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Less Is More: Embracing Simplicity for a Healthy Planet, a Caring Economy and Lasting Happiness
Less stuff, less stress - more freedom, more joy. Our obsessive pursuit of wealth isn't working-people are afraid and anxious; we're destroying the planet, undermining happiness, and clinging to an unsustainable economy. But there's another way. Less can be More. Throughout history wise people have argued that we need to live more simply-that only by limiting outer wealth can we have inner wealth. Less is More is a compelling collection of essays by people who have been writing about Simplicity for decades -including Jim Merkel, Bill McKibben, Duane Elgin, Juliet Schor, Ernest Callenbach, John de Graaf, and more. They bring us a new vision of Less: less stuff, less work, less stress, less debt. A life with Less becomes a life of More: more time, more satisfaction, more balance, more security. When we have too much, we savor nothing. When we choose less, we regain our life and can think and feel deeply. Ultimately, a life of less connects us with one true source of happiness: being part of a caring community. Less is More shows how to turn individual change into a movement that leads to policy changes in government and corporate behavior, work hours, the wealth gap and sustainability. It will appeal to those who want to take back their lives, their planet and their well-being.
288 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 2009
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 43 reviews
January 16, 2019
I would have liked to give this book five stars, but after a while the ideas in the essays became repetitive.
This book is a good starting point for someone who has never encountered the simple living movement.
This book is a good starting point for someone who has never encountered the simple living movement.
March 24, 2025
Some thoughtful and still too relevant stuff here, but more than a little sad that so much is so much worse 16 years after this came out
December 10, 2024
This book really did change my perspective and was inspiring. Some essays hit harder than others and some didn’t really hit but overall a pretty good variety. Also Seattle shout outs in it woooooo.
May 25, 2019
An interesting group of essays focusing on simplicity primarily for ecological reasons. I picked up good ideas for further reading.
May 27, 2025
In many ways I’m very into to the idea of simplicity (for example, I just spent quite a bit of money switching to a flip phone with no internet browser instead of my iPhone). But this book in particular did not work for me.
Overall, the book had a tendency to posit simplicity as a solution for everything, with no drawbacks. It’s better for the environment, it’s better for your happiness, it’s cheaper, it’s easy… what’s not to like? Which self-evidently cannot be true, given that the world has not taken up simplicity en masse. And it feels disingenuous and sales pitch-y.
There’s an especial problem here when it comes to the easiness part… Fixing your own clothes is hard. Not everyone is able to tend a garden. Not everyone has the startup capital needed to homestead. Spending less time on screens has been deeply a meaningful and good thing in my life and also, there are good parts about being more enmeshed with popular culture and social media that I’m missing out on. There are tradeoffs that this book ignores. And quite a few of the essays are ridiculously tone-deaf wrt class privilege.
On the environmental piece: I am not a degrowther. The book was published in 2009 and admittedly it was a different time then. Maybe back then it was a more reasonable argument. And I want to recognize that I have a tendency to discount the power of cultural change. But given the climate change timeline we’re on… even if you want to advocate for changing consumption habits, you need to at the very least invest most of your effort in other solutions.
What frustrates me is that there’s a perfectly fine argument for simplicity that doesn’t require broadening it so unreasonably far. “Those of us who have the resources to do so should slow down, use less stuff, and invest in what we have. There are tradeoffs and annoyances that come with this, but on balance will make your life better in a deeply meaningful way.” Why not make that argument?
Overall, the book had a tendency to posit simplicity as a solution for everything, with no drawbacks. It’s better for the environment, it’s better for your happiness, it’s cheaper, it’s easy… what’s not to like? Which self-evidently cannot be true, given that the world has not taken up simplicity en masse. And it feels disingenuous and sales pitch-y.
There’s an especial problem here when it comes to the easiness part… Fixing your own clothes is hard. Not everyone is able to tend a garden. Not everyone has the startup capital needed to homestead. Spending less time on screens has been deeply a meaningful and good thing in my life and also, there are good parts about being more enmeshed with popular culture and social media that I’m missing out on. There are tradeoffs that this book ignores. And quite a few of the essays are ridiculously tone-deaf wrt class privilege.
On the environmental piece: I am not a degrowther. The book was published in 2009 and admittedly it was a different time then. Maybe back then it was a more reasonable argument. And I want to recognize that I have a tendency to discount the power of cultural change. But given the climate change timeline we’re on… even if you want to advocate for changing consumption habits, you need to at the very least invest most of your effort in other solutions.
What frustrates me is that there’s a perfectly fine argument for simplicity that doesn’t require broadening it so unreasonably far. “Those of us who have the resources to do so should slow down, use less stuff, and invest in what we have. There are tradeoffs and annoyances that come with this, but on balance will make your life better in a deeply meaningful way.” Why not make that argument?
September 6, 2018
It was a very bad choice of mine to read such kind of book. I know 3 kids in my apartment who can write similar. Thing which came to my mind was, this book has been published for the sake of selling like those self help books, grammar books, magazines etc. The basic idea is to fool everyone with the ideas which everyone knows.
I don't recommend anyone to read this one. Rather read something else. If any enthusiast still wants to know what it is, Just read the title of the book, that's it!
I don't recommend anyone to read this one. Rather read something else. If any enthusiast still wants to know what it is, Just read the title of the book, that's it!
January 3, 2020
Too repetitive
First half of the book caught my attention and inspired me to make changes in my day to day life. Much of it my family of 7 already practices, much of it we don’t. We will continue living a life of Simplicity by subtracting unnecessary consumption from our day to day lives. I would say this book could have been summed up with only a few essays and still get the point across.
First half of the book caught my attention and inspired me to make changes in my day to day life. Much of it my family of 7 already practices, much of it we don’t. We will continue living a life of Simplicity by subtracting unnecessary consumption from our day to day lives. I would say this book could have been summed up with only a few essays and still get the point across.
August 27, 2018
Pretty disappointing, or at least not what I was looking for. Very smug liberal (and I say this is a RAGING liberal...), making assumptions about other people and their lifestyles, and giving very little useful info. The two stars are because there were a couple of the essays that had a few interesting points.
February 26, 2021
More like 3.5 stars. I am very interested in the topics this book covered. However, after a while the essays got pretty repetitive and I started getting bored. This book probably could’ve been much shorter and would’ve gotten the same messages across. Still, glad I read it and am looking forward to reading more on these topics.
September 27, 2021
Some of the short essays in here are really great (especially the ones towards the end on policies and the economy). Lots to think about and stimulate discussion within your household/friends/fam. But the first half of the book is filled with really forgettable essays that read like contributions to a Thoreau fan symposium.
March 30, 2024
This is a collection of essays by different writers. Most are written quite well, a few, not so much. But overall, it was a nice compilation of ideas about the Simplicity Movement, which is ongoing and more important than ever.
April 11, 2018
Not what I thought this book would be! It is set-up in the form of short essays an was pretty academic. It became too much for me so I didn't finish the book!
August 28, 2023
Didn’t agree to all, but overall really liked it. I liked how it talked about simplicity not just in everyday life minimalism level but in a whole social, political, systemic level. Simple life is not only about using less things but it’s also about quality time, mindfulness and sustainability.
September 10, 2013
On a larger scale.
Overall the books talks on simplicity in life actually breeds more efficiency. They talked on about resource limited countries such as Japan that the reason why they improved so much is because they improved on productivity and usage of their goods. Limiting wastage as possible.
On a minor scale:
Leading a simple life actually makes things easier to live your life, and you'll have less headache: is better to own as less as much possessions. Because with less possessions, you do not have to worry about maintenance, transportation, storage, breakage, lost and other mind throbbing matters with it. And not to mentioned time saved when you actually do not need to upkeep your possession.
Because end of the day, we would all would depart this earth, but who would take over would be our future generation: our kids and future grand kids, who would be the next wave of future habitats of earth.
So to encapsulate the points: you do not have to live life to fulfill the fashion/lifestyle facade, you could instead; live life to the fullest, by living life simple, because the best things in life can be free or affordable. And it's already out there.
Overall the books talks on simplicity in life actually breeds more efficiency. They talked on about resource limited countries such as Japan that the reason why they improved so much is because they improved on productivity and usage of their goods. Limiting wastage as possible.
On a minor scale:
Leading a simple life actually makes things easier to live your life, and you'll have less headache: is better to own as less as much possessions. Because with less possessions, you do not have to worry about maintenance, transportation, storage, breakage, lost and other mind throbbing matters with it. And not to mentioned time saved when you actually do not need to upkeep your possession.
Because end of the day, we would all would depart this earth, but who would take over would be our future generation: our kids and future grand kids, who would be the next wave of future habitats of earth.
So to encapsulate the points: you do not have to live life to fulfill the fashion/lifestyle facade, you could instead; live life to the fullest, by living life simple, because the best things in life can be free or affordable. And it's already out there.
December 3, 2011
Here is my first in what I hope will be a good stream of books about simplicity and minimizing. I've got to take this slow to give me time to think. And I've got to win over my family. On some things, I don't think it will be hard, but there will be challenges. I already gave away my full stack of Dr. Seuss books, something I didn't think I'd ever do. Life is going to change. We are going to have more of what we really want, more time traveling and doing things together and less, well THINGS.
Update: I checked this book out and then renewed it three times. I kept it in my van and pulled it out when I knew I'd have to wait for appointments etc. The book is set up so it works nicely this way as it is a set of essays.
This book is so peaceful. Reading it was almost like taking time to meditate.
Since less is more, rather than buying the book, I think I'll check it out again and hope for the luck I had last time to be able to keep it for so long. I'm going to read it again. I love the feeling it gives me.
Update: I checked this book out and then renewed it three times. I kept it in my van and pulled it out when I knew I'd have to wait for appointments etc. The book is set up so it works nicely this way as it is a set of essays.
This book is so peaceful. Reading it was almost like taking time to meditate.
Since less is more, rather than buying the book, I think I'll check it out again and hope for the luck I had last time to be able to keep it for so long. I'm going to read it again. I love the feeling it gives me.
April 7, 2013
A great collection of thoughtful and intelligent essays on the many important aspects of living a sustainable life. Many of these writers are members of the simplicity movement, but they all quickly debunk the idea that that movement is anything about eccentric lifestyles or an ascetic approach to life. These articles are holistic in the sense that they approach the problem from all its aspects: environmental, political, spiritual, social, economic and global. Still, far from being any kind of piecemeal or band-aid approach to the problems discussed, this book presents probably the deepest and most comprehensive look at the kinds of changes that are necessary to reverse the problems of global warming and environmental depletion that we are facing on our planet. This book is a very necessary and enlightening read focusing on real solutions and positive steps to create the deep changes that we can no longer deny are needed.
July 11, 2011
p 101/102
"enough" sounds to most of our ears as if it had the word "barely" just in front of it. For some reason "enough" never sounds like... enough.
"lagom" is a swedish word that has no direct equivalent in English, meaning "Just the right amount"
The only other language that has anything close is japanese, with a phrase meaning "I have exactly what I need"
p130
Ours is not the first generation to be morally blinded by building a lifetyle based upon energy from foreign shores. Slavery was the importation of cheap energy without regard to moral cost.
p9
Simple Living's four tenets - environmental stewardship, thoughtful consumption, community involvement and financial responsibility
"enough" sounds to most of our ears as if it had the word "barely" just in front of it. For some reason "enough" never sounds like... enough.
"lagom" is a swedish word that has no direct equivalent in English, meaning "Just the right amount"
The only other language that has anything close is japanese, with a phrase meaning "I have exactly what I need"
p130
Ours is not the first generation to be morally blinded by building a lifetyle based upon energy from foreign shores. Slavery was the importation of cheap energy without regard to moral cost.
p9
Simple Living's four tenets - environmental stewardship, thoughtful consumption, community involvement and financial responsibility
August 31, 2012
Collection of essays on Simplicity, which has been a buzz word for the last few decades, and a particular interest of mine. It didn't really provide any new information for me, but it was still a good read, if nothing else reinforcing the need to curb my over-consumption in order to leave behind a planet that's sustainable for future generations. I am aware that earth's lifespan is finite, but I want to do my part in not hastening its demise. I particularly liked the essay on "lagom", a Swedish word that has no literal translation to English, but closely means "just enough", not too much and not too little. I plan on asking myself more often, if what I'm doing, buying, taking is "lagom".
March 21, 2010
Interesting collection of short essays from various writers about choosing simplicity. I was expecting more in the way of concrete ideas on ways to choose simplicity as an individual, and while there are some, many of the essays were more about different philosophical aspects of simplicity. One of my favorites was "Wabi-Sabi Time" by Robyn Griggs Lawrence (editor of Natural Home magazine) about the ancient Japanese art of finding beauty in imperfect things. A few pieces I skipped over, but overall an enjoyable read.
February 11, 2012
In recent years I have been moving towards a simpler way of living. Not only through materialistic means but also socially and professionally. Less is More, spoke to me and my changing habits, ideas and consciousness. The most important thing that I took away is determining my "enough". Letting myself be aware not of my conscious choices not to consume more than I need but realizing that I have exactly what I need. And creating enjoyment out of my experiences and moments with family, friends, etc. Each essay could have been written in response to my every day thought.
January 10, 2013
Each chapter of this book was an article by a different author (some authors wrote more than one). Most of the articles were reprints. Instead of providing a wide diversity of perspectives, it seemed to me that there was a lot of repetition. Unfortunately, this book wasn't as practical as it sounds and a lot of it was downright boring. It was basically a lot of treatises with very little personalization. The most interesting chapter was the one on Wabi-sabi. Next time I'll know to look for a book on that alone.
January 18, 2010
A great variety of short essays from a broad number of people involved in the slow/simplicity movement. Thought provoking and challenging. It's comforting to see many of the thoughts and ideas that have been bumping around in my head lately appear in writing. An excellent read for our current economic, environmental and social state. Just a couple sample questions from the book that felt particularly timely to me. "When is enough enough?" "What's the economy for, anyway?"
January 31, 2012
I think it's finally time to take this off the currently reading list and put it on the didn't-finish shelf. Although I liked some of the essays, by the end of the book it just got too preachy and samey. The part I enjoyed the most were the essays where people talked about why and how they lived sustainably. I couldn't really get interested in the essays about necessary policies or politics. Overall, this book was okay, but it might be more enjoyable to read the essays as one-offs.
August 11, 2010
This is a collection of essays from people who have been writing about Simplicity and Sustainability for a long time. Since this is an interest of mine, I didn't learn anything new but it was interesting to read about different approaches to achieving Simplicity and striving for a more Sustainable lifestyle.
December 31, 2012
I am very interested in the Simplicity movement after reading this book, but the repetitiveness of the viewpoints (same authors featured again and again) and the lack of Oxford commas irked me. I plan to read some of the other books mentioned and to make a conscious effort to get more time and less stuff in my life.
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February 18, 2010This was not what I thought it was... It is a collection of different people's thoughts on simplicity, good thoughts, but wasn't what i had in mind... for myself other books on the subject are much more engaging.
April 5, 2010
There were a few essays that I found really interesting and thought provoking, but for the most part, I didn't find this book very engaging. It's not bad, it just didn't really give me any insight I haven't had from other similar subject matter.
December 31, 2012
I was surprised how many of the essays had an environmental focus as distinct from being simplicity-centric. Whilst this was interesting it was not what I was expecting, nor did I expect so many of them to be institutionally geared as opposed to stories of individuals' experiences.
May 22, 2013
Cultivating caring communities.
"If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don't have to worry about the right answers." Redefine your priorities.
A breath of fresh air in a world with an insatiable appetite.
"If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don't have to worry about the right answers." Redefine your priorities.
A breath of fresh air in a world with an insatiable appetite.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 43 reviews