simple life

It has given me some things to think about. A lot of repetition tho..

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disappointing and shallow

I've read a handful of books on this subject over the years & this one sounded good as well. Unfortunately, the stories of people's lives were not inspiring or helpful to me. Too much talk about homesteading and homeschooling and urban living vs. rural living. Some of the stories of people who were forced to downsize because of an illness or job loss were downright depressing. The majority of it has nothing to do with my life or the challenges I face with simplifying.

Also, the book is out of date. The author does not even touch on balancing technolgy in our lives today. The chapter on parenting doesn't discuss partenting at all, but rather work options for parents.

The table of contents looks good, but the chapters lack depth and focus. There is a lot of repetition and some parts of it are obvious statemtents that sound like something from a college writing assignment. ("It is well known that . . .")

Some of her suggestions are far off reality. She concludes with ten steps for a "Prescription for a Simple Life." Step two is: "Take three to four months off every few years to live in some very different place, preferably a foreign country." Ummmm, Every few years??? Some of us have jobs and families to raise and obligations. . . .

Again, the book did not inspire me or relate to the realities in my life. I much preferred Janet Luhrs' A Simple Living Guide. That had stories and suggestions that were actually useful.






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Warm, brings clarity and compassion

This book was wonderully insighful. It illustrated why people were going through their lives the way they were, and what provked them to change to a simplier life. It shows that it is possible to downshift your life regardless of where you are at now, there is certainly something for everybody. It reflected back on their lives from years after these people downsized and gave information on what they had learnt looking back in hind sight. Linda has a lovely style of writing she is warm, brings clarity and compassion and gets the insider information on downshifting of the individual'.

This is a must read for anyone that is thinking of choosing simplicity


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