To-Do List: From Buying Milk to Finding a Soul Mate, What Our Lists Reveal About Us (Paperback)

by Sasha Cagen (Author)
Key Phrases: happiness lists, Sasha Cagen, To-Do List, New York (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

What Do Your Lists Say About You?

More and more, we are a nation of list-makers, from grocery lists, New Year's resolutions, and things to do before we die to DVDs to rent and people we've kissed. In To-Do List (based on the popular blog of the same name, todolistblog.com) Sasha Cagen celebrates the humble to-do list, exploring the ways these scribbled agendas reflect our personalities and passions.

To-Do List is both a celebration of lists and a peek at the lists that others create. Broken down by subjects like "Daily Lists" to "Sex Lists," it's a fascinating collection of lists from everyday people to the well-known:

1. Novelist Nick Hornby's list of desert island discs

2. A therapist's secret fears ("I HATE having to think about clients in relation to my hair or clothes")

3. A shopping list from chef Alice Waters of Chez Panisse

4. A woman's accomplishments before her thirtieth birthday ("Hot air ballooned over the Serengeti," "Danced on a table in Vegas")

5. Qualities one man is looking for in a future wife, including "Chews with her mouth shut" and "Will let me give my first son the middle name of 'Jacob'"

With each list, Cagen offers the story behind it and a prompt for readers to compare notes and take their own stab at a similar list.

Voyeuristic and interactive, To-Do List will show you just how much -- and what -- your lists say about you.

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Fireside (November 6, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1416534695
• ISBN-13: 978-1416534693
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #291,404 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars More like, "What do these lists reveal about these people?", January 6, 2008

By	A reader - See all my reviews

I bought this book on a whim. I should have looked at it in the bookstore, because otherwise I wouldn't have purchased it otherwise.

While the lists in here are interesting and makes me think about the lists I make, I can't say I really cared to constantly read someone else's list about his or her relationships, what to do next, what they want in life, etc. I would have preferred an expanded explanation that the author has prior to each section. I had thought there might be an examination of handwriting, numbered lists versus not numbered, how list writers phrase or order their items, etc.

It is perhaps a little too voyeuristic for me. It was my fault for not looking at it in the bookstore. I urge you not to make the same mistake and to physically flip through it if you want to buy it.

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Watch the video!, November 19, 2007

By	Sasha Cagen - See all my reviews

Length:: 1:54 Mins

Hi! I'm Sasha Cagen, the author! Here's a two-minute trailer I made to explain why I've spent seven years collecting to-do lists and what you can find in the book. Hope you enjoy, let me know what you think. . . And as always, send me your (handwritten) lists at http://www.todolistblog.blogspot.com.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Add This One to the To-Read List, August 10, 2008

By	Deb (Palo Alto, CA) - See all my reviews

A List of 10 Reasons To Read This Book:
1. A voyeuristic slice into the scribbled lives of "the listmakers of America (and the world)" and the items on their minds
2. An entertaining collection of hand-written (on whatever paper was handy at the time) to-do lists from 100 real-live listmakers
3. Revealing, insightful, or just plain interesting commentary on each list (by the original listmaker)
4. The challenge of deciphering the listmaker's (unedited!) scribbles, which in some cases are decorated with fun doodles and unintended(?)/unidentifiable spills
5. Insight into the power of list-making--from helping us feel a bit of control in an otherwise-unlistable, chaotic world to giving words to the (often nagging) mumbo-jumbo circulating our minds
6. Endless DIY list ideas for creating your own lists, including "Places Where I Would Like To Get Frisky" "Foods I Want to Try" "My Qualities That Someone Else Will Appreciate" "A Sexual To-Do List for My Partner" "Thoughts to Remove from My Head" and "Ten Reasons to Be Happy Today"
7. "Garret Love" (a new standard of love line-by-line'd on p. 118)
8. Sasha's clever one-line comments following each list
9. Validation that you are not alone in your list-making obsession, uh, I mean tendency
10. Being able to cross off one item in your "Books to Read" list upon completion of this book