Estuvo bien. ( )

I keep reading this book over and over again. Excellent book for anyone looking to lighten up their life. ( )

There's some useful advice in this book, but the vast majority of content isn't.

The good/interesting bits:
- Gets you thinking about consumerism and how it affects us
- Question your need or desire to collect things just for the sake of collecting them ("your home isn't a museum")
- Each piece of clutter you have lying around is part of an implicit to-do list, which is one of the reasons why too much stuff around us affects our mood and our focus negatively
- If there's something you can't let go of because of its emotional value, you can take a photo or otherwise save it digitally before getting rid of it

The bad bits:
- The quality of writing and research is, overall, very minimal. Both in terms of prose and in terms of use of sources, this book could have been written by an average high school student
- It's overly simplistic: Sasaki tells you to throw away everything that spark any passion in you (reminiscent of Mari Kondo's approach)
- Literally has a subchapter titled "Don't think, throw it away!"
- Contradicts itself by telling you at several points how minimalism is not about how little you possess or how much you throw away but rather an attitude towards your possessions and your consumption patterns. Then Sasaki showcases some minimalist cribs and they are all completely empty and even he himself brags for several pages about how he only needs 30min to move houses
- The author digresses to other topics, which is fine if you read it as a report of his personal experience/opinions, but in terms of structure and content, it's bad
- The author uncritically idolizes people like Bill Gates, Mahatma Gandhi, Albert Einstein, most of all, Steve Jobs, and yes, even Mark Zuckerberg, saying that they are minimalist because they are successful and/or rich
- Sasaki loves Apple products and he will let you know multiple times. When he gives us the short list of possessions of one of his minimalist idols, he tells you the brand and model name, complete with a one-sentence advertisement. There's no need to elaborate further, this is just off-putting in so many ways. ( )

The author takes minimalism to the extreme for his own life but doesn’t urge others to do the same. Lots of good information here, presented in clear, bite-sized nuggets. ( )

If you read this, I’d recommend not going with the audiobook. The book was probably a 2.5/3 star, but the narrator’s use of unnecessary accents (think Apu style voice for Gandhi quotes) made me drop this a ½ point on my own internal &arbitrary scale. ( )

Read it in one sitting! Great practical advice on how to embrace minimalism. ( )

Declutter today !

Love it, been downsizing on our own for the past 2 years. Lots of tips and new ways of viewing things in this book. Like the book says, I haven't regretted anything I discarded ( )

It certainly has given me a lot to think about when it comes to owning my things (or, as it would be, my possessions owning me). ( )

Based on the Audiobook version of: Goodbye Things, The new Japanese Minimalism - Fumio Sasaki

Small book, 250ish pages.. Fumio Sasaki was a collector of ‘things’. Nothing crazy, just the normal every day objects. Unlike Marie Kondo, Sasaki is just a normal dude who got overwhelmed. He started to feel as if the things he owned were part of his identity. This was seen in simple things such as where he would place a book, so that people who enter his home see the book, and add the recognition of it to their image of him.. that he is the kind of person who would read that book, even if he hadn’t. Sasaki decided to say Goodby [to his] Things.

This book is less of a guidebook, and more of a conversation about the relationship we have with items. it is less about sparking joy and more about utility. Can you use one thing more and remove the need for 3 other things. It does go into the emotional ties with objects, but not to the same depth as Kondo. You can almost feel the increase of fervor on the topic, and he physically states that once you let go of some things, it is easier to let go of more.. To that point, I was giddy to hear Sasaki admit that minimalism can be addictive, in the beginnings of the book, he describes how he started to go too far, how he reversed that trend, and how to interact with others who are not pursuing minimalism.

Funnily, as a minimalism book, it could have been shorter. The last fifth of the book recapped all of important points in his perspective on minimalism and how to be successful like a 50 page bulleted list. ( )

“Listen, life is short. It’s a shame to waste it because of some material object.”

A simple look into minimalism, explained as plainly with examples, that is easily understandable. I doubt I can be a minimalist but at least I’ve grasps that I shall not let material object rules me.

Full review on my blog:
http://www.sholee.net/2021/03/mpov-goodbye-things-new-japanese.html ( )

This book read like a compilation of blog posts, complete with listicles like “55 Things To Help You...” or “12 Reasons....”

Not particularly useful or helpful. Spends much of the time talking about the benefits of minimalism, and it feels like listening to your friend go on and on about how much better he feels since he went gluten free. ( )

This gentle, thought-provoking book is more than just a guide to decluttering your home. It's full of insights into how minimalism can transform the way we see ourselves, how we wish to present ourselves to the world and how we strive to attain happiness. Sasaki's writings offer a simple and practical application of the Zen Buddhist teaching of non-attachment. This book was a joy to read and I hope Sasaki one day writes another. ( )

The most thought-provoking book about minimalism that I’ve read so far. There are some tips that can be too extreme for some people, and for me. However, I enjoy his explanation on his ideas of minimalism lifestyle. It’s also because I need a method to keep myself from being a Tsundoku (buying too much book and not reading them). Just for the sake of making a personal library in which not all of the books in my room have been read. A suggestion when reading this, don’t mind too much the tips and trick. Absorb the detailed narration of his ideas, and you will find it more rewarding. ⁣
⁣
“Minimalism is not a goal. It is a method for individuals to find the things that are genuinely important to them.” ⁣

( )

I agreed with many of the principles and I enjoyed the way they were presented. Although I have been heading in a minimised direction for a while, I have a long way to go. Moving house would take me much, much longer than 30 minutes, way to set the bar high! Lol.
Thanks for making this available as an e-book so I don’t have to fill my shelf with another book.
( )

This was sitting at 3 stars at best and then I reached the chapter on weight loss. No thanks. ( )

Picked this up as a $1.99 audible book.

I have been a minimalist so sorts for quite a while. In the Marines I could pack up everything I owned into two sea bags. Married, a kid, college (books) and I kind of lost it. Now with a life I could pack into a midsize hatchback (with a bike rack) I am back.

Sasaki can physically pack up his life and move in 30 minutes. I can’t. He lives in a 200 square meter apartment. I like going to Ikea and have imagined I could be happy in one of their display micro apartments. Sasaki also ties personal happiness to minimalism in a logical discussion that is very believable. I do imagine it would be like a book on vegetarianism helping save the planet and the readers health to many people though. It is something many do not believe is natural. However, if the reader is curious and interested it is a great instructional book. ( )

This was a short book, but it could have been shorter. The author shares what he learned when he started getting rid of this things and in the process discovered the secret to happiness. I think he made some valid points, but restating them over and over doesn't make them more true. And getting rid of things worked for him but isn't necessarily the key to everyone resolving similar problems. Interesting but shallow. ( )

The act of discarding is a skill, the author says, and it’s a skill I have yet to discover with regard to books. This is a fitting last book for the year for me and probably something I should reread until I absorb his message that we all know but that’s worth reminding: things won’t make anyone happy. ( )

Goodbye, Things...was okay. I felt that it offered more of a personal narrative than a "how-to" on the road to minimalism. There were a few decent suggestions, but many were doable only for a single person living alone. Some of his recommendations simply aren't realistic for couples or families with children or elderly in the home. If that's what your looking for, you'll like this book, but be prepared for some repetition. It's not cringe-worthy, but noticeable. I would recommend just because it's a quick read. ( )

The book itself is decidedly mediocre (which it shares with many books on this topic). As a maximalist though, it's good to be reminded of the positives of minimalism from time to time. What bothered me most about the Audible edition was the narrators insistence on using an accent when reading epigraphs -- German for Einstein, something vaguely Indian for Ghandi. It's off putting. ( )

There are plenty of things I own that I could get rid of. I moved recently and there's nothing like a move to make me confront how many things I have, and wish I hadn't accumulated quite that much. As I work out my new storage situation, it's helpful to read books like this one to get me in the mood to declutter more. There were some good tips--nothing that I hadn't really heard before--but the lessons I want to take away are:

-Favor decluttering something over keeping it if I'm on the fence
-If I've thought about getting rid of something 5 times, I should just get rid of it
-Having fewer duplicates of things means that I treasure the one I have/my favorite one more
-"This might come in handy someday" items aren't that useful and I won't miss them or remember I have them
-Having fewer things overall makes it faster to clean and faster to move

That said, though, this book was much too long. It repeated itself and at times felt like an advertisement for Apple. The author venerates people like Steve Jobs and big tech companies without examining the negative sides of their behavior. It also feels like the author is trying to convince himself he's finally happy because he got rid of (almost) all of his possessions, but it sounds too pat to me. I'm not convinced that his empty room in his empty apartment is the way to true happiness and gratitude. Plus it takes a lot of privilege to live that way. You don't have to worry about being able to afford the thing you might have to buy in an emergency, or you have friends you could rely on the fill the gaps for you (hopefully they're not also extreme minimalists). If you're doing laundry for your few pieces of clothing every day, they will get worn out much more quickly and need to be replaced. Plus the time to wash things every day. (By hand? Or wasting a full load? Maybe washing machines are different in Japan.)

For me, I prefer having enough laundry to last me for at least 1.5 weeks so I don't have to do laundry too frequently, especially because each load now costs me 10 quarters. I like having plenty of backup toilet paper around so that I don't have to worry about running out, or medicine and food in the house so I can stay in if I wake up with a cold or a headache. I like having enough plates and silverware to have my friends come over--"hosting" them in a restaurant is not the same. Maybe I'm making excuses, and I literally could go without if I had to, but the author's lifestyle would come with way too much mental overhead for me. It reads like replacing one obsession (collecting things) with another (getting rid of things). ( )

The author practices what he preaches, that is for sure. He has become a minimalist, reducing his life to possessions he brags he can pack up and move to another living location within 20 minutes. He enumerates many advantages he sees in living in this manner -- reducing expenses, enhancing mental health, etc. -- and concludes with the ways in which he sees himself to have changed as a result of the minimalist lifestyle: (1) He finds he has more time. (2) He enjoys life more. (3) He has more freedom. (4) He no longer compares himself with others. (5) He worries less about how others perceive him. (6) He finds himself more engaged in the world around him. (7) He can focus better on himself and his life. (8) He saves money and cares more about the environment. (9) He feels healthier...and safer. (10) His interpersonal relationships have become deeper. (11) He finds he savors The Present Moment. (12) He feels true gratitude. -- I am happy for him. While there are a number of helpful 'tips' (he presents some 70 in all) for achieving the minimalist lifestyle, I confess he lost me the moment he shared that he got rid of ALL his books, his CDs, and his DVDs. (For someone like myself, this would well-nigh an impossible a thing to achieve.) I also had little sense of a spiritual life -- the author seems to focus exclusively on the material, how it impacts and effects our lives. Living horizontally is all very good -- and I hope I will take some of his insights to heart in my own life -- but one ignores the vertical aspects of human existence to one's own peril... In short, there is much here -- but there is so much more to life than is here! ( )

Good inspiration for my next clean out round! ( )

Not life-changing (I don't WANT to be so minimal!) but interesting. ( )

Post-Marie Kondō Tidying-Up

The Kondo method of discarding items as espoused in her book "The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up" can be summed up in a single sentence. If you hold an item in your hands and it doesn't spark joy, you can throw it away (or recycle, resell, upcycle etc. as other options).

Fumio Sasaki goes even further in "Goodbye, Things" and advocates for the discarding of the items that spark joy as well. This then becomes more like a manual for a zen monk-like existence but Sasaki has a lot of valid points to make which can still be of benefit to your outlook and habits.

There is a bit of cheating here as much of what Sasaki retains is still in digital form in his computer and smartphone. Even the "spark joy" items at least get a photograph made before they are actually removed.

I can't imagine an extended family with elder care needs and children & pet needs functioning with anything like this level of minimalism, but for a single person there is a lot of merit to the philosophy behind this. Worth a look at least if you are open to questioning your motives as to why you are collecting / saving things. ( )