a bunch of statistics. But rather from helpful stories of personal experience. A strong 4/5 ⭐️
Not just about purging stuff for own peace of mind but to invest freed time and money to invest in what—and whom—you value deeply.
ok ideas, nothing really new. Way too Christian-focused for my tastes, but he does warn you at the beginning.
Maybe I would give this a 2.5? As others have said, I think if I had read this book as my ABSOLUTE first introduction to the whole idea of minimalism, I might have liked it better. As it is, this had very little to offer me or to inspire me. I have been exploring the idea of minimalism for a while now as well as exploring the larger implications of freeing oneself from burdensome expectations and societal trappings, and I think, having always heard such good things about Joshua Becker and this book as one of the foundational works on the topic, that I was expecting some more profound insights to further my journey. Not so. There was very little substance here for me. This is definitely a book for a complete beginner.
I really don't like to throw negativity toward a book that is clearly intended to bring joy, and I truly respect what the author is trying to do here. But a few other points nagged at me as well. Firstly, I listened to the Audible audio version of this, and Joshua Becker is a much better writer than he is a narrator. The narration was distractingly slow and bland and did not do the material justice, so I can't say whether or not I might have viewed this book somewhat more favorably had I read it instead of listening to it.
Secondly, Becker seems like a very sincere guy with the best of intentions, truly. However, the perspectives in this book can be painfully limited at times and dare I say a little privileged. I know the idea of minimalism being a pursuit of the privileged is an ongoing point of contention within the movement. Normally, my objection to the characterization is that minimalism isn't just about paring down unnecessary shopping and over-buying. It's about whether or not to hang onto the Christmas cards hand signed with love by your now passed great grandmother, and whether you should keep those boxes of carefully guarded plastic horses from the 1950s that your mother loved and passed on to you, or whether to keep that box of your dog's baby teeth or that card table you don't really like but your aunt gave you to use when you were first married and you never gave back before she went into a nursing home. Or at a slightly more consumerist level, it could be about that huge stack of board games in the closet from which you only pull out one or two games twice a year when the family is all on holiday, but those times are some of the best times the family has together all year. Or that set of paints you splurged on that you dream of using once you get healthy enough to have the energy and giving them up feels like giving up on yourself. These are often the MOST impactful items to confront on one's minimalist journey, and these are, for the most part, not blatently about privilege. This book addresses sentimental items and "dream life" items, but only briefly, and then continues to revert to the basic principle that, "if you just stop shopping and buying expensive stuff to feed your ego, you'll be fine." Anyone who has begun a journey toward a minimalist lifestyle has moved beyond this basic stage long ago. And even a book aimed at newbies isn't doing the subject justice by ignoring the deeper aspects of the pursuit to such an extent.
Thirdly, this book is only partly about minimalism. Another large part centers on Becker's overall philosophy of what constitutes a "good life" (the thing minimalism is trying to free you up and pave the way for you to have). You may or may not agree with his definition of said good life. I agreed with some of it, but I definitely resented the repeated idea that you should not just give away a lot of your things, but a lot of your money (to charitable causes, etc.), because you clearly have more than you need and saving "for emergencies" isn't really important (or rather that you need far less saved than you think). For many of us, this is a completely unrealistic and irresponsible approach. Many of us are building up savings to help afford medical care for our children, to pay for long term care insurance, or to pay for long term care for a parent with Alzheimer's (which can easily run $75,000 a year...and if your parent lives for another 10 years...yeah, I feel like having a nice chunk of savings is case of this scenario is pretty important). You might need money to help a learning disabled child get all the best resources to give them the strongest chance of independence, or want to have that money available in case a grandchild should need the same.
Yes, being more charitable is a wonderful thing, and I'm sure a great many of us could afford to share more than we do without compromising our future safety and security, but this book completely ignores the validity of wanting one's own hard work to provide safety and security for one's family. As someone with a long term illness that keeps me from being able to work, my sense of safety and security in the world hinges largely on knowing I have the money available to keep my house, feed myself, etc.. Though the book starts out saying each of us gets to choose what minimalism looks like for us, how much stuff is "enough", how much house is enough, etc.., by the end of the book Mr. Becker offers very little wiggle room to allow enjoyment of the things one truly does love. When he gives case examples of someone who has largely minimized their lifestyle but has one expensive thing that means a lot to them personally, invariably instead of saying, "Well, if it means that much to you, you should keep that thing," his approach is, "I bet if you really think about it, you'd rather not have the thing and give the money to charity instead." Essentially, at times the philosophy presented here feels a bit less like minimalism and a bit more like aestheticism for my taste. Not that both don't have their places in the world, but they are not the same thing.
I really don't like to throw negativity toward a book that is clearly intended to bring joy, and I truly respect what the author is trying to do here. But a few other points nagged at me as well. Firstly, I listened to the Audible audio version of this, and Joshua Becker is a much better writer than he is a narrator. The narration was distractingly slow and bland and did not do the material justice, so I can't say whether or not I might have viewed this book somewhat more favorably had I read it instead of listening to it.
Secondly, Becker seems like a very sincere guy with the best of intentions, truly. However, the perspectives in this book can be painfully limited at times and dare I say a little privileged. I know the idea of minimalism being a pursuit of the privileged is an ongoing point of contention within the movement. Normally, my objection to the characterization is that minimalism isn't just about paring down unnecessary shopping and over-buying. It's about whether or not to hang onto the Christmas cards hand signed with love by your now passed great grandmother, and whether you should keep those boxes of carefully guarded plastic horses from the 1950s that your mother loved and passed on to you, or whether to keep that box of your dog's baby teeth or that card table you don't really like but your aunt gave you to use when you were first married and you never gave back before she went into a nursing home. Or at a slightly more consumerist level, it could be about that huge stack of board games in the closet from which you only pull out one or two games twice a year when the family is all on holiday, but those times are some of the best times the family has together all year. Or that set of paints you splurged on that you dream of using once you get healthy enough to have the energy and giving them up feels like giving up on yourself. These are often the MOST impactful items to confront on one's minimalist journey, and these are, for the most part, not blatently about privilege. This book addresses sentimental items and "dream life" items, but only briefly, and then continues to revert to the basic principle that, "if you just stop shopping and buying expensive stuff to feed your ego, you'll be fine." Anyone who has begun a journey toward a minimalist lifestyle has moved beyond this basic stage long ago. And even a book aimed at newbies isn't doing the subject justice by ignoring the deeper aspects of the pursuit to such an extent.
Thirdly, this book is only partly about minimalism. Another large part centers on Becker's overall philosophy of what constitutes a "good life" (the thing minimalism is trying to free you up and pave the way for you to have). You may or may not agree with his definition of said good life. I agreed with some of it, but I definitely resented the repeated idea that you should not just give away a lot of your things, but a lot of your money (to charitable causes, etc.), because you clearly have more than you need and saving "for emergencies" isn't really important (or rather that you need far less saved than you think). For many of us, this is a completely unrealistic and irresponsible approach. Many of us are building up savings to help afford medical care for our children, to pay for long term care insurance, or to pay for long term care for a parent with Alzheimer's (which can easily run $75,000 a year...and if your parent lives for another 10 years...yeah, I feel like having a nice chunk of savings is case of this scenario is pretty important). You might need money to help a learning disabled child get all the best resources to give them the strongest chance of independence, or want to have that money available in case a grandchild should need the same.
Yes, being more charitable is a wonderful thing, and I'm sure a great many of us could afford to share more than we do without compromising our future safety and security, but this book completely ignores the validity of wanting one's own hard work to provide safety and security for one's family. As someone with a long term illness that keeps me from being able to work, my sense of safety and security in the world hinges largely on knowing I have the money available to keep my house, feed myself, etc.. Though the book starts out saying each of us gets to choose what minimalism looks like for us, how much stuff is "enough", how much house is enough, etc.., by the end of the book Mr. Becker offers very little wiggle room to allow enjoyment of the things one truly does love. When he gives case examples of someone who has largely minimized their lifestyle but has one expensive thing that means a lot to them personally, invariably instead of saying, "Well, if it means that much to you, you should keep that thing," his approach is, "I bet if you really think about it, you'd rather not have the thing and give the money to charity instead." Essentially, at times the philosophy presented here feels a bit less like minimalism and a bit more like aestheticism for my taste. Not that both don't have their places in the world, but they are not the same thing.
Some useful info but too philosophical and too many Jesus stories (to be fair my tolerance is pretty much zero). Key takeaway for me is to write down all the reasons why I want to declutter.