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The 100 Thing Challenge: How I Got Rid of Almost Everything, Remade My Life, and Regained My Soul
“Reading this will lead you to a better life.”—Dean Nelson, author of God Hides in Plain Sight
In The 100 Thing Challenge Dave Bruno relates how he remade his life and regained his soul by getting rid of almost everything. But The 100 Thing Challenge is more than just the story of how one man started a movement to unhook himself from consumerism by winnowing his life’s possessions down to 100 things in one year. It’s also an inspiring, invigorating guide to how we all can begin to live simpler, more meaningful lives.
In The 100 Thing Challenge Dave Bruno relates how he remade his life and regained his soul by getting rid of almost everything. But The 100 Thing Challenge is more than just the story of how one man started a movement to unhook himself from consumerism by winnowing his life’s possessions down to 100 things in one year. It’s also an inspiring, invigorating guide to how we all can begin to live simpler, more meaningful lives.
227 pages, Kindle Edition
First published December 15, 2010
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March 3, 2011
Good gravy. I actually bought this blog-to-book from the self-help section of a Barnes & Noble at a mall. Fortunately my kids are too young to understand what was happening and no other loved ones saw me.
I was intrigued by the blog at guynameddave.com that discussed his challenge to go a year with only 100 possessions. This is appealing to me because I recently came to the conclusion that I have way too much crap, and instead of buying a bigger house that I will eventually fill up with more crap, I am going to try cleaning the stuff out of my current, small house.
I figure it's better to write off a couple hundred dollars (the documentation requirements beyond $500 are pretty onerous, I hear) than spend, I don't know, the half a million more it would take to build or buy a bigger house.
But I could tell right from the start that Mr. Bruno and I had different attitudes toward this challenge. First of all, he turns out to be something of a pack rat, so he is fixing himself and doing some kind of weird atonement rather than streamlining an already awesome life like I'm trying to do.
Also, there is some kind of spiritual dimension to this challenge, whereas my attitude is if you are only going to have one watch, you might as well buy one spectacular watch. (It turns out that I need zero watches, though.)
But the main difference we have is that he is a big cheater. Because he's married with kids, he isn't counting any shared items as a possession. So his bed, house, kitchen stuff, toothpaste, etc. doesn't count. It's like if I went on a 190 lb. challenge -- hey, I'm 6'5" -- but decided not to count the weight of my appendix and liver because they don't really count. And I'm not going to count my lungs because they are mostly air, right?
The biggest cheat is that his library of books only counts as one item. That sidesteps the whole point of the exercise -- letting go. When we first moved to this tiny house, I got rid of about 20 boxes of books. That meant having to come to terms with periods of my life when I wanted to be variously: an atonal composer, a member of the Algonquin round table, a writer, and someone who vacations outside the US just to name a few off the top of my head.
That's what the 100 thing challenge should be: a chance to take your past hopes and dreams, hold them up to the light, and then stomp them to death with all your might. I think one would emerge a better person from this process, painful though it may be. I wasn't getting a vibe quite that rigorous from the gentle Christian, seeker, and family man who wrote this book.
Another complaint about this book is that I wanted more practical information about how to give things away. This is a big stumbling block for me.
Maybe I'm crazy but my biggest fear about giving things away is not that I'll need it again but that someone will take my donations and make a lot of money off of them. Like my old Les Paul or my Raymond Chandler paperback with Elliott Gould on the cover, for two quick examples. It's not like I want to go through the hassle of selling them on Craiglist, but I'd feel like a sucker if I gave them to someone and then they turned around and sold it on Craigslist.
(This happened to a friend of mine with her dad's old sports car. He made up this story about always wanting to have one and blah blah to buy it cheap but then turned around and listed it on Craigslist for 2 times what he paid for it.)
The other thing that I wanted to know was what was it like to have all that shelf space. Did his wife take it over? That's another fear -- that I clear off a shelf of my junk only to have it filled with my family's junk. That's worse, right?
Ok one last complaint before I go to bed. He did this annoying thing that I've been noticing lately. He complained about our "culture of precision." as if thinking too precisely is the worst thing happening in America. It's some weird rhetorical trick where you complain about a "culture of X" where "X" is the thing that you don't like. It sounds very smart, like you've thought hard about the culture and managed to boil it down to one word or phrase, and that word just happens to be the thing you are complaining about at that moment. I've noticed this a lot lately, so it's not just Mr. Bruno, It's this whole culture of bad rhetorical techniques that I condemn.
Anyway, check out the blog. Then check out that Zen guy blog because that's pretty good. Then maybe buy their books. I mean, did a spiritual revelation really happen if there's no way to monetize it?
And let me know if you need any books, guitars, vinyl records, old sales trophies, or old T-shirts from dot coms...
I was intrigued by the blog at guynameddave.com that discussed his challenge to go a year with only 100 possessions. This is appealing to me because I recently came to the conclusion that I have way too much crap, and instead of buying a bigger house that I will eventually fill up with more crap, I am going to try cleaning the stuff out of my current, small house.
I figure it's better to write off a couple hundred dollars (the documentation requirements beyond $500 are pretty onerous, I hear) than spend, I don't know, the half a million more it would take to build or buy a bigger house.
But I could tell right from the start that Mr. Bruno and I had different attitudes toward this challenge. First of all, he turns out to be something of a pack rat, so he is fixing himself and doing some kind of weird atonement rather than streamlining an already awesome life like I'm trying to do.
Also, there is some kind of spiritual dimension to this challenge, whereas my attitude is if you are only going to have one watch, you might as well buy one spectacular watch. (It turns out that I need zero watches, though.)
But the main difference we have is that he is a big cheater. Because he's married with kids, he isn't counting any shared items as a possession. So his bed, house, kitchen stuff, toothpaste, etc. doesn't count. It's like if I went on a 190 lb. challenge -- hey, I'm 6'5" -- but decided not to count the weight of my appendix and liver because they don't really count. And I'm not going to count my lungs because they are mostly air, right?
The biggest cheat is that his library of books only counts as one item. That sidesteps the whole point of the exercise -- letting go. When we first moved to this tiny house, I got rid of about 20 boxes of books. That meant having to come to terms with periods of my life when I wanted to be variously: an atonal composer, a member of the Algonquin round table, a writer, and someone who vacations outside the US just to name a few off the top of my head.
That's what the 100 thing challenge should be: a chance to take your past hopes and dreams, hold them up to the light, and then stomp them to death with all your might. I think one would emerge a better person from this process, painful though it may be. I wasn't getting a vibe quite that rigorous from the gentle Christian, seeker, and family man who wrote this book.
Another complaint about this book is that I wanted more practical information about how to give things away. This is a big stumbling block for me.
Maybe I'm crazy but my biggest fear about giving things away is not that I'll need it again but that someone will take my donations and make a lot of money off of them. Like my old Les Paul or my Raymond Chandler paperback with Elliott Gould on the cover, for two quick examples. It's not like I want to go through the hassle of selling them on Craiglist, but I'd feel like a sucker if I gave them to someone and then they turned around and sold it on Craigslist.
(This happened to a friend of mine with her dad's old sports car. He made up this story about always wanting to have one and blah blah to buy it cheap but then turned around and listed it on Craigslist for 2 times what he paid for it.)
The other thing that I wanted to know was what was it like to have all that shelf space. Did his wife take it over? That's another fear -- that I clear off a shelf of my junk only to have it filled with my family's junk. That's worse, right?
Ok one last complaint before I go to bed. He did this annoying thing that I've been noticing lately. He complained about our "culture of precision." as if thinking too precisely is the worst thing happening in America. It's some weird rhetorical trick where you complain about a "culture of X" where "X" is the thing that you don't like. It sounds very smart, like you've thought hard about the culture and managed to boil it down to one word or phrase, and that word just happens to be the thing you are complaining about at that moment. I've noticed this a lot lately, so it's not just Mr. Bruno, It's this whole culture of bad rhetorical techniques that I condemn.
Anyway, check out the blog. Then check out that Zen guy blog because that's pretty good. Then maybe buy their books. I mean, did a spiritual revelation really happen if there's no way to monetize it?
And let me know if you need any books, guitars, vinyl records, old sales trophies, or old T-shirts from dot coms...
April 25, 2011
Boring book. Good title and sounded like something I'd enjoy. Simplicity and frugality are great things, but this guy managed to write an incredibly dull book about the topics.
There's also a very Christian orientation to the book, which is fine -- it's always great to understand the background of someone's beliefs, but even that seemed odd and misplaced in the book. We get strange passages about the author seeing a woman and being tempted to... I have no idea... look at her? I can't remember why she had any significance to the book or his life... seemed like a completely meaningless non-incident clumsily shoehorned into a parable of some sort. Not a very good one. There's also an extremely odd passage where he explains about a man who bought some stuff from him coming over wearing a shirt that had a Jewish phrase on it. From that evidence the author concludes the purchaser must have researched him, read his blog, realized he was Christian and then wore the shirt to signal something... what?! I read this passage a few times to try and figure out what the author was saying, but could never figure it out.
Most of the book is spent talking about how he prepared for the grand challenge (by... um... getting rid of stuff). He is very defensive about the challenge and constantly explains decisions such as keeping multiple books as a "library" and allowing himself to not count his bed as an item since his wife sleeps in it also. None of that really matters and I kept reading ahead expecting some amusing or insightful stories about what happened. Sadly, pretty much nothing happens.
Show instead of tell would have been good advice for an editor to have given this author.
There's also a very Christian orientation to the book, which is fine -- it's always great to understand the background of someone's beliefs, but even that seemed odd and misplaced in the book. We get strange passages about the author seeing a woman and being tempted to... I have no idea... look at her? I can't remember why she had any significance to the book or his life... seemed like a completely meaningless non-incident clumsily shoehorned into a parable of some sort. Not a very good one. There's also an extremely odd passage where he explains about a man who bought some stuff from him coming over wearing a shirt that had a Jewish phrase on it. From that evidence the author concludes the purchaser must have researched him, read his blog, realized he was Christian and then wore the shirt to signal something... what?! I read this passage a few times to try and figure out what the author was saying, but could never figure it out.
Most of the book is spent talking about how he prepared for the grand challenge (by... um... getting rid of stuff). He is very defensive about the challenge and constantly explains decisions such as keeping multiple books as a "library" and allowing himself to not count his bed as an item since his wife sleeps in it also. None of that really matters and I kept reading ahead expecting some amusing or insightful stories about what happened. Sadly, pretty much nothing happens.
Show instead of tell would have been good advice for an editor to have given this author.
August 20, 2017
Ummmm Its just some white dude in CA cleaning out his REI garage. :I
March 9, 2011
this book was way more weird than i had expected. it's about a dude who maintained a blog all about his hated of american style consumerism. then one day he woke up & realized that he himself was an american style consumerist with way too much crap. so he came up with the 100 thing challenge, in which he would try to live for a year with only 100 personal possessions. he acknowledges many of the criticisms he has gotten in the reviews about how he "cheated" by counting all of his books as a single possession (his "library") & how he just didn't count lot of other stuff, like his house, bed, other furniture, silverware, dishes, etc, because he shares them with his wife &/or children.
i am not going to get into whether or not he cheated. if i were to do a 100 thing challenge, i would probably count things like my bed & apartment & stuff, even though i share them with my boyfriend, but i'm rather inflexible that way.
the thing that was weirder & unexpected is that a lot of the book is about christianity & his faith. i'd read a few reviews befoe i picked this book up at the library & none of them mentioned anything about this aspect of the story. it was overbearing or proselytizing. just...unexpected. & it led to this really weird story about how one time he went on an overnight hike by himself & met an attractive woman on the trail. he goes on & on about how avoids anything that smacks of anything that could even lead to the idea of infidelity, so he tried hard not to even look at this woman. but she struck up a conversation with him about his hiking trip & they chatted for a while. that's it. when he told one of his christian friends about it later, his friend got all big-eyed & was like, "you know who that woman was? SATAN." trying to lure the author away from his sacred marital bonds, i guess? by...being a woman whom the author deemed attractive & daring to be out hiking by herself? what the hell? i don't really think it matters if the author found her attractive when he has no idea if she found him attractive. take it from me, a real live actual woman: we are not actually that interested in having sex with every single man we stumble across. i am not a christian but i respect people who are...so long as they don't go around assuming that random attractive women hiking by themselves are satan! what the fuck!
anyway, the other weird thing about this book is that it wasn't that good. it seemed really patched together, mostly lists of stuff he kept as part of his 100 thing challenge, lots of details about certain things he gave away or sold & later regretted, & then more lists of stuff he wanted to buy. it was also a lot of rambling, repetitive, borderline incoherent responding to criticisms he received as he documented his challenge on his blog. dude, if i wanted to read that shit, i'd just read the blog. there wasn't really any practical detail about how to arrange your own 100 thing challenge, & if the guy was trying to break free of his consumerist habits & identify himself less with the stuff he owned, it didn't work. he was still identifying himself by the smaller amount of stuff he owned & seemed to have just as much of a destructive relationship with consumerism, even though he had become ascetic about it.
there was a chapter about how he went to a mall after not visiting one for six months & it blew his mind. i could relate to that because i almost never go to malls or shopping plazas & every time i do, it am dumbfounded by the amount of stuff (that is mostly junk) that they contain. rather than running around making impulse purchases, my instinct is to get the hell out of there. which means i guess i don't really have too many issues with consumerism & am not a likely candidate for the 100 thing challenge.
but there was also some weird stuff...like how he liked to spend his weekend doing woodworking, but woodworking takes a lot of tools & he didn't want to be dependent on all the stuff it took to be a woodworker anymore. so he sold it all. but if he decides he does want to take up woodworking again after his challenge (& it seemed to bring him some happiness & sense of fulfillment), he'll have to replace it all. that just seemed counter-productive.
in sum, the 100 thing challenge is kind of cool idea, but this is just another mediocre blog-to-book book that isn't really worth checking out.
i am not going to get into whether or not he cheated. if i were to do a 100 thing challenge, i would probably count things like my bed & apartment & stuff, even though i share them with my boyfriend, but i'm rather inflexible that way.
the thing that was weirder & unexpected is that a lot of the book is about christianity & his faith. i'd read a few reviews befoe i picked this book up at the library & none of them mentioned anything about this aspect of the story. it was overbearing or proselytizing. just...unexpected. & it led to this really weird story about how one time he went on an overnight hike by himself & met an attractive woman on the trail. he goes on & on about how avoids anything that smacks of anything that could even lead to the idea of infidelity, so he tried hard not to even look at this woman. but she struck up a conversation with him about his hiking trip & they chatted for a while. that's it. when he told one of his christian friends about it later, his friend got all big-eyed & was like, "you know who that woman was? SATAN." trying to lure the author away from his sacred marital bonds, i guess? by...being a woman whom the author deemed attractive & daring to be out hiking by herself? what the hell? i don't really think it matters if the author found her attractive when he has no idea if she found him attractive. take it from me, a real live actual woman: we are not actually that interested in having sex with every single man we stumble across. i am not a christian but i respect people who are...so long as they don't go around assuming that random attractive women hiking by themselves are satan! what the fuck!
anyway, the other weird thing about this book is that it wasn't that good. it seemed really patched together, mostly lists of stuff he kept as part of his 100 thing challenge, lots of details about certain things he gave away or sold & later regretted, & then more lists of stuff he wanted to buy. it was also a lot of rambling, repetitive, borderline incoherent responding to criticisms he received as he documented his challenge on his blog. dude, if i wanted to read that shit, i'd just read the blog. there wasn't really any practical detail about how to arrange your own 100 thing challenge, & if the guy was trying to break free of his consumerist habits & identify himself less with the stuff he owned, it didn't work. he was still identifying himself by the smaller amount of stuff he owned & seemed to have just as much of a destructive relationship with consumerism, even though he had become ascetic about it.
there was a chapter about how he went to a mall after not visiting one for six months & it blew his mind. i could relate to that because i almost never go to malls or shopping plazas & every time i do, it am dumbfounded by the amount of stuff (that is mostly junk) that they contain. rather than running around making impulse purchases, my instinct is to get the hell out of there. which means i guess i don't really have too many issues with consumerism & am not a likely candidate for the 100 thing challenge.
but there was also some weird stuff...like how he liked to spend his weekend doing woodworking, but woodworking takes a lot of tools & he didn't want to be dependent on all the stuff it took to be a woodworker anymore. so he sold it all. but if he decides he does want to take up woodworking again after his challenge (& it seemed to bring him some happiness & sense of fulfillment), he'll have to replace it all. that just seemed counter-productive.
in sum, the 100 thing challenge is kind of cool idea, but this is just another mediocre blog-to-book book that isn't really worth checking out.
May 16, 2012
Awful. He contradicts himself in every chapter. He bought more things during his one year anti-consumerism crusade than I did in the past year, according to his guidelines. He got rid of six perfectly good coats, and then bought a new one at Patagonia? Bought a new lap top, a new surf board...the list goes on and on. What a fraud. Waste of time. His "experiment" would be quite different if he lived alone and could not write off the thousands of items co-owned, and therefore not included in the 100 thing count, by his family. Writing was stiff, boring, and long-winded.
May 22, 2011
Dave Bruno and I got off on the wrong foot when, in his preface, he used his cat as an example of the disposable American lifestyle. It seemed that one of the family cats was killed by coyotes and when they brought home a new cat to replace the dead one, the other cat was angry for months. Bruno attributes this to the other cat realizing he was disposable, and easily replaceable.
I, however, chalk up this situation not as an indication that Americans have a over-consumption problem (we do) but to the fact that Dave Bruno is not a responsible pet owner. If he knew that coyotes were a problem (he did) and chose not to keep his cats out of harms way, I would say he is guilty of animal neglect and perhaps abuse. And I don't blame that other cat for being mad, as clearly he was living with a family that didn't care enough for him.
So, given that all that happened in the preface, it's amazing I made it through any of the rest of the book. But I did, and despite Bruno's lack of respect or responsibility for his cats, there were some good bits of knowledge to glean from this short book. He does a great job connecting things he had acquired with the fantasy future he developed in his head. Through his descriptions of the prowess of his pen collection (really!) and his master woodworker fantasy I realized that a goodly number of objects I've been holding on to are perhaps things that I hold on to because of who I want to be, not who I actually am, and will perhaps never be.
Also, for those of you thinking about reducing your possessions to only 100 things, but have no idea how that is even possible as just your bed has potentially 12 things (bed frame, box spring, mattress, mattress pad, fitted sheet, top sheet, blanket, comforter, pillow, pillow, pillowcase, pillowcase) know that Dave Bruno would count "bed" as one thing. In fact, "library" was one of his things, encompassing all his books. So he wasn't super rigid. And also, because he has a wife and children and, according to his rules, shared items didn't count, he didn't count any plates, cups, utensils, pots, pans etc. on his list.
I, however, chalk up this situation not as an indication that Americans have a over-consumption problem (we do) but to the fact that Dave Bruno is not a responsible pet owner. If he knew that coyotes were a problem (he did) and chose not to keep his cats out of harms way, I would say he is guilty of animal neglect and perhaps abuse. And I don't blame that other cat for being mad, as clearly he was living with a family that didn't care enough for him.
So, given that all that happened in the preface, it's amazing I made it through any of the rest of the book. But I did, and despite Bruno's lack of respect or responsibility for his cats, there were some good bits of knowledge to glean from this short book. He does a great job connecting things he had acquired with the fantasy future he developed in his head. Through his descriptions of the prowess of his pen collection (really!) and his master woodworker fantasy I realized that a goodly number of objects I've been holding on to are perhaps things that I hold on to because of who I want to be, not who I actually am, and will perhaps never be.
Also, for those of you thinking about reducing your possessions to only 100 things, but have no idea how that is even possible as just your bed has potentially 12 things (bed frame, box spring, mattress, mattress pad, fitted sheet, top sheet, blanket, comforter, pillow, pillow, pillowcase, pillowcase) know that Dave Bruno would count "bed" as one thing. In fact, "library" was one of his things, encompassing all his books. So he wasn't super rigid. And also, because he has a wife and children and, according to his rules, shared items didn't count, he didn't count any plates, cups, utensils, pots, pans etc. on his list.
March 28, 2011
This guy is a TOOL.
Whine, whine, whine, brag, whine, whine, brag, cheat, condescend, rationalize, whine some more, relate some tangential story that leaves the reader scratching their head, more whining, more rationalizing, "gee, aren't I great? whine, etc., etc., etc., ad nauseum.
Whine, whine, whine, brag, whine, whine, brag, cheat, condescend, rationalize, whine some more, relate some tangential story that leaves the reader scratching their head, more whining, more rationalizing, "gee, aren't I great? whine, etc., etc., etc., ad nauseum.
March 11, 2012
This is by far one of the most boring, disappointing, rambling and drawn-out books I have ever read. The first 3 chapters each said exactly the same thing as each other and the rest of the book was little better. The content of the book could probably be summarised easily in 3 pages, with the actual information for readers about reducing the junk in their own lives on one page...if that. It needs the most enormous edit.
This book offered very little practical advice. This book is about the author, his website and how people have reacted to it, his christian-audio business, and his opinions on religion and his sporting equipment and clothing etc. None of this information was remotely interesting or engaging.
It is bland bland bland. The title doesn't reflect the content at all; this is a book focused on promoting its author.
I also don't understand why the author felt motivated to comment that all domesticated cats are easily replaceable, and that cats are never fully satisfied with anything. (As I write this my two very non-replaceable cats are sunning themselves outside near a window, all sprawled out with legs in the air, and they just couldn't look any happier or more content. They spend most of each day in similar happy states!)
Reading the author's lists of his 100 items was coma inducing...and the idea of actually writing my own at some stage didn't appeal in the least either. He also seemed to give up very very little, as he counted the family items, all of them, as off limits! Despite this, the tone of the book was quite annoyingly smug I have to say. I only borrowed this one from the library though, so the poor quality wasn't a big deal.
If you want to be inspired to have a big clean out of your junk, choose another book! Or, just go with the 100 thing idea and do it all yourself. (Note that 'a library' is counted as one item! I must admit, I did like that idea as my first second and third thoughts on considering an 100 item challenge were all about book love!)
I'm going to check out The Joy of Less, A Minimalist Living Guide: How to Declutter, Organize, and Simplify Your Life now instead.
This book offered very little practical advice. This book is about the author, his website and how people have reacted to it, his christian-audio business, and his opinions on religion and his sporting equipment and clothing etc. None of this information was remotely interesting or engaging.
It is bland bland bland. The title doesn't reflect the content at all; this is a book focused on promoting its author.
I also don't understand why the author felt motivated to comment that all domesticated cats are easily replaceable, and that cats are never fully satisfied with anything. (As I write this my two very non-replaceable cats are sunning themselves outside near a window, all sprawled out with legs in the air, and they just couldn't look any happier or more content. They spend most of each day in similar happy states!)
Reading the author's lists of his 100 items was coma inducing...and the idea of actually writing my own at some stage didn't appeal in the least either. He also seemed to give up very very little, as he counted the family items, all of them, as off limits! Despite this, the tone of the book was quite annoyingly smug I have to say. I only borrowed this one from the library though, so the poor quality wasn't a big deal.
If you want to be inspired to have a big clean out of your junk, choose another book! Or, just go with the 100 thing idea and do it all yourself. (Note that 'a library' is counted as one item! I must admit, I did like that idea as my first second and third thoughts on considering an 100 item challenge were all about book love!)
I'm going to check out The Joy of Less, A Minimalist Living Guide: How to Declutter, Organize, and Simplify Your Life now instead.
July 18, 2011
I live a cluttered life, so when I saw the title of this book, I was intrigued. The idea of reducing my own life into 100 things was very interesting, so I decided to grab the book, even though self-help isn't really my thing.
I can't fault the book for being bad. At no point was I annoyed or aggravated enough to put the book down, but it just didn't do it for me and after finishing it, I can honestly say that all I walked away with was a sense of "good for you". I found the author's religious focus a bit unnecessary, since it literally had nothing to do with the story, but since it's clearly a big part of his life and who he is as a person, I let it go. And as a very indoorsy person I also found his obsession with "adventure gear" and sporting goods difficult to relate to, but that's just me.
At many times, this book reads more like a list of things the author owned, wanted and gave up than a helpful or illuminating story of a minimalistic life. In particular, one part where he describes (in excruciating detail) his favorite pair of dress slacks and the way they fit, essentially bored me to tears.
Still I must give the author credit...he never lies about what this book is or isn't. From the very beginning, Bruno says outright that he didn't dramatically change or have some sort of life-changing ephiphany, nor does he claim that this lifestyle was especially arduous or uber meaningful. He flat out says his transition was unremarkable, and he's dead on. But maybe that's the point. After all, if he can get rid of his fountain pen collections, large business wardrobe, woodshop, sentimental antique train collection, and extensive collection of outdoors hiking gear without anything but an occasional bout of nostalgia, maybe reducing the clutter in our own lives isn't as big a deal as we're making it out to be.
I can't fault the book for being bad. At no point was I annoyed or aggravated enough to put the book down, but it just didn't do it for me and after finishing it, I can honestly say that all I walked away with was a sense of "good for you". I found the author's religious focus a bit unnecessary, since it literally had nothing to do with the story, but since it's clearly a big part of his life and who he is as a person, I let it go. And as a very indoorsy person I also found his obsession with "adventure gear" and sporting goods difficult to relate to, but that's just me.
At many times, this book reads more like a list of things the author owned, wanted and gave up than a helpful or illuminating story of a minimalistic life. In particular, one part where he describes (in excruciating detail) his favorite pair of dress slacks and the way they fit, essentially bored me to tears.
Still I must give the author credit...he never lies about what this book is or isn't. From the very beginning, Bruno says outright that he didn't dramatically change or have some sort of life-changing ephiphany, nor does he claim that this lifestyle was especially arduous or uber meaningful. He flat out says his transition was unremarkable, and he's dead on. But maybe that's the point. After all, if he can get rid of his fountain pen collections, large business wardrobe, woodshop, sentimental antique train collection, and extensive collection of outdoors hiking gear without anything but an occasional bout of nostalgia, maybe reducing the clutter in our own lives isn't as big a deal as we're making it out to be.
January 7, 2011
I really wanted to like this book more than I did. I read the author's blog, and really appreciate the intention he has behind the 100-Thing Challenge. Unfortunately, while his writing may work well for a blog, it didn't hold up for an entire book. Also, I found that quite a lot of the book was him explaining his thinking and reasoning behind what he was doing, rather than a narrative of his experience of the Challenge, which is what I had been hoping for. So, although there were a few bright spots, overall I would say to just read the archives on his blog. I still admire and appreciate what he did, just didn't find his write-up very satisfying.
February 28, 2012
There are some good things and bad things about this book. Generally, the newer you are to "simple living" discussions, the more useful this book would be. It is easy to read. However, there are some very serious shortcomings to the book and I wouldn't recommend it except as an exercise to keep people on their toes. Here's a great discussion topic! "Someone says that they are interested in living more simply and wants to limit the number of things they own to 100 things. What problems can you see with this approach? Discuss."
The good stuff is that this guy is a pleasant, conversational writer. Even though I could tell right out of the gate that this wasn't going to be my favorite book (I was reading it for part of a book club), I kept going. Moreover, he is honest about the shortcomings of the challenge. Instead of counting each individual book he owns, for example, he just counts "his library" as one thing. Actually, I think that's fair; if I was doing this challenge and I had to count each individual book I own, I would have a "1100 thing challenge," with the first 1000 things being my books. So let's give the guy a break. But:
1. While he admits that defining a "thing" is problematic, I think that it's more than problematic. It renders the whole project unmanageable. Sure, count your library as one thing, and your underwear as one thing. But he doesn't count the things he shares with his family as separate "things." Dude. Think about it. If you still wanted to give it a go, I'd consider counting the sofa (or car or whatever else he shares with his family) as 1/5 of a thing (if you have 5 members of the family). But it's not "nothing."
2. This has nothing to do with wealth. Your 100 things could include a private jet, a sailboat, and 8 cars, and you'd still have 90 things to go. "100 things" is entirely a mental construct.
3. This has nothing to do with the environment, either. When you think about it, in our consumer society, it is often more complex to tread lightly on the earth than to consume. Compare the difficulty of driving your car to church (gas stations and repair shops all along your route) to the difficulty of riding your bicycle (taking your life in your hands by going out onto the street) or taking the bus (figuring out the schedule, bus doesn't run as often or at all on Sundays, etc.).
4. Vegetarianism is not mentioned; population is not mentioned.
There is another thing that I think that readers cannot help notice. As you read the book, it is apparent that he is, while not wealthy, at least very comfortable. He is also very well connected. The "100 thing challenge" apparently does not impinge on this lifestyle in the least. He may not be part of the top 1%, but it sounds like he is in the top 5% - 10%. That doesn't mean you can't live simply and be in this income category, but I'd at least be aware of the "wealth and connections" angle, and be aware that not everyone can live this way, and that maybe "simple living" has something to do with this problem.
And there is no attempt, at all, to connect simple living to the Christian faith which he professes. Whatever happened to Luke 14:33: "Whoever of you does not renounce everything that he has, cannot be my disciple"? How can he have produced Christian audio books and not be aware of the most obvious feature of the gospel of Jesus?
So, basically, because of his honesty and his writing style, I wouldn't rule out reading something else this guy wrote. But this isn't something I'd actually suggest anyone read. How can he claim to "get rid of almost everything"? How can you be a Christian (in a largely Christian country) and write a book on a simple living topic and not mention that Jesus, like, had something to say about this? How can you write about something connected to simple living and not mention wealth or the environment? In his next book, he might want to discuss these topics.
The good stuff is that this guy is a pleasant, conversational writer. Even though I could tell right out of the gate that this wasn't going to be my favorite book (I was reading it for part of a book club), I kept going. Moreover, he is honest about the shortcomings of the challenge. Instead of counting each individual book he owns, for example, he just counts "his library" as one thing. Actually, I think that's fair; if I was doing this challenge and I had to count each individual book I own, I would have a "1100 thing challenge," with the first 1000 things being my books. So let's give the guy a break. But:
1. While he admits that defining a "thing" is problematic, I think that it's more than problematic. It renders the whole project unmanageable. Sure, count your library as one thing, and your underwear as one thing. But he doesn't count the things he shares with his family as separate "things." Dude. Think about it. If you still wanted to give it a go, I'd consider counting the sofa (or car or whatever else he shares with his family) as 1/5 of a thing (if you have 5 members of the family). But it's not "nothing."
2. This has nothing to do with wealth. Your 100 things could include a private jet, a sailboat, and 8 cars, and you'd still have 90 things to go. "100 things" is entirely a mental construct.
3. This has nothing to do with the environment, either. When you think about it, in our consumer society, it is often more complex to tread lightly on the earth than to consume. Compare the difficulty of driving your car to church (gas stations and repair shops all along your route) to the difficulty of riding your bicycle (taking your life in your hands by going out onto the street) or taking the bus (figuring out the schedule, bus doesn't run as often or at all on Sundays, etc.).
4. Vegetarianism is not mentioned; population is not mentioned.
There is another thing that I think that readers cannot help notice. As you read the book, it is apparent that he is, while not wealthy, at least very comfortable. He is also very well connected. The "100 thing challenge" apparently does not impinge on this lifestyle in the least. He may not be part of the top 1%, but it sounds like he is in the top 5% - 10%. That doesn't mean you can't live simply and be in this income category, but I'd at least be aware of the "wealth and connections" angle, and be aware that not everyone can live this way, and that maybe "simple living" has something to do with this problem.
And there is no attempt, at all, to connect simple living to the Christian faith which he professes. Whatever happened to Luke 14:33: "Whoever of you does not renounce everything that he has, cannot be my disciple"? How can he have produced Christian audio books and not be aware of the most obvious feature of the gospel of Jesus?
So, basically, because of his honesty and his writing style, I wouldn't rule out reading something else this guy wrote. But this isn't something I'd actually suggest anyone read. How can he claim to "get rid of almost everything"? How can you be a Christian (in a largely Christian country) and write a book on a simple living topic and not mention that Jesus, like, had something to say about this? How can you write about something connected to simple living and not mention wealth or the environment? In his next book, he might want to discuss these topics.
March 23, 2011
This would have been a great read as a series of blog posts.
The author's tendency to get derailed describing model trains and Webkinz was just rambling filler. Had the editors at Harper Collins been a bit mightier with their red pens, this would have been a more focused -- and enjoyable as a result -- book.
When describing the birthday gifts he received at the start of the 100 Things Challenge, the author writes 'And here I must confess something to you that will likely make you think I'm boring.' No worries, Dave, I thought that well before page 94.
The author's tendency to get derailed describing model trains and Webkinz was just rambling filler. Had the editors at Harper Collins been a bit mightier with their red pens, this would have been a more focused -- and enjoyable as a result -- book.
When describing the birthday gifts he received at the start of the 100 Things Challenge, the author writes 'And here I must confess something to you that will likely make you think I'm boring.' No worries, Dave, I thought that well before page 94.
April 17, 2015
Two stars is generous and only given because somewhere under all this crap are some good ideas to think about.
To start off with, the book itself begins on the completely wrong tone for me. The author talks about how he realized everything was replaceable when one of the family cats gotten eaten by coyotes and they just got a new one. Sorry, but I'm not on board with viewing pets as easily replaced "goods". Nope. Also way to let your cat roam around when you're aware that there are coyotes around that have a history of eating domesticated animals.
Then there's the subtle and sometimes not so subtle sexism mixed in. Which also seems to be tied in some with his view of Christianity. For example, he's out hiking by himself and he sees a woman by herself. He goes on this whole tirade about how he's faithful to his wife and he wouldn't let anyone tempt hime and so on. Which from his own description all she does is simply strike up a conversation with a fellow hiker and make no sort of advances at all on him. But despite this his friend he discusses this with thinks that she was actually Satan in disguise sent there to tempt him. What? And what was the point of putting that in this book? But I kind of asked myself "what is the point of this" about a lot of the extraneous junk he put in.
As for the challenge itself. Well, I think it's a cool idea but I think this guy formatted the rules in such a shifty way that in reality he really didn't have to simplify all that much. He counts nothing that he shares with his family. So all the furniture and kitchen equipment and the tools he uses to fix things around the house... don't count. I get that he doesn't want to drag everyone else into his personal challenge (one of the few things I did like), but I feel there was some way to factor those things he uses into his challenge. How hard would it be to divide the shared things by the number of people in the family? And then there's the stuff he counts as a whole group. Which includes socks and underwear... and his whole fucking library. Seriously if I went by the rules he established it would be no problem to do the 100 thing challenge.
And then there's all the brands. So the whole point of this challenge was to rebel against engrained "American Consumerism". But he is constantly talking about brands and how important all his shit is to him. He is always naming brands to the point where it felt like there was some strange promotional/advertising agreement going on. He didn't just have a winter jacket, he had the XY brand winter jacket with fleece lining, or whatever.
Also, buying stuff. According to the rules of the challenge he can buy stuff as long as it doesn't put him over 100 items and if it's replacing something the old item has to go first. But once again, this doesn't really mesh with his anti-consumerism message. His rules allow the ability to be constantly replacing things for no reason except that you want a new one and they allow you to be able to just keep throwing things out and buying new things. Which he doesn't go crazy on the shopping, but he does do things like throw out a bunch of jackets and then later go out and buy a new one even though he got rid of perfectly fine ones.
Okay, so. Positives. I really like the concept of the challenge, and I am really impressed by people who have looked at this idea and actually taken it to heart and executed it much better than this. I also like some of his points. If you are hanging on to things out of nostalgia for what could have been (his model train set that his father never built and never would) you should let them go. Also if you keep things around because they fit an image of what you'd want to be but really aren't and probably won't ever be (his woodworking tools) you should let that go. And, as I mentioned earlier I also liked the fact that he recognized that this isn't for everybody and nobody should ever be forced to do this challenge.
Basically though this book is about some seemingly very well-off upper middle-class guy who creates a challenge in which the rules are rigged so he really doesn't have to go out of his way to give up much and then proceeds to live comfortably for a year while feeling really great about himself for making such a big change. Yay for him I guess.
To start off with, the book itself begins on the completely wrong tone for me. The author talks about how he realized everything was replaceable when one of the family cats gotten eaten by coyotes and they just got a new one. Sorry, but I'm not on board with viewing pets as easily replaced "goods". Nope. Also way to let your cat roam around when you're aware that there are coyotes around that have a history of eating domesticated animals.
Then there's the subtle and sometimes not so subtle sexism mixed in. Which also seems to be tied in some with his view of Christianity. For example, he's out hiking by himself and he sees a woman by herself. He goes on this whole tirade about how he's faithful to his wife and he wouldn't let anyone tempt hime and so on. Which from his own description all she does is simply strike up a conversation with a fellow hiker and make no sort of advances at all on him. But despite this his friend he discusses this with thinks that she was actually Satan in disguise sent there to tempt him. What? And what was the point of putting that in this book? But I kind of asked myself "what is the point of this" about a lot of the extraneous junk he put in.
As for the challenge itself. Well, I think it's a cool idea but I think this guy formatted the rules in such a shifty way that in reality he really didn't have to simplify all that much. He counts nothing that he shares with his family. So all the furniture and kitchen equipment and the tools he uses to fix things around the house... don't count. I get that he doesn't want to drag everyone else into his personal challenge (one of the few things I did like), but I feel there was some way to factor those things he uses into his challenge. How hard would it be to divide the shared things by the number of people in the family? And then there's the stuff he counts as a whole group. Which includes socks and underwear... and his whole fucking library. Seriously if I went by the rules he established it would be no problem to do the 100 thing challenge.
And then there's all the brands. So the whole point of this challenge was to rebel against engrained "American Consumerism". But he is constantly talking about brands and how important all his shit is to him. He is always naming brands to the point where it felt like there was some strange promotional/advertising agreement going on. He didn't just have a winter jacket, he had the XY brand winter jacket with fleece lining, or whatever.
Also, buying stuff. According to the rules of the challenge he can buy stuff as long as it doesn't put him over 100 items and if it's replacing something the old item has to go first. But once again, this doesn't really mesh with his anti-consumerism message. His rules allow the ability to be constantly replacing things for no reason except that you want a new one and they allow you to be able to just keep throwing things out and buying new things. Which he doesn't go crazy on the shopping, but he does do things like throw out a bunch of jackets and then later go out and buy a new one even though he got rid of perfectly fine ones.
Okay, so. Positives. I really like the concept of the challenge, and I am really impressed by people who have looked at this idea and actually taken it to heart and executed it much better than this. I also like some of his points. If you are hanging on to things out of nostalgia for what could have been (his model train set that his father never built and never would) you should let them go. Also if you keep things around because they fit an image of what you'd want to be but really aren't and probably won't ever be (his woodworking tools) you should let that go. And, as I mentioned earlier I also liked the fact that he recognized that this isn't for everybody and nobody should ever be forced to do this challenge.
Basically though this book is about some seemingly very well-off upper middle-class guy who creates a challenge in which the rules are rigged so he really doesn't have to go out of his way to give up much and then proceeds to live comfortably for a year while feeling really great about himself for making such a big change. Yay for him I guess.
May 20, 2014
This book was OK. I got it on Amazon for $1.99 and I'm glad that's all I paid for it. It's another case of why a great editor is the best possible thing that can happen to a book.
The 100 Thing Challenge is a compelling idea, one I'm interested in - I'm on an ongoing mission to declutter and reduce consumption. I expected a little more in the way of "practical tips" than Bruno gave. He may have given them on his blog, but I didn't read that.
Several reviewers have accused Bruno of "cheating", specifically how he didn't count common (shared) items (like forks and his bed) and how he reduced his library to one item "Library" in his overall 100 Thing count. I can understand why some people are really annoyed with that choice - managing my penchant for book collecting, paper & digital, is definitely a challenge I have. It would have been more interesting to read about his struggles with that aspect of the challenge. Similarly, if Bruno had a music collection.
Something that Bruno talks about repeatedly is that he was regularly attacked for doing this challenge. Apparently, some people thought he was going to single-handedly bring down capitalism. He addresses this in the book, but I think he could have gone a lot further - to really get to the core reasons that so many people are hostile to a challenge like this. The deep psychology of things in modern North American culture goes hand in hand with what Bruno rails agains: "American-style consumerism". But it is given a pretty light treatment.
Overall.. the whole book is pretty light. Almost in the sense that it could have been written by someone just observing what Bruno did. Where are the interesting conversations, both internal and external, that must have happened? What about borrowing items? What about communal items? There just wasn't a lot of deep exploration, nor were there particularly great stories - something that books like this ("stunt journalism") rely on.
If you want to learn how to declutter, this is not the best book to read. I recommend Discardia by Dinah Sanders https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... - it is EXCELLENT.
If you're a fan of stunt journalism like I am, and just like reading books like this, it's an OK read. It gave me a lot of ideas about how not to write a book.
The 100 Thing Challenge is a compelling idea, one I'm interested in - I'm on an ongoing mission to declutter and reduce consumption. I expected a little more in the way of "practical tips" than Bruno gave. He may have given them on his blog, but I didn't read that.
Several reviewers have accused Bruno of "cheating", specifically how he didn't count common (shared) items (like forks and his bed) and how he reduced his library to one item "Library" in his overall 100 Thing count. I can understand why some people are really annoyed with that choice - managing my penchant for book collecting, paper & digital, is definitely a challenge I have. It would have been more interesting to read about his struggles with that aspect of the challenge. Similarly, if Bruno had a music collection.
Something that Bruno talks about repeatedly is that he was regularly attacked for doing this challenge. Apparently, some people thought he was going to single-handedly bring down capitalism. He addresses this in the book, but I think he could have gone a lot further - to really get to the core reasons that so many people are hostile to a challenge like this. The deep psychology of things in modern North American culture goes hand in hand with what Bruno rails agains: "American-style consumerism". But it is given a pretty light treatment.
Overall.. the whole book is pretty light. Almost in the sense that it could have been written by someone just observing what Bruno did. Where are the interesting conversations, both internal and external, that must have happened? What about borrowing items? What about communal items? There just wasn't a lot of deep exploration, nor were there particularly great stories - something that books like this ("stunt journalism") rely on.
If you want to learn how to declutter, this is not the best book to read. I recommend Discardia by Dinah Sanders https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... - it is EXCELLENT.
If you're a fan of stunt journalism like I am, and just like reading books like this, it's an OK read. It gave me a lot of ideas about how not to write a book.
April 3, 2011
This book caught my eye in a book review because it reminded me of the FABULOUS young adult fiction book, The Gospel According to Larry about a teen blogger who decides to pare his personal possessions down to 76 items--his blog goes viral and suddenly he's the center of a grassroots movement and the focus of a woman who seeks to unmask him (his real name is Josh). So I wanted to read this non-fiction version by someone who did the thing for real. Unfortunately the book was not a very interesting read. I did glean a few very important insights however from the author's discussion about his collection of model trains; he talked about how sometimes things are our connection to unfulfilled dreams, secret images of ourselves, or old hurts/lacks/longings from childhood. This freed me to let go of several things that had emotional subtexts that I had never imaged. The actual list of his 100 things is found about half way through the book. There is some latitude in how things are counted--all his books count as one "library" (a big relief for readers attempting to follow his example) but also, he doesn't count anything that's shared/family/common property like the livingroom furniture or any of the kitchenware (that's his wife's of course!) so someone single like me would be much harder pressed. As a guy he also had a natural advantage since there was no makeup, bras, etc to count. I have to wonder if the orignal blog was prehaps better than the book--this seems to be the case with some of this new genre of "I'm doing this thing for a year, blogging, then cashing in with a book" books?
January 15, 2011
This book could probably get 3 1/2 stars, but alas, there are no half-stars here on Good Reads. I applaud Dave Bruno's 100 Thing Challenge, although it often seemed too severe because he gave up things he later replaced or regretted losing. His minimalist wardrobe is probably not just boring but also, uh, gross. Someone should tell Bruno shoes need airing out between wearings.
Although some reviewers griped about Bruno's justifying his decisions to part with certain objects, I found his self-reflections the better part of the book. It forces me to ask the question "Why am I hanging on to this?" Bruno's attachment to his woodworking tools hit pretty closet to home. I have more than one set of hobby equipment around here that I'm sure will transform me into the person I want to be...if only I can become skilled at using it.
I'm not taking this challenge--wouldn't dream of it. But I will spend more time reflecting on purchases and my motivations to acquire things. All in all, a good book.
Although some reviewers griped about Bruno's justifying his decisions to part with certain objects, I found his self-reflections the better part of the book. It forces me to ask the question "Why am I hanging on to this?" Bruno's attachment to his woodworking tools hit pretty closet to home. I have more than one set of hobby equipment around here that I'm sure will transform me into the person I want to be...if only I can become skilled at using it.
I'm not taking this challenge--wouldn't dream of it. But I will spend more time reflecting on purchases and my motivations to acquire things. All in all, a good book.
May 27, 2021
I almost always grab the discount and free kindle books on decluttering and minimalism because they're quick reads that even if I never go full minimalist, reading about the downfalls of clutter and excessive stuff reminds me to clean my damned house and not buy so much junk. This one didn't even do that. This book is basically a super long personal narrative about a guy who seems super self-involved and self-congratulatory when he decides to be more careful about his buying issues (I didn't even realize people still spent so much time in malls) and whittle his belongings down to 100 things. An interesting idea but a poor execution in this book. I read the author brand name drop Patagonia and Tiffany way too many times to take anything he said seriously. This book was both boring and not really about minimalism or downsizing so much as it was about a guy doing some shameless self promotion for his blog. 1 star, not recommended.
April 16, 2011
Interesting book. The author, Dave Bruno, commits to paring down his material possessions and living with only 100 things for one year. His list is interesting and confusing at the same time; he kept three Bibles and a spork!?! He also counted a toothbrush on his list but not toothpaste or deodorant…and one must assume he used both.
But what really caught my attention were the author’s observations about consumerism. I’m not interested in living with only 100 things and would fail miserably if I tried. However, I have been thinking seriously about my possessions and purchasing record and will likely make some changes in my spending.
But what really caught my attention were the author’s observations about consumerism. I’m not interested in living with only 100 things and would fail miserably if I tried. However, I have been thinking seriously about my possessions and purchasing record and will likely make some changes in my spending.
January 31, 2011
I thought I would get more out of this than I did. It's mostly a series of essays about the author, not even always directly in relation to the challenge. There were a few good things I took away from the book, but it was really a disappointment that Bruno thinks that people would like to hear about his multiple nice dinners out with his wife, his surfing, or other nonsense in this book, rather than getting to the point. The two appendices are actually the most informative parts of the book. And yes, he does have some insight into "American-style consumerism," but it's an awful lot of navel gazing to wade through to extract those bits.
May 24, 2016
The content frequently veers into unnecessary details of the author's life
November 10, 2019
This wasn't quite what I was expecting. California dad and sometime adventure guy (he spends a lot of time talking about his love of outdoor camping, climbing, surfing, hiking...you get the idea) decides to pare down his possessions to 100. He sets his birthday as a date to start and the next birthday to stop. We get to hear a lot about what qualifies and what doesn't. It occurs to me that it's likely because he's made all these exceptions and because he's married that this works. I seriously doubt that single California guy (or dad) could do this - he'd have to count all that pesky household stuff. This is not to say that this goal of paring down is not worthy. I'm pretty sure that most of us have too much stuff. But I heard w-a-y too much about how he missed the amazing wonder jacket from J.Crew that he got rid of as part of getting to 100. He should have kept the damn jacket. I also have to wonder about a guy who touts reducing over-consumption and then talks about taking the car to the beach...a 45 SECOND drive away (okay, down a steep hill...but still...45 seconds). I think that I was expecting more a look at how he did this (and there is an appendix at the back with some suggestions) and less an exploration of how we Americans are so over the top when it comes to consumption (and we are - I just don't want it thrown in my face). I am satisfied with my life and possessions. My clothes are not stuffed in my closet - I have a fairly minimal wardrobe and would rather wear jeans than anything else. I buy cars new, but drive them for years. My 2005 Mustang has 203K miles on it. My books....okay, I have books in every room in the house, but I have plans to read them all...really.
Quotes to remember:
...contentment is a virtue we can aspire to rather than a state we can achieve.
Some things never get put together, or back together, in our lives.
Quotes to remember:
...contentment is a virtue we can aspire to rather than a state we can achieve.
Some things never get put together, or back together, in our lives.
July 31, 2011
The concept is interesting, but unfortunately, the writing is not. I read this book because I liked the idea, not because I had any delusions of doing this for myself. I was hoping for some absorbing anecdotes and insights about the author's year spent limiting himself to 100 personal items (he doesn't count things like furniture that he shares with his family).
A few parts were interesting, including a couple of stories about purging his possessions. The section on his actual experience during the year, though, takes up a little less than half of the book. Inexplicably, Christmas (a time fraught with consumerism) was covered in 2-1/2 dull pages, including an itemization of the presents he got. This is set apart from the main text as a little "update" section typeset in a different font. This was such a missed opportunity for discussing in depth whether he bought presents for his family even if he didn't want any for himself. If he did buy things for others, did he have to go to the dreaded mall to get them? What kinds of feelings and thoughts did that stir up? If he didn't get anything, how did that go over?
There seemed to be a fair amount of filler, such as the paragraph spent explaining why the singular form of the word "thing" is used in the title rather than the plural. On top of that, the writing often felt stilted. For example:
I admire the author for having undertaken the challenge, but I couldn't shake the feeling that I wish it had been A.J. Jacobs instead.
A few parts were interesting, including a couple of stories about purging his possessions. The section on his actual experience during the year, though, takes up a little less than half of the book. Inexplicably, Christmas (a time fraught with consumerism) was covered in 2-1/2 dull pages, including an itemization of the presents he got. This is set apart from the main text as a little "update" section typeset in a different font. This was such a missed opportunity for discussing in depth whether he bought presents for his family even if he didn't want any for himself. If he did buy things for others, did he have to go to the dreaded mall to get them? What kinds of feelings and thoughts did that stir up? If he didn't get anything, how did that go over?
There seemed to be a fair amount of filler, such as the paragraph spent explaining why the singular form of the word "thing" is used in the title rather than the plural. On top of that, the writing often felt stilted. For example:
"Now, I am writing toward a point about American-style consumerism. In a few paragraphs I will get there. But I need to be honest about my day or my words will not sound genuine."
I admire the author for having undertaken the challenge, but I couldn't shake the feeling that I wish it had been A.J. Jacobs instead.
January 2, 2012
I expected a book filled with stories about how he really, really needed something, but it wasn't one of the one hundred things that he owned and it was a great, and possibly hilarious, trial to do without. If that is what you are looking for, this book will be so boring for you. But if you like the fact that the book talks more about the peace, rather than strife, that came to the author's life, then you will think this book rocks! I sure did!
My favorite part of the book is when he tells about the most perfect day he had. He counted up the items that he used and it was somewhere around twenty. Everything else that made the day awesome was not material. It was the people around him and the beauty of the world. Those things are always around us and they don't cost anything. They don't require a big house or a storage unit to keep them. They just are. I forget about those things all too often.
I'm purging stuff from my house. If only I could get my husband to do the same. When will he ever need 13 lanyards, half a dozen mismatched coffee mugs, and umpteen million keychains? So, sometimes I just chuck one or two in the trash and don't say anything. He hasn't noticed so far. IF, and that's a giant if, he ever notices, I'll fess up. If you mention it to him, I'll kick your butt.
My favorite part of the book is when he tells about the most perfect day he had. He counted up the items that he used and it was somewhere around twenty. Everything else that made the day awesome was not material. It was the people around him and the beauty of the world. Those things are always around us and they don't cost anything. They don't require a big house or a storage unit to keep them. They just are. I forget about those things all too often.
I'm purging stuff from my house. If only I could get my husband to do the same. When will he ever need 13 lanyards, half a dozen mismatched coffee mugs, and umpteen million keychains? So, sometimes I just chuck one or two in the trash and don't say anything. He hasn't noticed so far. IF, and that's a giant if, he ever notices, I'll fess up. If you mention it to him, I'll kick your butt.
April 24, 2011
This chap edited his life, he could have done with editing his book too! Not for me I'm afraid.
First, even though he acknowledges this, the idea that a "library" is one thing or that stuff shared with his wife and kids isn't included in the challenge seems a bit of a cop out to me. Secondly, this guy obviously lives at a very different level from me - I have never bought a new laptop or any such gadget just to have a better one, and everything I DO buy is significantly better than what it replaces - I get a car that will actually GO rather than one that WON'T for example. Thirdly, the idea of getting rid of treasured keepsakes and so on appals me - to me, stuff isn't just stuff, it's all the memories of loved ones and wonderful times I've had. Fourthly, the guy is obviously very religious and there is a pervasive irksome low-level evangelism running through the whole book - it's as though it's been processed by a Christian union or something!
I'm sure this guy learnt stuff about himself, and I'm sure he had a good time doing this, but neither the book nor the challenge is for me. The challenge fills me with horror, and the book is, to say the least, exceedingly repetitive!!!
First, even though he acknowledges this, the idea that a "library" is one thing or that stuff shared with his wife and kids isn't included in the challenge seems a bit of a cop out to me. Secondly, this guy obviously lives at a very different level from me - I have never bought a new laptop or any such gadget just to have a better one, and everything I DO buy is significantly better than what it replaces - I get a car that will actually GO rather than one that WON'T for example. Thirdly, the idea of getting rid of treasured keepsakes and so on appals me - to me, stuff isn't just stuff, it's all the memories of loved ones and wonderful times I've had. Fourthly, the guy is obviously very religious and there is a pervasive irksome low-level evangelism running through the whole book - it's as though it's been processed by a Christian union or something!
I'm sure this guy learnt stuff about himself, and I'm sure he had a good time doing this, but neither the book nor the challenge is for me. The challenge fills me with horror, and the book is, to say the least, exceedingly repetitive!!!
October 29, 2014
I love the straight-forward premise behind the 100 Thing Challenge: Whittle the amount of your possessions down to 100 items you can't live without. Unfortunately, the idea behind the book was pretty much the only thing I liked about the book.
Although Bruno's writing style was enjoyably conversational, he often came across as condescending, especially when discussing the opposite sex; my eyebrows rose when I read certain remarks, such as "it's probably a good idea [to own a model train set], even if you only have daughters like me" (emphasis my own). He wrote extensively about the backlash he came across during the challenge and was markedly defensive about his experiment's rules (or lack thereof), quoting comments from his blog and offering counter-arguments to support his methods. Moreover, his constant boastfulness felt self-serving. (Congratulations, your self-portrait won an award and Oprah almost had you on her show.)
I was hoping the book would be a motivating step towards a minimalist lifestyle; instead, it was no more than an illustration of self-aggrandizement.
Although Bruno's writing style was enjoyably conversational, he often came across as condescending, especially when discussing the opposite sex; my eyebrows rose when I read certain remarks, such as "it's probably a good idea [to own a model train set], even if you only have daughters like me" (emphasis my own). He wrote extensively about the backlash he came across during the challenge and was markedly defensive about his experiment's rules (or lack thereof), quoting comments from his blog and offering counter-arguments to support his methods. Moreover, his constant boastfulness felt self-serving. (Congratulations, your self-portrait won an award and Oprah almost had you on her show.)
I was hoping the book would be a motivating step towards a minimalist lifestyle; instead, it was no more than an illustration of self-aggrandizement.
January 26, 2021
100thing challenge 2.75⭐️
The first half of the book is a memoir. So if you want to know about his life, which wasnt my initial interest in the book but thats what I got. No i wanted to know how he lives with less and on my journey to try a more minimalist lifestyle if one day 100 items could be in my future. I even got this as an audiobook from the library so no clutter!
Anyway he talks alot about his challenge and procrastination of said challenge so you think hes never actually going to do the thing the title claims but he gets there, eventually. This is not a guide or template maybe is blog has that. This is more about his life and how difficult it was having birthdays and Christmas because he thought people would shower him with gifts and ignore his challenge.
Throughout the second half you get a list of his 100 things and why he chose those items and what they mean to him.
Favorite part of the story was when he asked his daughters to part with a few of their American girl dolls and they cried their eyes out! In the end He didnt make them part with their dolls.
The first half of the book is a memoir. So if you want to know about his life, which wasnt my initial interest in the book but thats what I got. No i wanted to know how he lives with less and on my journey to try a more minimalist lifestyle if one day 100 items could be in my future. I even got this as an audiobook from the library so no clutter!
Anyway he talks alot about his challenge and procrastination of said challenge so you think hes never actually going to do the thing the title claims but he gets there, eventually. This is not a guide or template maybe is blog has that. This is more about his life and how difficult it was having birthdays and Christmas because he thought people would shower him with gifts and ignore his challenge.
Throughout the second half you get a list of his 100 things and why he chose those items and what they mean to him.
Favorite part of the story was when he asked his daughters to part with a few of their American girl dolls and they cried their eyes out! In the end He didnt make them part with their dolls.
January 13, 2011
Motivating without being obnoxious. Even the overly Christian parts were palatable enough. As I am also in the middle of purging several lifetimes of inherited stuff this book encouraged me not to feel bad or guilty with what I want to let go, and also to be honest with myself about my real feelings towards some of my own stuff. I suppose I couldn't fully identify with some of the items the author chose to put on his 100 things list, but he emphasized enough the "to each his own" element. I liked the confirmation as to why my closet full of options felt so much more oppressive than my closet with just a couple of sure bets. Quality over quantity is the first step on the way forward. Also being cheap and being rational are acts that one can distinguish between.
January 13, 2011
The 100 Thing Challenge is a wonderful memoir of one man's response to America's consumer culture. In paring down his personal possessions to one hundred, Dave Bruno has a chance to reflect on the meaning of his things and how they interact and fail to interact with meaning in his life. It's an easy and engaging read. Dave does not preach and is not a zealot for his own methods. I, for one, do not interact with consumer culture in quite the same way he does. But his journey invited reflection on the role of stuff in my life (and the realization that purging and quiet are necessary) and that is a good thing.
April 25, 2011
I finished reading this book in a short time because it relates to several topics I am very passionate about. Consumerism, getting rid of clutter, setting goals and changing habits.
The author uses examples that appeal to me. The book made me rethink several past en planned purchases. Got rid of quite some stuff already!
My wife loves me for this. :-)
The author uses examples that appeal to me. The book made me rethink several past en planned purchases. Got rid of quite some stuff already!
My wife loves me for this. :-)
September 15, 2012
I totally agree and am on board with the idea of this challenge - to reduce and simplify our belongings and break the hold that stuff has on our lives. But the book itself? It felt pretty weak - like he was grasping at straws to have enough to write a full book out of it, rather than just a blog. Inspirational ideas, not such inspirational writing.
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