Editorial Review:
This ground breaking work goes beyond the books that tell you how to simplify your life. This book reveals what has happened in the lives of real people who have done it. Based on the author's three-year study of over 200 people from 40 states and eight countries, Choosing Simplicity is a delightful and rich blend of real-life profiles and guidelines on simplicity. Interwoven throughout the stories are the author'ss insights and lessons to guide those who want to explore simplicity and to sustain those who have already embarked on this journey. The book also includes a 16-page Resource Guide with reviews of 42 books on simplicity, information on related web sites, organizations, simplicity study circles, workshops, newsletters and magazines.
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Customer Reviews
Average Customer Rating: 
What is simplicity and how can each of us find it?  2008-06-19
The author's goal is to show that simplicity varies by person -- it is living life in harmony with our souls. It can be done anywhere. It can be done by making small lifestyle changes or radical ones such as living in a homeless shelter. No specific roadmaps are provided since what is right and the process of finding it is unique to each person.
The book includes the author's personal experience as well as experiences of others who have made lifestyle changes to make their lives more meaningful. Some people were successful with their first change, some had to make several attempts before finding the right life.
There is a strong resource guide that includes books, seminars, newsletters and organizations that encourage simplicity.
There is a lot of food for thought in this book. I have recommended it to several friends and expect to use it repeatedly.
Not a Practical or Inspiring Book  2008-03-27
The first thing you have to know is that this is not a series of deep, interesting stories of people who chose to live simply. This is the by-product of an amateur survey that the author conducted some time ago.
The author tried to squeeze so many testimonies in the book, that all of them end up being superficial. You are presented with stories of people who live on US$ 1000 a month, but you never see a budget, for example, just to know how such a wonder is possible. It would be nice to see an example of normal people who tried to ease their lives, and an effective explanation of how they did it, with numbers, explanations, etc.
Neither the book is poetic, since there is a lack of a literary tone (remember, this comes from a survey report). This way, it is hard to swallow all the stories of Zen and new age people. It seems that everybody in the book meditates and does tai chi. Sounds more like religious propaganda than anything else, since simplicity and oriental religions are very different things. Same thing with weird characters like one who calls himself officially "Q" and a couple who think we living on this Earth are like flies on a dog.
The breaks the author makes in the text, in the form of boxes where she puts her thoughts, are the worst part. They are a kind of "Seven Habits for Effective People" texts on a simple life, like planning to wake up one hour earlier so you can meditate and spend an afternoon recycling trash. This would be for me the opposite of simple living. It would be better to join a Buddhist monastery, with a vow of poverty and fixed hours for everything.
The bottom line is: if you are a person who lives a normal life, has kids, works, and just wants to simplify your life because you are too stressed and not enjoying the rat race, you will not get much inspiration or practical advice from this book.
Simple Lifestyle 2007-10-07
The classic book on this topic is "Your Life or Your Money." This book on "Choosing Simplicity" is a more current publication on how to revise your lifestyle to make it more meaningful and less stressfull and save money. It does not have the radical cost cutting measures as living in an old school bus as described in the "Tightwad Gazette." It is more of a middle class way to trim costs and live in a modest home in the suburbs.
Helpful book for those contemplating a new reality 2007-03-28
I find Linda's book very interesting and informative. The book is predominantly stories of people who have made changes towards a simpler (and hopefully more HAPPY) life.
The only thing I found sometimes quite frustrating is that often her examples are those who are from high-paying jobs to start with. For many of us who are less than doctors, lawyers, etc... it is hard to identify with those examples that Linda presents. The book is more about extremes - a highly paid doctor making the decision to cut back... etc....
I would have liked to see more stories of those who are customer service reps, retail workers, waiters/waitresses, etc who made the transition to a more simple and less material lifestyle.
Otherwise, the book is great! Lots of encouraging words to those of us who are realizing that life is not about the car you drive, the title of your job position, or the square footage of our McMansions....
simple life  2007-02-13
It has given me some things to think about. A lot of repetition tho..
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