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

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.

15 people found this helpful

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.

15 people found this helpful

Minimalism?

Let’s see, we get some subjective advice about nutrition, water consumption, relationships, etc. Whatever seems to randomly interest them. Don’t wait around for the topic of minimalism though, maybe they’ve moved on to life coaching & forgot to tell us.

9 people found this 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.

4 people found this helpful

A lot of plugs

It’s hard to escape the fact that the whole thing feels like an advertisement for their website...

3 people found this helpful

Good Book. Narrators voice not so good

Narrators voice took a while to get use to and sometimes was difficult to focus on

3 people found this helpful

Great listen!

I watched the Netflix documentary and really enjoyed it, book was great too. great advise and easy to understand. Anyone who is trying to minimalize their lifestyle this book is great for it!

1 person found this helpful

Worthless pop regurgitation

The book says virtually nothing about minimalism. Instead, the authors present a litany of half baked pop ideas about how to live a happy life. What a complete waste of time!

1 person found this helpful

Simplicity meets happiness!

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

1 person found this 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.

4 people found this helpful

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.

8 people found this 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 people found this helpful

Questionable Advice

Love the idea of the book, but the guys lost me when they mentioned a vegan or paleo diet should be followed and that listeners should stop taking prescribed medications....seriously? You’re not at all qualified to make such advice so don’t. It’s dangerous and irresponsible as an author to do so.

Their points on eating well and looking after your body are valid and outlining that some medications may be unnecessary if the issues are resolved at the root cause. But flatly saying that people should stop taking their medications and take up a paleo first is dangerous and stupid.

Completely lost me after that.

Otherwise a good book that makes some great points.

1 person found this 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 person found this 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 person found this helpful

Great Book

Very easy to follow, great ideas and I love it.
Since I discovered minimalism I kinda started to declutter, buying less and I feel much happier and less stressed.

Awesome

Awesome book and great reader. Shot but essential. Food for thought. A guide for a day by day life.

Overly prescriptive and disappointing

Having watched the documentary, read the other books and listened to many podcasts, I was really disappointed with this one. Not only did the narrator once again talk at break neck speed, which is anything but calming, but the content was super prescriptive and lacks credibility. Example - yes, advise us on the benefits of simplifying our diets, but please don't tell us to such a degree what we should and shouldn't be removing or including! That needs individualised advice from a qualified healthcare professional. I love minimalism but feel in this book the authors are getting a little ahead of themselves with the scope of their advice.

Wonderful

Simply wonderful. A great tool to put your life in to perspective. Motivating and encouraging.

When Less is More

Joshua Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus have made a name for themselves championing this approach to living an ‘intentional’ life. They tell their story in their introduction, told at more length in their book “All that Remains.” Six figure salary earners in their twenties, they embraced the corporate lifestyle and the American dream. Then through disaster and dissatisfaction they looked for a more meaningful life. They eventually forged out their path as ‘minimalists’ and they outline the main values of their newfound lives here.
They describe how minimalism is not the end result but a means to an end. That end is living intentionally and finding value and meaning. Minimalism allows you to do this through helping to shed away everything that clutters and drains you unnecessarily, until you have more time and space to discover what matters.
So the book is structured, after a substantial auto-biographical introduction, around five main themes:Passions, Contributions, Relationships, Health, Money. Looking at each in turn they apply the principles of intentional living to them. There are links and signposts as to where to find more information or resources, often the authors own essays available on their website.
It is clearly written and concise, full of helpful examples from the authors own lived experience and others. It left me determined to investigate more about minimalism and these writer’s work.
Justin Malik is a clear narrator, and his calm and patient tones are well suited to the content.