Customer Reviews

The Circle of Simplicity: Return to the Good Life

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

This book provides a broad overview of some of the issues behind the Simplicity movement. The author, Cecile Andrews set up a number of Simplicity study circles near her home in the Northwest. This book reveals some of the factors that led her to become interested in Simplicity as well as her ideas of how Simplicity study circles might work. Much of the beginning of the book provides justification for adopting Simplicity. Andrews enumerates problems such as hyper-consumption, environmental degradation, and personal isolation. She also explores possible actions we could take to solve these problems, such as consciously building community with other people and the earth, finding ways to express our spirituality, and restructuring our economic system to make it more environmentally and socially friendly. In the last part of the book, she describes the idea of Simplicity study circles, the benefits that might be gained from participating in one, and how a study circle should operate. She also provides a 10-week study plan based on the earlier material in the book.

Although I agree with the ideas in this book, I found the book rather disappointing in content. Much of the discussion is either so personal as to be hard to generalize, or else a superficial summary of other more substantial texts. For example, Andrews frequently refers to findings of Juliet Schor; readers would have more material for discussion by reading Schor's works directly. Some of Andrews' suggestions for addressing problems are rather inappropriate. To draw attention to hyper-consumerism, she suggests surreptitiously clothes-pinning tags with messages like "You don't really need this, do you?" inside articles of clothing in shops. While I'm all for trying to get people to become more aware of their needless purchases, I don't think messing with the property of individual store owners is an acceptable way to go about the mission. Her suggestions for reforming our economic system would be great in an ideal state, but until we are run by a benevolent socialist dictator, I don't think they can realistically be put into action. It would be better to focus our efforts on goals that are conceivably achievable. Overall, while I found the topic of this book interesting, I think there are numerous other books on the topic of Simplicity that are better implemented, starting with Joe Dominguez and Vicki Robin's "Your Money or Your Life". It's hard to tell from this book if Andrews can take credit for originating Simplicity study groups such as those run by the Northwest Earth Institute. If so, she certainly deserves credit for her efforts in that area, but I don't think there's enough substantial material in this volume to use as background reading for an effective study group by itself.

Really disappointing book. This book would never persuade me to try voluntary simplicity (luckily I already came to it from other sources). Even though I wholeheartedly agree with many of Andrews' points, the book offers little support for her sweeping generalizations. Does she really believe that the clinically depressed could snap out of it by shopping at locally owned boutiques instead of the faceless mall? The entire book seems unfinished, full of author's notes and opinions but with few facts or well-constructed arguments. Where was her editor?

I found this book to be a fast read. The author is very good at giving a lot of information bites about a variety of issues, just enough to whet the appetite but not so much that the reader feels dragged down. While I did enjoy a lot of Cecile's thoughts about consumerism and the many ills of our modern society, I have to agree with some of the previous reviewers who pointed out that she makes a lot of random and unsupported statements throughout the book. But then I look at this book as less of a "how to" and more of a "here's how I did it, maybe you can too." In any case, I think she's on the right track and I applaud her for daring to be different -- she's obviously a lot happier because of her choices. Read this book for inspiration...and keep in mind that it's only one person's opinion.

I picked up this book after reading about it on the Simple Living network, which I found as an outgrowth of my interest in the work of the late Joe Dominguez and Vicki Robin and their work "Your Money or Your Life". Unlike Mr. Dominguez and Ms. Robin, who manage to lay out an actual plan for simple living, Ms. Andrews chooses to ramble and rail against consumerism. After reading Dominguez, this book is disjointed, preachy and quite frankly, bad. That's not so say that Ms. Andrews doesn't have some good ideas. She does, but as with so many anecdotal books, they're not the basis for changing your life in any significant way. If you live an environmentally sensitive life, Ms. Andrews will certainly make you feel good about yourself, but if your goal is to simplify your life, you could do better than spending time on this book.

Cecile does a good job of relating her personal simplicity journey. I especially enjoyed her insights about organized religion and how lacking it is in teaching us how to connect with our individual spiritual side. Some of her life experiences, as told, seem a bit trite, but it is her story. As a reader of many of these books I found the book to be 'fresh' in some of its ideas.

I almost fell out of bed when I reached the chapter espousing communism as a better way of life. Her premise being that it forces simplicity upon the participants thus saving them from a mis-guided life of the pursuit of riches. This chapter comes towards the end, I disagreed with her point of view so vehemently on this subject that I have to admit it did sour my overall enjoyment of the book. I found her view to be contradictory with personal choice.

Cecile writes in a very genuine voice. I found some good references in her book for further reading and research.

This book is one of the finest resources for someone contemplating a simpler lifestyle. The book succeeds on its strong points of which I found two. First, the philosophy of simplicity that is suggested is non-dogmatic. Recognizing that everyone starts from a different place and will find different solutions in their quest to simplify their lives. If you are expecting a one size fits all simplicity strategy, you won't find it here.

The second point, and the jewel of this book is the concept of "simplicity study circles" a Swedish derived process that brings people together to explore that age old form of human wisdom -- conversation with kindred spirits. I cant think of a better way to insure the long lasting success of your personal simplicity program than to have the support of other like minded people.

Buy this book and start to simplify your life today.

Feeling consumed by, rather than consuming, materialism? Too many trivial concerns cluttering your life? Ever feel like there's got to be a better way to live than the lifestyle mainstream society prescribes? Then you've got to check out Cecile Andrews's THE CIRCLE OF SIMPLCITY. It's more fun to read than WALDEN, more accessible than VOLUNTARY SIMPLICITY, and lots less holier-than-thou than Elaine St. James's plethora of "simple living" books. Andrews, in fact, seems like an old friend. Her writing style is immediately likeable and quite lucid. And I can assure you the book will change your life.

In this book, Andrews invites readers to explore volunteer simplicity along with her. She clearly states in the Introduction that she doesn't have all the answers and is not the Guru of Simplicity. Rather, she is a "fellow explorer" doing exactly what she sets out to do -- creating for us a thought-provoking exploration based on her own observations and experiences. I enjoyed the book very much and could relate to the author's experiences quite well. To me, writing about the human condition is far more meaningful when it is based on someone's deeply felt experience -- which is what this author does.

When I bought this book I thought it was about living a simpler life with less. I was completely wrong! This book is a jumble of unsupported general statements; the author's personal journey about her religious beliefs; and a plea to change society into what I would call utopian liberalism or eco-friendly communism. At one point the author even presents that communism was a better way to live (p.173-174, paperback). As a libertarian I found her suggestion that the rich steal from the poor and should be taxed to the point that they no longer strive to be rich completely ludicrous. On the contrary, the poor steal from the rich through transfer payments (taxes). Early in the book the author argues that shopping at places like Costco is bad because it encourages you to buy more than you need. Later on, the author argues that you should buy things in bulk because it uses less packaging making it environmentally friendly. What irony! The saddest thing about this book is that I let it steal a weekend out of my life by reading it.

This book is well written in my opinion, and most of the points are well made. I'll think twice before my next trip to a department store. I hate shopping anyway. I'd rather read a good book (like hers) or strive to write one.

That said, I have to confess that this book got my political dander up. A lot of immigrants to America went through trouble to get away from political systems such as the author seems to favor. Perhaps nations with heavy taxation are more benevolent than those where people can keep more of the money they earn; I don't know how benevolence is measured, but it seems that the author is right about this. But is there a causal relation? I doubt it. Will raising our taxes make us more good-hearted? I doubt it.

I am motivated to creativity because of the prospect that I can earn money from writing. I hope someday to be well-off enough to make donations to charities and causes of my own choice. All too often, governments waste the money they collect from their working people, or spend it in ways that damage the environment on a larger scale than any corporation ever did. (Witness what happened in parts of eastern Europe during the socialist experiments of the 1900s.)

I agree with the author that the obsessive pursuit of vast wealth, with complete disregard for everything else, would not take place in a more enlightened society. But old-school socialism was a failure. It did not become Utopia. The new bosses proved no better than the old, and some would say they were worse.

Simplicity is great! Thoreau said, "Simplify, simplify!" Good idea! But didn't Thoreau go to jail for refusal to pay taxes? I've read his work, and I suspect he'd be a libertarian, not a socialist, if he were alive today. Governments, too, can simplify, and they can start by letting people mind their own business and not taking their money and using it to tell them how to live ...

Overall, I recommend this book, because it really got me thinking. That, in itself, is good enough to qualify a work as "good" by my standard, whether I agree with the author or not.