If you have grown weary of the rat race and are looking for an alternative, Kate Carpenter’s book ENUFF is a good place to start. ENUFF is an acronym for Eliminate the Needless, Useless, Foolish and Frivolous and in it you will find a primer on minimalism and tips for simple living.
ENUFF – The Book
The book itself follows the tenets it teaches by not being stuffed full of pontification. It takes a direct and entertaining approach. In each chapter Carpenter explains her topic, explains the need, and offers a supportive anecdote, then uses great quotes from famous people, charts or illustrations, to make the point. Most chapters include an expanded reading list and a list of movies that embrace the topic of that chapter. Most of these outside resources are not about minimalism, they are popular books and movies about people and life, but they embody the simple living principle being discussed as a part of their story.
Along the way she makes some very interesting observations about the life most people live. One of my favorites discusses labor saving devices: why is it that in a home stuffed full of all the latest labor saving devices that are supposed to reduce our work load and save us time, we are still over worked and short on time? Her answer sat me back in my chair and really made me think.
ENUFF – The Technical
A soft-cover, comb bound book containing 76 pages. The text is well written; I encountered no editorial goofs. The book uses a lot of lay-out: using boxes to highlight certain text, simple illustrations and charts to “show” a topic more clearly than “telling” it with text would. When first flipping through the book, it looks very busy, but once settled in to read it, the whole thing comes together nicely and is not distracting. The only objection I came across is the over-abundance of fonts used. Most readers probably won’t notice this, being a publisher myself I did. Generally you want to keep the number of font faces and styles you use in a book to a minimum, (two fonts that look good together with italic and bold gives you eight choices) and use these consistently to create continuity in the book by using the same font size and style for each appearance of that element (Title, heading, sub-heading, etc.). Ms. Carpenter got a little font-happy and the result is distracting from her message.
Summary
Simple living is similar to religion in the fact that if your mind is not ready to receive it, it is foolishness to you “WHY in the world would I want to give away or sell most of the things I’ve worked so hard to hoard over the years?” If you are ready, and you want a gentle introduction to minimalist concepts and ways to simplify your life and allow yourself the freedom to enjoy your life now rather than later, get this book. ENUFF shows you the ropes in a clear, unpretentious, and entertaining manner and the included resources alone are invaluable. If you’re ready to take your first step away from the rat race, this will become a go-to resource you will want to keep on hand. If you have embraced the simple life and want a booster, the resources will give you fresh fuel for the fire.
The book, a sample, and more information, are available at: http://enuffstuff.info
I love this. I’m of this mindset lately and I’m going to get this book since your review. THanks Doug!
If you, like so many of us, are thinking that eliminating some of the “stuff” that we tend to accumulate, but just don’t know where to start, this is a great place to start, Toby! Thanks for dropping in.
Thanks for pointing out this book, Allan. I like to read about minimalism, in general. I like my “stuff” too much to get rid of it.
Does a mountain of board games, chess magazines and CDs count as stuff? I think of stuff as being clothes, icecream makers and the little metal spoon dish I bought for a quarter at a garage sale.
“Other People’s Mess” finds its way into my home and becomes my problem. That’s not what I had in mind when I thought of redistribution of wealth. LOL
Cheers,
Mitch
We all have to set our priorities, Mitch; what’s important to one may not seem so to another. I had a neighbor who was into that redistributing the wealth bit; he’d want to clean out his place, found some stuff that was still usable so he would come to give it to me. I think he figured we were poor because we don’t have piles of junk sitting around. That’s a mountain-folk thing.
Well written review, I have to admit I am curious to read the book. Thank you for the advice on font use. Learned something new – as always.
Thank you Nickey. Tis good of you to drop in again.