Dissappointing conservative rant
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I ought to like this book, but I really don't. It has illustrations by Clifford Harper, whose work I really like. It is a critique of mindless materialism. It is about how stuff that is supposed to make you happy doesn't. All themes that I think about a lot.
But this is so relentlessly reactionary. Lots of stuff about God and religion. Sidebar quotes from Roger Scruton; don't any of these so-called Conservatives remember that it was their favourite government that swept away everything that stood in the way of their great God market? New Labour are really just amateurs at 'reform' compared to the 'modernisers' of the Thatcher years, who modernised entire industries and communities out of existence.
A thoughtless attitude that seems to say that 'high culture' has enduring value, but 'popular culture' doesn't (though he makes an exception for Bob Dylan). By the way, if music really is so spiritually enhancing, then why not a good word to say for the technology of recording and digital distribution, which means that far more people can listen to more good music than would ever have been possible without it?
A general presumption that things were better in the past - when we all lived in harmony with nature and performed meaningful craft work. A sense of history that seems to have come from watching Hovis advertisements -- oops, I forgot, the author doesn't watch television.
I'm all for simplification, and for a rejection of relentless consumerism. Do yourself a favour and simplify your book collection by not bothering to read this.
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the restless children of a restless civilization
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That's how John Lane describes us in his book `Timeless Simplicity: Creative living in a consumer society`. I finished it on the train today while being held outside Waterloo station on full security alert. It's a short book, kind of an introduction to the idea of voluntary simplicity - the cutting out of unnecessary modern clutter to make way for the more meaningful things of life.
There's not a lot of practical advice offered, so you'd want to look elsewhere for that, but there are some useful summaries of the spiritual traditions of simplicity - eastern and western, Christian and Zen. They have a lot in common at times, more than you might think. Simplicity and contentment seem to be very common values across the spiritual traditions. It's nothing new either. Perhaps being `restless children' is not so much a trait among modern individuals, as a characteristic of being human.
I'm giving this three stars for being a little bit long winded and rambling, but otherwise it's a useful book.
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A straight-forward book.
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I find this book to be more straight-forward in presenting the ideas of voluntary simplicity. There's no new-age or hippy stuff here, just a sensible description of voluntary simplicity, what it is, some obstacles. I keep re-reading it and it is quite small. I haven't managed to read Elgin's classic text because it's written in a different style - this, i think, is much easier to start with.
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A book to get the soul thinking
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I enjoyed reading this book. The book gets behind the spiritual benefits of simple living and makes many references to historical figures who choose to live a simple and harmonious life.
This book is not a cookbook of things to do but instead gets one thinking and lets us decide how we go about the finer points of simplifying our own lives.
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Rich living without the "stuff"
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John Lane has written a book that sets out to help anyone wanting to simplify their life. It has chapters that focus on 'why simplicity?', obstacles that may arise and a short but comprehensive history of simplicity through the ages as well as sections that help to show how- not with precise, detailed instructions but with an impression of what to do.
My favourite chapter is 'The sacred arts of life' which has short sections on food, homemaking (how much more satisfying a term than housekeeping!), the garden and cooking. I'd like to read a whole book just on these alone!
The book is illustrated by woodcuts of simple living e.g. the cover's hands kneading bread and these provide images to meditate on while you read. Chapters are prefaced by suitable passages or quotes, and words from the masters are interspersed throughout. A rather short bibliography is compensated for by detailed chapter notes and bibliographies which provide a 'next step' in the simplification chain.I have read the book several times and am now in the process of passing it on to help others to simplify.
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