goodbye, things By Fumio Sasaki
One sentence summary: Fumio Sasaki shares how he personally made a journey from maximalism to minimalism, and explains how minimalism will help us stop creating a fake persona to display to the world and instead help us find true happiness.
Favorite quote: “Minimalism is not a competition. Don’t boast about how little you have. Don’t judge someone who has more than you.”
What I liked: I appreciated how the author interspersed practical minimizing tips like asking ourselves “If I were to somehow lose this, would I want to buy it again at full price?” with thought-provoking comments such as “I think the invention of the smartphone paved the way for all the minimalists we see around us today” and “If the functionality of products increased in line with their prices and if expensive cars could take us wherever we wanted at double or triple the speed, or if a down jacket that costs double what we now have offered double the warmth, why, money and objects could have made us all very happy”.
What I didn’t like: I found the level of minimalism in this book to be rather extreme. The author did point out that the quantity of “essential possessions” will vary from person to person, but honestly I’m not as comfortable as he seems to be with the idea of using the same towel as a bathroom towel and to dry my dishes. Also, the author describes how he got rid of even something that really brought him joy, but didn’t give any indication of why he felt the need to get rid of it. I think that having beautiful and joy-inspiring things in our homes is part of living the good life, and extreme minimalism can often get us addicted to the feeling of getting rid of things just to get rid of them. This does not improve our quality of life and can quickly become an unhealthy obsession.
Drink I would pair with this book: Green tea. All the zen vibes.
Sort of person I would recommend this book to: Young single guys. The author definitely speaks to the ambitions and habits of a young man living alone and how they view the world, and so his message would be most clearly transmitted to someone in that state. However, it's honestly an interesting read, and I would recommend it to anyone.
What I learned from reading this book: “Organizing is not minimizing”. Also, when there are earthquakes, minimalist people will be significantly safer than those with large heavy pieces of furniture.
How I felt about this book: I really appreciated the insight into extreme minimalism, and while the author’s home and style of living are not quite my cup of tea, I feel that there were many thought provoking ideas, helpful bits of information, and things to try.
Further reading it inspired: The beginning of the book is filled with photos of extreme minimalist homes and links to their blogs for further inspiration. (Although I do believe most of them are in Japanese).
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