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The Secret of How to Win Freedom from Clutter!
- GenresSelf Help
144 pages, Hardcover
First published October 24, 1985
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
January 7, 2014
It's ok, which is why I gave it 2 stars.
For those who were expecting a lot of detailed how-to information, I feel you'll be disappointed. The author spends most of the book, probably 90%, in a conversational style attempting to change the readers psychological opinion about clutter, or junk as he most typically puts it. He attempts to attack the barriers that people use to justify keeping the things that are unnecessarily hung on to, in order to free the mind & living space of the 'Junkee'. Depending on your resistance, this may be useful, yet it felt somewhat repetitive and ironically, like literary clutter. It does appear to be a respectable attempt to debunk as many objections as possible that anyone could have regarding throwing things away.
A couple of good points:
- His characterisation of active vs. inactive storage areas.
- Quick, functional tips such as: "If a system doesn't stand up to convenient use, it *will* fail"; "Decide; if it's unresolved, it's probably unnecessary".
- The importance of collecting memories, and not memorabilia.
- The short section on judging value (p.54) was well written.
I skim read it in a day, and I'm sure I'll find pieces of it useful in the future.
For those who were expecting a lot of detailed how-to information, I feel you'll be disappointed. The author spends most of the book, probably 90%, in a conversational style attempting to change the readers psychological opinion about clutter, or junk as he most typically puts it. He attempts to attack the barriers that people use to justify keeping the things that are unnecessarily hung on to, in order to free the mind & living space of the 'Junkee'. Depending on your resistance, this may be useful, yet it felt somewhat repetitive and ironically, like literary clutter. It does appear to be a respectable attempt to debunk as many objections as possible that anyone could have regarding throwing things away.
A couple of good points:
- His characterisation of active vs. inactive storage areas.
- Quick, functional tips such as: "If a system doesn't stand up to convenient use, it *will* fail"; "Decide; if it's unresolved, it's probably unnecessary".
- The importance of collecting memories, and not memorabilia.
- The short section on judging value (p.54) was well written.
I skim read it in a day, and I'm sure I'll find pieces of it useful in the future.
July 9, 2020
an idiot's guide to clearing clutter which looks at why and how it is created and how more productive a life can be without it. The book provides a light hearted approach but no staggering insights included. I did pass it on as soon as I had read it, so maybe it did help.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews