A Simpler Life

Details

Author: The School of Life
Published: 2022
Pages: 192

Started: March 03, 2025
Finished: March 12, 2025

Short Review

Before I read this book, if you'd asked me to describe the first thing that came to mind for the word minimalism, I'd probably have said something about a dude in jeans and a black sweater sitting on an Ikea couch in a barren room sipping tea from a white mug. After reading this book, I'd say: this book isn't about minimalism, so why are you asking.

(Good thing, too—that's not what I was hoping for.)

A couple of years ago, I wrote that simple isn't the opposite of complex; it's the absence of confusion.¹ Although not explicitly stated as such, A Simpler Life makes a similar case:

A ‘simple person’ is someone who speaks plainly about what they really want and who they really are. What makes simple people gratifying to be around isn’t that their intentions are always unproblematic for us; it’s that we know exactly what those intentions are from the start. Around simple, straightforward people, there is no need to second-guess, infer, decode, untangle, unscramble or translate. There are no sudden surprises.

In other words, a simple person isn't confusing.

Minimalism looks for simplicity in a particular kind of materialism. What it gets wrong—or, more accurately, overlooks—is that simplicity begins in our minds. The emphasis is misplaced. And it all begins with overcoming the fear of knowing who we really are and what we really want.

A Simpler Life is a guide to understanding how that fear manifests—in our relationships, social lives, lifestyle, at work, and in society—and how to overcome it.

It's well worth a read.

Notes

1. Simple is Not the Opposition of Complex. Published in Better Programming on Medium, 2023.