Review: A Mixed Bag of Ideas
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 04 16, 2013
There are some good ideas for simplifying your life in this book, a few that seem out of place, and a few that would be impractical to implement for most people.The Good: The Five Rings philosophy based on writings by an ancient samurai named Miyamoto Mushashi that is presented is very intriguing and worthwhile to investigate further. It reminds me in some ways of the Maslow Hierarchy of Needs, but from a proactive perspective rather than a passive psychological one. I quite likely will be looking up more information on the Five Rings for further reading.There are good ideas for examining your life for ways to simplify or improve the quality of your life such as limiting or eliminating television, smoking, or other habits that take time or money without improving your well being or other aspects of your life and relationships. I also agree with his contention that if there is something you really need, get the best you can afford rather than what is the least expensive since the better item will outlast the poorer one and give you better service overall.The Odd: The author maintains a vegan lifestyle and spends a section of the book not only trying to sell the reader on the idea, but going into details of how to find vegan restaurants when traveling around the world or going to an unfamiliar city. I don't consider either veganism or how to hunt for a restaurant appropriate for a sizable section of a book on minimalism. If the author wishes to promote the vegan lifestyle, it should be in a book on that subject and should rate only an aside in this book. Stick to the subject, please, and work on one lifestyle change at a time.Likewise the section on how to go about building websites and blogs to earn money on the internet is out of place in a book on minimalism. What does this have to do with simplifying your life? The author seems to think that simplification includes earning money by not having a regular job. While the information might be of interest to some, it should have been in a different book on another more appropriate topic.The Bad: The level of minimalism recommended in much of this book is unworkable and impractical for the vast majority of people. Most of us could never reach the level the author claims he has achieved, especially those of us who do not live in an urban area with year round good weather and lots of alternative transportation options. Is it really practical to try to live your life only owning one pair of pants? Is this really necessary in order to achieve a form of minimalism championed by the author?In several cases the author makes a statement of what he perceives as a fact then instead of giving the reader information to back up his claim, he instructs the reader to go do their own research to confirm his statement. The reason I'm reading this book is to get information, so don't tell me to go do the work you, the author, who should have done and presented this research to back up what you've written. One example of this especially irked me when he was defending his not eating eggs. He made a statement about the "killing of animals" in relation to eggs and used that as his reasoning for not eating them and instead of explaining, simply said for the reader to go do his own research. From first hand research, I remember gathering eggs from my grandparents' chicken coop and never do I remember having to kill a chicken to gather eggs! How can I trust other things he's saying if he's exaggerating to this extent on something I know about first hand?Despite these flaws and other similar ones in the book, I still feel there is enough of value in the book to give it 4 stars. I trust that other readers will be wise enough to take some of the more blatant statements and suggestions with a large grain of salt while appreciating the useful and helpful information that is presented.