The Art of Minimalism

Four Strategies to Simplify Your Life Just as Much as You Want - Find Joy in What You Have

By: Zoe McKey

Narrated by: Anna Doyle

Length: 1 hr and 44 mins

Publisher's summary

Is your life filled with valueless objects that don’t make you happy? Do you feel anxious when you buy things but you can’t control the urge? Would you like to let go of unimportant stuff with a peace of mind?

Your happiness costs less than you think. You deserve a stress-free life - where the things you own serve you and help you live a well-balanced life.

The Art of Minimalism will present you four minimalist techniques, the bests from around the world, to give you a perspective on how to declutter your house, your mind, and your life in general. Learn how to let go of everything that is not important in your life and find methods that give you a peace of mind and happiness instead.

Keep balance at the edge of minimalism and consumerism. Try this if:

• You feel that stress is overwhelming your life
• You wish to downsize your surroundings
• You wish to trade spending on stuff to spending on memories
• You want to discover exactly how much should you simplify to meet your needs
• You wish to familiarize with the best decluttering, aesthetically simplifying, mental peace-giving techniques

Minimalism is an inversely proportional process: the less you do, the more will you have. And the less you keep the happier you’ll be.

• Four easy-to-adopt minimalist methods
• What are those things that are worth paying for to live a fuller life?
• What are the things worth learning in order to live simply in a consumerist world?
• How to avoid being a minimalism consumerist
• The critical viewpoint of each minimalist practice presented to get a broader perspective on how to make the best minimalist decisions

In The Art of Minimalism you’ll find the techniques and the tips of the bests in how to achieve the mess-free life you’re longing for. This book will give you a complex peek into the pros and cons of minimalism. Don’t feel obliged to believe and use everything you hear. You will succeed in creating your own best minimalist lifestyle even if you don’t adopt everything from this book. Minimalism is not a must, but a choice without any pressure or negative consequence.

©2018 Zoe McKey (P)2018 Zoe McKey

Interesting perhaps, but not especially useful.

If you're looking for actionable advice, then perhaps try elsewhere. If you're just beginning to address the problem and don't mind hearing the author explain their take on a few minimalist philosophies, then this relatively short book could be what you want.

Quick

the books gives so hard and fast ideas on ways to reduce stress and clutter. I am not in love with the narrator's speech pattern but she zings through the material quickly

Short, but doesn't add much

~Disclaimer: I received a free audiobook copy of this book.~

While I think it is interesting to look at these four different philosophies(KonMari Method, Wabi-Sabi Method, Lagom, and Hygge), I feel like Zoe Mckey isn’t bringing that much new information. Explaining Marie Kondos folding method is not providing new insight. It feels like when someone block quotes another author in a book to up their page count. When a book is so short, things like that tend to feel thrown in without purpose and make the book feel disorganized.

I’m familiar with all four of these concepts and was interested to see how she tied them to minimalism, but it just didn’t land for me. If you aren’t familiar with the concepts it may introduce them to you in an accessible way. You could also just watch some youtube videos about them.

The narrator does a good job and has consistent pacing. Her speech might be a bit fast for some listeners, but I didn’t mind it.