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skyereads's review
5.0
This is not a self help book. If anything, it is an examination of modern, western, middle-class (particularly British) society and the 'mind forg'd" manacles it perpetuates. There are a few suggestions in each chapter for various alternative ways of living, but no one lifestyle is suggested over any other.
I found this a brilliant, amusing and liberating read. Not because it proposed any revolutionary concepts, but because it validated and affirmed my own attitudes to life and my own values which are in great contrast to those of my peers. I would like to keep a copy of this on hand to loan to anyone (and everyone) who asks why I don't want a mortgage or a full time job or career.
A lot of reviewers focus on the way Mr Hodgkinson romanticises Medieval life, which surprises me because he makes a point in the first chapter that he is very much aware of the downsides to that era, but that learning about the past can in fact show us what worked and what didn't and we only need keep the good stuff. I believe he uses Medieval systems as an example to show that the modern work-ethic is not endemic in Western-Europe and that you don't have to go to far continents to find examples of how to live more passionately and free.
My only criticisms of this work is that it had a few passages which I found a bit sexist (generalisations of Women and Men.) Although they were not prominent enough to ruin the book for me.
Sadly, I have since followed up Mr Hodgkinson's website and work and find that it is not what was represented in the book. The once active community has been replaced with an expensive subscription only service and it seems the Author is no longer living the life of a smallholder but instead has joined the capitalist race of Retail he so abhorred. Pity.
I found this a brilliant, amusing and liberating read. Not because it proposed any revolutionary concepts, but because it validated and affirmed my own attitudes to life and my own values which are in great contrast to those of my peers. I would like to keep a copy of this on hand to loan to anyone (and everyone) who asks why I don't want a mortgage or a full time job or career.
A lot of reviewers focus on the way Mr Hodgkinson romanticises Medieval life, which surprises me because he makes a point in the first chapter that he is very much aware of the downsides to that era, but that learning about the past can in fact show us what worked and what didn't and we only need keep the good stuff. I believe he uses Medieval systems as an example to show that the modern work-ethic is not endemic in Western-Europe and that you don't have to go to far continents to find examples of how to live more passionately and free.
My only criticisms of this work is that it had a few passages which I found a bit sexist (generalisations of Women and Men.) Although they were not prominent enough to ruin the book for me.
Sadly, I have since followed up Mr Hodgkinson's website and work and find that it is not what was represented in the book. The once active community has been replaced with an expensive subscription only service and it seems the Author is no longer living the life of a smallholder but instead has joined the capitalist race of Retail he so abhorred. Pity.
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