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A review by thebookishhistorian
Niksen: The Dutch Art of Doing Nothing by Annette Lavrijsen
3.0
[Thanks to NetGalley for providing a free copy of the book in exchange for an honest review]
Despite being Dutch myself, I am notoriously bad at niksen. I can’t sit still, shut off my mind or stare out the window without feeling I’m wasting my time. So Niksen definitely caught my eye (and also the chubby lazy cat on the cover, let’s be fair here).
Niksen has a lot of tips and tricks to... well... do nothing, essentially. In it’s core, Niksen is just another way to practice mindfulness. The nice thing about it, is that you need exactly nothing for it. Follow the raindrops going down the window, and you’re ‘niksing’ already.
The book isn’t exactly mind blowing or telling anything unique or new. It describes the same old techniques to make some time free to take care of yourself that have been described in millions of books already. I did appreciate that there was a chapter about finding this time to ‘niks’ as a parent - hardly any books on mindfulness take parents into consideration.
The text itself is well written, easy to understand. The layout and formatting is really well done, with great illustrations. It’s a good book to pick up if you need some help slowing down a bit, but don’t expect any miracles.
Despite being Dutch myself, I am notoriously bad at niksen. I can’t sit still, shut off my mind or stare out the window without feeling I’m wasting my time. So Niksen definitely caught my eye (and also the chubby lazy cat on the cover, let’s be fair here).
Niksen has a lot of tips and tricks to... well... do nothing, essentially. In it’s core, Niksen is just another way to practice mindfulness. The nice thing about it, is that you need exactly nothing for it. Follow the raindrops going down the window, and you’re ‘niksing’ already.
The book isn’t exactly mind blowing or telling anything unique or new. It describes the same old techniques to make some time free to take care of yourself that have been described in millions of books already. I did appreciate that there was a chapter about finding this time to ‘niks’ as a parent - hardly any books on mindfulness take parents into consideration.
The text itself is well written, easy to understand. The layout and formatting is really well done, with great illustrations. It’s a good book to pick up if you need some help slowing down a bit, but don’t expect any miracles.