Customer Reviews

Un-Jobbing: The Adult Liberation Handbook

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

... It takes a lot of guts to "drop out" in the 2000's and there is a lack of support toward doing it effectively. Fogler's book is in my library and I revisit it periodically for the support he gives toward "adult liberation."

The book is very different from Your Money or Your Life which advocates making the most money possible in the shortest amt. of time in order to retire early. If you have ever sold your soul in a mind-numbing capacity and felt like you wanted to die-- big bucks notwithstanding--Fogler's book is for you. He offers a gentler approach. Who cares about retirement if your life is pleasant enough and your p/t work keeps you vital? And in our get-ahead, consume-the-world culture, Fogler's advocacy of home-based-living is refreshing AND sustainable!

Specifics are absent because it is incumbent on each of us in our distinct circumstances to write our own script. Yes, this requires some thought! I left professional work behind for 20-hour a week employment in a food co-op and I turned my garage into a studio rental. Yes, I am fortunate enough to have a house in the first place, and a mortgage... . There *are* ways to accomplish the same lifestyle: roomates, caregiving in exchange for housing, an inexpensive community. There is no widespread prescription for how we individually accomplish Un-Jobbing, but Fogler's book gives us the nudge to do it.

If more people in the states adopted a lower-impact, simpler lifestyle, there would be plenty of p/t work for all of us, sustainable agriculture and production here at home, and fewer cars and airplanes [messing] up the environment.

Make fun if you want to, but I think Fogler is a visionary who generously offers his insights and support in his book.

If it's the first book you read on getting out of the job life that exists in the U.S., it's not a bad pick. The author has some interesting ideas but also leans on the book "Your Money or Your Life," which I have also read and am completely enthusiastic about. YMOYL also has a more concrete plan for getting people out, so I would rate this book as okay but not the best.

It's been over a year since I read Un-Jobbing and thanks to author Michael Fogler, I've made many improvements in my life. Fogler's ideas got me thinking about new ways to conserve my time, energy and material goods. He presented his ideas in a straightforward, nonjudgemental manner. My eyes were opened up to a new way of thinking and I was excited because I knew I wanted to make changes he so easily talked about. One part in particular has kept me thinking: Is it really healthy that our economy is "thriving" because of a high degree of consumer spending? In the past, I would have said, yes. More jobs, more new home and automobile purchases meant national prosperity. Now I believe that "less is best" and that all of the spending we Americans are accustomed to is not for the greater good of our communities. A valuable section of his book was the resources he cited. I read at least three of them and have been incorporating more vegetarian and healthy eating habits in my (and my family's) life. Un-Jobbing was well written and thought-provoking, with a touch of humor. The world certainly would be a much better place if people put into action his suggestions. Un-jobbing was one of my most important investments of the year. I'm looking forward to the next edition!

Don't underestimate this book. Fogler seems to offer some straightforward, common sense advice about frugal living, and indeed he does, but it's much much more than that. This book prods you into thinking about our consumer society and what's important in one's life, and not just from an ethereal, "puffy cloud" point of view. Rather, in gently helping the reader to examine his or her life, Fogler challenges us to look at what we do for work and play, and why. The answer might be a stunner. This book is not for people who like lots of toys. Rather, it is for those who want a fresh perspective on how to express our authentic selves in what we do, and how you can indeed change your life if you don't have that now. Pretty scary, but joyously liberating.

This book should be required reading for anyone who works for a living. Fogler is quite iconoclastic in questioning the "you are supposed to do this when you grow up" attitudes that are so prevalent in todays consumer society.

One does not have to agree with every idea in the book to realize many thought provoking ideas are presented. I especially found Fogler's honesty about his own job frustrations germaine---he's been where many "baby boomers" are. I predict this will become a "must read" among downshifters.

UN-JOBBING: THE ADULT LIBERATION HANDBOOK (Second Edition) acknowledges that, in many ways, jobs are literally robbing people of their true lives. "Making a Living" can turn out to be a long, quiet, debilitating death of the soul -- and even the body.

UN-JOBBING gives explanations about better understanding money and materialism, about focusing activities on returning one's gifts to the community, about orienting one's life around cooperation rather than competition, and about living more lightly on the planet. Among the topics covered are taxes, insurance, conscious personal financial organization, and the problem of thinking that economic "growth" is desirable.

UN-JOBBING contains a philosophical context, numerous practical suggestions, thumbnail sketches of people making un-jobbing work, and an annotated Appendix of helpful organizations and other books for further exploration.

After rambling on for nearly 35 pages about why he wrote this book; his "different" albeit rudimentary, ignorance-based discussion of world economics; why people have to work; and how much your job is costing you both economically and spiritually we finally get to the subject of the book: minimize your expenses so you won't have to spend so much time working. And, only make enough money to meet those meager expenses. The rest of the time you can goof off!

Although it has been touted as a "how-to book" it is anything but. It is more of a rambling, semi-coherent philosophy of "unjobbing." This sounds simple enough until we discover what the recommended ways to minimize expenses are: move into a smaller, less expensive house; adopt a cheaper, vegetarian lifestyle; drink only water; have only one car and minimize its use; cancel the newspaper, magazines, and cable TV; buy only second hand clothes; entertain at home rather than traveling or going to movies; and don't make enough money to pay income taxes (that will show them).

You should also cancel your life and health insurance because it's just another form of organized gambling (on a big payoff). Furthermore, according to Fogler, no one would need health insurance if were all vegetarians, got plenty of fresh air and exercise, didn't stress ourselves, and only did what makes us happy.

Fogler admits that the way he unjobs isn't for everyone (actually hardly anyone). Either Fogler is going to inherit a considerable amount of money, live off his wife's income, or work until he dies. In fact, the words "savings" or "retirement" never appear in the book (or the philosophy).

Fogler does make some good points (that have already been made in books he refers to) but, by the time he's through explaining a point you're so lost in his overuse of words you've probably forgotten what the central tenet of that section was. He admits that after several misstarts he decided to edit and publish the book himself. He should have listened to the second editor he contacted. Describing his writing style as convoluted and excessively verbose it putting it kindly. This book is a good example that anyone can get a book published these days.

Fogler begins his book by making statements such as, "This is a book with different ideas about how one 'pays the bills'...Our cultural obsession with jobs and consumption/production is literally consuming our lives, our relationships, our communities, and our larger societies...We as a society are suffering from terminal professionalism."

To all the people out there who hate their "9 to 5 to 65" jobs these words resonate for the same reason the country song "Take this job and shove it" became a top 40 hit. So how does he recommend solving the dilemma of needing to pay the bills and getting burned out on the job at the same time?

In a nutshell he recommends economizing your lifestyle so that you are not so dependent on or even independent from your job salary, i.e. have lower expenses instead of a higher income.

Sounds interesting right? Well, don't expect any practical specifics on how to do this. The author lists some books to read in the appendix to cover what he didn't. Fogler justifies this by saying he doesn't want to get specific because everyone's situation is different. So what does the book cover?

Fogler covers how terrible modern industrial work and consumerism is and how we're consuming our lives and our planet at an alarming rate. He goes into detail on the evils of taxes and how they are mostly (50%) used to support the military and how insurance companies are getting rich on our insecurities.

Fogler's ideas have a lot of holes in them. For example, he wants freedom to do as he pleases but then he (peace activitist) wants nothing to do with the military and paying any taxes to support war or the preparation for war. This sounds great except for the fact that in a democracy freedom comes at a cost and one of those costs is having the ability to protect our country and its' interests from the evil that men perpetuate. Idealism aside this is reality.

This book does present a much needed perspective on our consumer driven society. Can rampant capitalism go on forever? Probably not. Therefore some of us have to start being concerned about the long term consequences of our actions rather than the all consuming drive to make a profit. We might find that we're even happier in the process and this is the underlying message presented in the book.

I'll give the author credit for his enthusiasm and honesty. I liked hearing his personal story and I admire him for self publishing his book.

As I was going through a divorce there was a lot of pressure on me to get a "real Job". Problem is, a real job would have left very little energy for me to care for my toddler, work on my writing project and (imagine that!) enjoy life.

With the help of this book's suggestions I was able to manage just fine without a real job. I work two overnight a week and pay my (reduced) bills that way. It is a joy to wake up every morning for the luxury of time. When I had a career job I would come home very tired every night, had to rest on Saturday and run chores on Sunday.

Instead, today, I walked with my dogs on the beach, met a friend for lunch, read a book and took a nap. I like this life much better.

An infrequently interesting and short read.

Not much more than a single case history of the authors experiences and exposition of social values. The book has many disclaimers to glom over the fact that the book has no real broad application to the many different situations that the reader may be in.

A lot of the book is just an undetailed "Cliff Notes" verison of the book: "Your Money or Your Life". There isn't really enough information and even less new information to warrant the publication in book form.

I'd be very interested to read about the success of the author 20 years from now following this financial methodolgy.