Customer Reviews

The 100 Thing Challenge: How I Got Rid of Almost Everything, Remade My Life, and Regained My Soul

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(12)
2 star:		(11)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

Dave Bruno hit the nail on the heart with his personal story of coming to a point where he felt so stuck in stuff that he had to take action. Although his "action" could be viewed as a bit extreme (I don't know if I could reduce my clothes alone to 100 things), there is something in here for everyone. Reading about the process he went through in his own head and heart is so much more valuable than your normal self help book that merely gives you steps to follow with no context and no recognition that it's not as easy as a few simple steps.

Dave takes you on a journey of self discovery, and his insight along the way will inspire and challenge any reader. Even if you don't ever do anything as extreme as the 100 Thing Challenge, you will take away some principles that will change the course of your life for the better.

This is a great book. I devoured this book in one sitting. At times I felt like Dave Bruno was inside my head. There are so many parallels with our journey to simplicity and minimalism.

It all hit home in Chapter 13 - "My Almost Perfect Wednesday". I have experienced a day similar where the stars aligned and everything was "perfect". I want more of these days and I think simplicity and minimalism is one of the keys.

This is a very well written book. An enjoyable read. I have been very encouraged.

I really wanted to like this book more than I did. A recent convert to minimalism and fairly familiar with the new wave of bloggers that have publicized the value of living simply (Everett Bogue, Colin Wright, etc), I was interested in hearing the perspective of the man that started it all with the 100 thing challenge.

In this book Dave Bruno chronicles his experience weaning down his personal possessions and living with 100 things for the duration of a year. An exercise in changing the mindset of consumerism, he weaves personal anecdotes both from childhood and during his adulthood in with his account of trying to get out of the mindset of buying.

I agree with his notion that Americans have fallen into the trap of thinking that one can buy happiness and fulfill long-held and dreams or aspirations through a cash register. I appreciated his insights about how the most beneficial thing he gained through the challenge was not feeling the pressure or inclination to buy every time he set foot in a store. I too have found this through pursuing his challenge. It's a welcome mindset change of not always wanting more.

The author seems like a perfectly nice guy with genuine notions about making the world a better place. I have nothing to say against him personally.

However, I found reading his book to be less than enjoyable at times. Basically the structure is this - 1) thinks up and events leading up to the challenge, 2) the logistics of conducting the challenge, 3) post-challenge thoughts. It feels like an overly drawn out premise with not enough content to justify the one hundred some-odd pages. Points were repeatedly reinforced to the point where I felt like every other word was "American-style consumerism" or "100 thing challenge guy". And his other supporting points seemed muddled in the process. The shifts between his point of view and the points of view of his family and friends seemed clunky at times. Although, his wife sounds like a mighty intelligent and lovely lady.

Part-biography, part-retelling of an event, and part-reflection, I feel like the book would have benefited from more stringent editing to really solidify and streamline his prose. I think the idea was an excellent one. The writing, however, could have been better. And I personally do not anticipate keeping his book on my list of 100 things.

Look, I call myself a minimalist, and like many minimalists we have a certain respect for the man "who started it all," but this book (which I read in a matter of a few hours) is a wordy, rambling mess. I don't mind the Christian overtones (as others have complained) so much as I dislike that he never seems to get to a point -- or if he does he doesn't stay there for very long. Truthfully, if you've followed his blog (and the multitude of articles that have come out about the project), then you probably know pretty much everything already. If you are interested in the man, buy the book, but if you are interested in the movement, just google "minimalist lifestyle" and you're on the road to better information then you will find here.

I bought this book along with "The Joy of Less" and glad I read "The Joy of Less" first. I believe if I had read this first, I might not have retained interest in minimalist living. The author has some descent anecdotes throughout the reading, but you have to sift through a lot of self-centered garbage to find it. He builds up his 100 thing challenge to epic proportions, only to let you down by barely explaining what living with the challenge was like. Most of the book is talking about completely unrelated topics or how hard it was to part with one object. There is hardly ANYTHING about actually living the 100 thing challenge. The whole book seemed very self-centered and pretentious. I did this, I did that, I, I, I!! Listening to him talk about his life was not enjoyable. You can tell he's the sort of person that enjoys talking about himself. I finished the book hoping there might be light at the end of the tunnel, but came away disappointed.

I picked up this book because I thought the premise was interesting: a man gives up everything except 100 items, and tries to make it through the year. Well, if that is what you are expecting from the book, then you will also be disappointed. When determining what he will keep for the year, he decides that anything that is part of the "family" is fair game (which literally includes just about everything in the house-- pots, pans, sheets, all of it!!), as well as anything he directly shares with his wife, etc. Oh, and all of his socks **combined** count as one item. All of his t-shirts **combined** count as one item. You following me here? He basically has decided to give up HARDLY ANYTHING!!!! What a joke. And his tone is so smug and self-satisfied like he has really doing something major here, yet all I could think of was what a fraudster. I couldn't even finish the book because I was so peeved that this wasn't the story I thought it was going to be. Don't get me wrong, in the first few pages he talks the talk fairly well, (smug tone aside), so it was a huge disappointment to find out that he wasn't really making the kind of sacrifice that I thought was going to be reflected here. This book is a big pat on the back to himself for all the spiritual work he had done figuring out who he really is, blah blah blah, and IMO is just a vanity piece. I can't even believe this book was published, considering how different the content is from the title.

The 100 Thing Challenge has a great message - quit buying useless "stuff" and start enjoying the "living" part of your life. However, the book itself is mediocre at best. While a great idea man, Mr. Munro is not a talented author. While a great idea, the 100 Thing Challenge is not suited to a book as much as it is a blog. My recommendation is that you definitely read his blog or see him speak, and then spend your time reading a better book (remember, enjoying the life you live is part of his message).

Purchasing the book comes with a bit of irony, of course. Should I add it to your "thing" list, or borrow someone else's copy? My thought at the time of purchase - if I was going to read it there was no need to deprive the author of his income stream. I don't regret making the purchase, I simply regret slogging through the entire thing.

As the book progresses, we are given more and more reasons why certain things "don't count". First of all, we find it's only "personal possessions". Then we find out that shared possessions don't count (he shares his bed with his wife so the bed doesn't count etc). Obviously plates etc don't count, as they are shared. He didn't want to get rid of his books so they counted as "one library". Underwear is all "one item"? So to say he only has 100 possessions is foolish. Personally I think 1000 items, where you count everything may have been a better way to go. But that wouldn't have sold as many books I guess.

To add insult to injury, he goes on to say how he sold his woodworking tools for the 100 thing challenge. Reading the section on it, his woodworking tools were part of his dream - of who he wanted to be. IMHO selling these so he can proudly say to people I have only 100 things (and sell his book) is in stark contrast to the ideals his book is trying to advocate.

I think the idea is admirable. I even like that he limited it to personal possessions - it makes it possible for those of us with families. But sorry, using a kitchen with a 12 piece dinner setting, and reading your huge collection of books, and sleeping in a bed that doesn't count, doesn't fit with the ethos for me. A disappointment.

I'm fascinated by - and very attracted to - simplifying one's life and one's possessions.

However, I borrowed this Kindle book from the library and am sick of it after the first 2 chapters. It's a narcissistic narrative that offers little to the reader. Should I be moved that he makes "big decisions" by repeatedly staring at himself in the mirror? Should I be impressed that he "reveals" his weakness of materialism, while he explains in depth how accomplished he is and how his audiobook company had so much more meaning than his father's technology company?

I'll try to keep on reading, but this really feels like an autobiography of Donald Trump pretending to show his softer side.

The 100-Thing Challenge is an interesting idea of one man's fight against creeping materialism. We have likely all heard that the more things you own, the more they own you. Not quite in Walden/Thoreau fashion, author Dave Bruno attempts to declutter and pare down his possessions to a "mere" 100 items. This notion ties into his spiritual quest to divest himself of materialism.

Much of the book recounts his methodology, what constitutes one `Thing" (his library, for example, he counts as ONE item). He appends to the book a section on how you can undertake your own 100-thing challenge.

My problem with the book is that, even though it weighs in at under 200 pages and is a quick read, the message could be conveyed in a fraction of the time. This is an idea or project that was stretched to make into a book. I felt little sense of expectation or adventure as he progressed along his project. At the end, I thought of the Peggy Lee song, "Is that all there is?"

This project would have made an apt 100-page challenge, but I think this book was over-written, given its very simple thesis.