Minimalism

By: Ryan Nicodemus, Joshua Fields Millburn

Narrated by: Justin Malik

Length: 2 hrs and 39 mins

Publisher's Summary

Minimalism is the thing that gets us past the things that clutter our lives so we can make room for life's most important things - which actually aren't things at all.

At age 30, best friends Joshua Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus walked away from their six-figure corporate careers, jettisoned most of their material possessions, and started focusing on what's truly important. In their debut book, Joshua and Ryan, authors of the popular website TheMinimalists.com, explore their troubled pasts and descent into depression. Though they had achieved the American Dream, they worked ridiculous hours, wastefully spent money, and lived paycheck to paycheck. Instead of discovering their passions, they pacified themselves with ephemeral indulgences, which only led to more debt, depression, and discontent.

After a pair of life-changing events, Joshua and Ryan discovered minimalism, allowing them to eliminate their excess material things so they could focus on life's most important things: health, relationships, passion, growth, and contribution.

©2015 Joshua Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus (P)2016 Joshua Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus

Tight version of stuff you can learn on podcast

As with their other books, you probably don’t need it as the podcast covers the same material. But this is a tightly organized version of their message. I think it has a lot of value that other minimalism books miss because it focuses on the why. Why do you want to live a minimalist life? Just getting rid of your stuff doesn’t help because you'll just replace it, as happened to me after reading the Tidying Up books. This shows you the value of living a more deliberate life and the things you can improve (health, relationships. passions, growth, contributions to the world) with the extra time and money you'll have. Nothing stellar, just nuts and bolts. It was useful to me. Grade: A-

Excellent narration. I’m used to their voices from the podcast but Justin Malik is so good that I hear their voices in him now.

11 of 11 people found this review helpful

Not what I was looking for

Should be titled: 5 values to live a meaningful life. I got this book thinking it would be about the philosophy and practical implementation of living with fewer things, what to get rid of, what to keep etc, there was none of this, instead it read like a life coaching book.

6 of 6 people found this review helpful

Great Book!

I enjoyed the message and the overall authenticity of the authors and their willingness to pay their experience forward. This book is a great opportunity to contemplate what is important in life and re-evaluate priorities. I would highly recommend it.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Simplicity meets happiness!

My life is now simpler and happier! Many Thanks! Excellent narrator, thought process and message!

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Exellent Book. Highly Recommend.

Didnt kmow what to expect when i bought the book. thought it was simply a time management book. It is that on steroids. Gave me a lot to think about to add balance to my life.

3 of 5 people found this review helpful

great content awful narration.

The content is really good but the narrator is awful. He sounds like he has a close pin on his nose and doesn't pause between sentences. I have to slow down the narration speed to understand and still cant listen for long. Slowing it down still puts sentences akardly close together. It is almost as if it was taped with one of those old dictation tapes where it automatically paused if there was a long period of quiet, and it often missed the first sound when the speaking restarted. I still have not been able to fully complete the book though I really want to. A different narrator would make all the difference.

A Life-changing View of Minimalism

I wasn’t prepared for the way minimalism was portrayed in this book. But, I was impressed with the authors’ views. It was obvious they live it.

Great Content, Poor Delivery

I loved the ideas proposed in this book, but the reader made me almost skip the last few chapters due to the lack of emotion in his voice. The reader was not passionate about reading material that is meant to make people passionate.

A profound experience

Listening to this book helped me get a better and more accurate perspective on my whole life.
I strongly recommend its reading, it’s about what’s essencial. Take the journey! You’ll love it.

Must read

Truly opened my eyes to help me live a more meaningful life. Everyone struggling or feeling unfulfilled for any reason needs to discover the minimalist movement, the authors of this book, and their website, theminimalists.com. It's something that seems extremely cliché, but as someone who won't normally touch anything of the sort with a 39 1/2' pole, I can say this book and audio book really helped me.

Insubstantial

I found this book a little, well, empty.

I love the idea of living a meaningful life and extracting oneself from the pressures of an intensely capitalist existence.

The book is really about the transformation of two American men with '6 figure salaries' who just got tired of it all and decided to concentrate on healthier things. That's it.

Whilst the message is mostly positive, It didn't really speak to me. There was a long passage about pull ups, which I really didn't enjoy. They are certainly on to something, but the book seemed a bit muddled and flimsy.

5 of 5 people found this review helpful

Lifechanging

really great book. full of great ideas and personal challenges. a must read for anyone who wants to change their life around.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Useful

Good, practical content. Helpful if you are starting out towards an uncluttered lifestyle. Ryan and Joshua clearly lay out what has worked for them.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Disappointing

I was expecting a lot more after watching the Minimalism documentary. I felt everything was skimmed over, and I am left disappointed.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Fantastic book, and fantastic concept.

The idea of living a meaningful life seemed like a cliche to me. However, listening to how they live their lives is rather inspiring. Definitely made me look at the things in my life I could shed. To be honest, I didn't think it would work, as I didn't go as extreme as Ryan and Josh. That being said, I feel clear now. Having what you need is brilliant. And I never lose my keys anymore! Recommend this book 100%!

Is this minimalism?

Would you try another book written by Ryan Nicodemus and Joshua Fields Millburn or narrated by Justin Malik?

Maybe

What was your reaction to the ending? (No spoilers please!)

Well, I have not learned a lot but it had some good points.

What aspect of Justin Malik’s performance might you have changed?

It was a little bit monotonous, I felt that a robot was reading the text. I don't know exactly what was the issue, but I did not enjoy listening the audiobook.

Do you think Minimalism needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

No I don't think so.

Any additional comments?

I felt that it had some useful life guidelines, but there was nothing which I could say was distinctively-minimalism. Many of these guidelines can be found in other books which are not related with minimalism.

A good intro.

interesting story but at a very high level. lots of links to their website - not what I fully expected to hear. Otherwise some common sense ideas.

Narrator prevented me from listening

I struggled with this book and only made it to the 3td chapter
I'm sure the content is great, but the narrator (one of the authors) has a flat monotone reading voice and speaks very quickly
This not only irritated me, it ultimately prevented me from listening further than the 3rd chapter.
I have returned this book

Conveys a very powerful message so convincingly!!

Loved it, will certainly listen again. Need to make some changes now! Thanks both..

Not about minimalism

Strangely, this book has nothing to do with minimalism. This book is about how to live a better life in the opinion of a couple of 30 year olds. If you looking to reduce clutter and find out more about minimalism, this book isn't for you.

1 of 2 people found this review helpful