Book Review: Simpler

Very kindly Mike Burns is giving away his ebook this weekend. I downloaded it and read it, so as a thank you I thought it only fair to write a review.

I downloaded this book this evening and read it in-between doing some tasks I needed to do. The whole thing took about an hour to read. Words and a lot of white space.

You might think that I separated the reading of the book with tasks because I found the book boring, but that's not the case. This book inspired me to get me tasks done. That's because the first part of this book makes the case for a simpler life. Mike writes about something that is becoming a mantra for me, leaving things better than you found them. I originally read about this on becomingminimalist.com, the quote being “My goal is to leave the room just a little bit nicer for the next person.”. That post is definitely worth reading and you can do so here Leaving the World a Little Better.

You might also think that a book that can be read in an hour doesn't have much to say. That words surrounded by a lot of white space may be quite empty. However, while it took me a while to get used to the white space, I feel that it was a good move by the author. The second part of the book contains practical tips for decluttering, which is where the white space comes into its' own. Each tip or short paragraph within the book being separated by white space allows each important nugget of information to be digested before moving on to the next piece. I guess you could call it a minimalist approach - and, indeed, minimalism is something that's written about in this book.

The book is brief and it would be fair to say that if you've been around minimalism and decluttering for a while, there's not likely to be anything new for you in this book. The information and great tips can be found all over the internet. But, importantly, they can be found here - all in one place.

I think the way the book has been written was well thought out. There's enough in here to get you started and it's written with obvious passion that will encourage you to begin straight away.

I don't know how much this ebook will cost after this weekend, but I can say that Mike was very generous to give his book away and if you're interested in getting into minimalism and focussing on what's important in your life, then it would be a mistake to miss out. Download your copy here: Simpler: Declutter Your Life and Focus on What's Most Important

Own or Loan:         Own
Read Again:           Yes
Recommend:          Yes
Overall out of Five: 3