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lisamarigold's review against another edition
5.0
This is such a beautiful and thoughtful book—and I expect it’s one that will stick with me for a long time.
linhb's review against another edition
Somewhat enjoy the book.
I picked this book up since I'm interested in the sustainability movement. I enjoyed the first half of the book. After a while, I feel dreadful to finish the book. Maybe because I am under the impression that whatever is told in this book, has been altered, in some ways or another, to Couturier's perspectives of the people he interviewed (wow, that was a run-on sentence). Meaning that the people's stories may have been twisted to fit his own narrative. Things like this happens all the time when stories are told in other people's perspective and I'm not surprised.
Also, there are many statements from the interviewees that I somewhat disagree. The best way to approach it is reading it with an open mind and don't blindly agreeing to everything they say. They are doing what fits their belief and judgement. And we should do it, too. Take it for a grain of salt, I guess.
Some of the people here I find them to do it to an extreme. Again, it's all about the balance you think you can do to fit your life and circumstances.
Aside from all the negative things mentioned above, I did thoroughly enjoyed the first half. Reading about their life, stories, and anecdotes makes me feel jealous because they have such a carefree life. I do think that, we have been surrounded, bombarded, and consumed by all kind of information and technology that make we feel suffocated. Not keeping up with all the expectations or all the demands from society is the response to that.
I do agree that living like this is not a lifestyle, rather, it's a way of living. However, reading about sustainability living is one thing, actually take actions and change your way of living is another. I just hope to take a thing or two from here and apply it into my life.
This books is very informative, despite having some negative details (which are all solely my opinions). Mr. Couterier's writing is also very captivating and vivid that sometimes I feel like I am there, with all of them, and listening to their conversations. So I feel like I just cannot use numbers to rate this book. I would say read it if you are curious about sustainability and don't mind reading long books.
Ps. Wow, this review is the longest review I have written since, maybe, ever...
I picked this book up since I'm interested in the sustainability movement. I enjoyed the first half of the book. After a while, I feel dreadful to finish the book. Maybe because I am under the impression that whatever is told in this book, has been altered, in some ways or another, to Couturier's perspectives of the people he interviewed (wow, that was a run-on sentence). Meaning that the people's stories may have been twisted to fit his own narrative. Things like this happens all the time when stories are told in other people's perspective and I'm not surprised.
Also, there are many statements from the interviewees that I somewhat disagree. The best way to approach it is reading it with an open mind and don't blindly agreeing to everything they say. They are doing what fits their belief and judgement. And we should do it, too. Take it for a grain of salt, I guess.
Some of the people here I find them to do it to an extreme. Again, it's all about the balance you think you can do to fit your life and circumstances.
Aside from all the negative things mentioned above, I did thoroughly enjoyed the first half. Reading about their life, stories, and anecdotes makes me feel jealous because they have such a carefree life. I do think that, we have been surrounded, bombarded, and consumed by all kind of information and technology that make we feel suffocated. Not keeping up with all the expectations or all the demands from society is the response to that.
I do agree that living like this is not a lifestyle, rather, it's a way of living. However, reading about sustainability living is one thing, actually take actions and change your way of living is another. I just hope to take a thing or two from here and apply it into my life.
This books is very informative, despite having some negative details (which are all solely my opinions). Mr. Couterier's writing is also very captivating and vivid that sometimes I feel like I am there, with all of them, and listening to their conversations. So I feel like I just cannot use numbers to rate this book. I would say read it if you are curious about sustainability and don't mind reading long books.
Ps. Wow, this review is the longest review I have written since, maybe, ever...
brocc's review against another edition
5.0
I think I need more time to process my thoughts on this one, but it certainly had an impact on me. A book that now resides deep in my heart.
dolorousrattus's review
I thought I would love this book, but unfortunately it felt like a chore to read and I only got about 70% of the way through before it was due back at the library. After getting through the first 6 or 7 profiles, I did read the afterward containing the author's reflections on his own life, and I appreciated his take on how he and his wife crafted a simpler life for themselves in the US.
Definitely some good insights from the people he interviewed, but not as interesting as I had hoped.
Some quotes I liked (emphasis mine):
Definitely some good insights from the people he interviewed, but not as interesting as I had hoped.
Some quotes I liked (emphasis mine):
"So when we eat some soup, even if the parents leave some behind and don’t finish it, the kids—as is proper—eat it up.” Then he laughs his tenor laugh. "Because they made it themselves, they don’t throw it away."
I see how much my way of thinking about craft has changed over the period I have known him. Instead of craft being a “nice” pursuit with which to fill some unoccupied hours around the house, I have come to understand it as one of the most fundamental and ancient ways that humans have to meet their needs: baskets for winnowing grain, woven cloth to cover the body, forged and hammered iron tools with which to cultivate the soil, and woodblocks to print books and communicate with others. Craft is something every person needed before machines made everything we use.
There’s a price to gathering more and more, and a richness to be found in listening to the recording of a single poem again and again—which is something I do. I can deepen into fewer things. Without knowing it, I had been a devotee of mass production. I don’t have to participate in the endless piling up of objects. That kind of grandiosity just can’t hold, and it injures us along the way. Can we let go of the mania for being powerful?
Nobody knows for certain all the changes we’ll need to make to turn our modern disaster around. But here’s my belief: it will require a much harder look at consumption. Consumption is what we do with the ignition key, the thermostat, the appliance, the one-click purchase, the light switch, and the part of our paychecks that disappears into something disposable.
Humility is a training of the psyche that can help us achieve within our day-to-day lives the rich abundance of less. And what a victory to achieve this despite the distractions and attractions, a victory of your spirit against the setup of the world as it is.
christie's review
4.0
I like a lot about this book. It's well-written and thoughtful. You can tell the author really loves the subject. The people he speaks to and writes about are interesting and thoughtful people. And I appreciated the author's own take on simple living here in the U.S. It was at times a bit long, and I think so much was included that it kind of dilutes the central messages of some of the 10 people the author profiles. But overall, an enjoyable book that gives people many ideas on how they themselves can live simple lives, wherever they are.
brocc's review
5.0
I think I need more time to process my thoughts on this one, but it certainly had an impact on me. A book that now resides deep in my heart.
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