Customer Reviews

Margin: Restoring Emotional, Physical, Financial, and Time Reserves to Overloaded Lives

5 star:		(31)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I recently realized that every time I see someone on television sleeping in a hammock, I'm envious. It just looks so appealing! Well, I think I know why. It's because people who have time to nap in a hammock, have margin. Today I finished Dr. Richard Swenson's book of that title, which rates as one of the most important books on life-management that I've read. Swenson is convinced (and I think he's right) that we live in an unprecedented age where the pace and complexity of life conspire to produce exponential levels of stress and overload. Margin is the space in various areas of our lives - physical, emotional, time, financial - that can protect us from overload. When margin decreases, stress increases and burn-out is the end result.

Swenson spends the first part of the book discussing the cultural changes and societal reasons that account for the pain of stress and overload. This is his diagnosis of our pain. Much of this material reads like a sociology textbook and might even be boring to some people, but that should not put one off from reading the book.

The second section, discussing the presription for overloaded lives is really the heart of the book, and easily make the book worth reading. The prescription is margin - margin in physical energy, emotional energy, time, and finances. We don't have margin because we overwork, overcommit, overspend and overeat. We spend too many hours at the office, accumulate too much debt, spend too little time in silence and solitude, neglect nutrition and exercise and rest, and fail to nurture important relationships. What we need is a strict regimen of lifestyle changes which will help us cultivate margin in our bodies, our souls, our calendars, and our budgets. This calls for discipline and intentionality. These chapaters are especially helpful in providing wise strategies to help us along the way. I've read a good bit of this material twice.

The third part of the book deals with the result of building margin into our lives, namely health - health measured in contentment, balance, rest, and relationships. The chapters on contentment and balance were especially helpful to me, partly because they probe deeper than behavioral issues into the motivations of the heart. Other positives in the book include Swenson's extensive quotations from sociological and cultural researchers, his personal anecdotes, and his meditation on Scripture. Some weaknesses are an occasionally corny writing style, some weak interpretations of Scripture, and perhaps assuming too much from less than scientific research. But these are mild criticisms at best and do not really affect the overall message or usefulness of the book.

As a whole, this is a commendable book and one that is needed by most of the people I know. Almost everyone is too busy, stressed, tired, and overloaded. I certainly have been. And I intend to make some changes. One of those just may be purchasing a hammock for my back yard, so that I can enjoy some afternoon naps every now and then while my son plays in his sandbox nearby.

Margin is a crucial book for any serious Christian. In a day of pushing the envelope, Swenson urges us to leave room ("margin") for the unexpected (and to reduce stress).

Many believers schedule their time to the hilt, live within their credit limit rather than their means, and displace time with family and God with good things, but not the most important things.

Although Swenson, himself an M.D., practices what he preaches, he does perhaps go a little overboard in some areas (resisting buying a computer, wearing a watch, etc.). But, all in all, he argues for balance and sanity to replace the rat race many Christians join. He gives the reader permission to be counter-cultural. He asks us if we could imagine Jesus leaving the Last Supper because His pager went off!

As a pastor of 24 years, I have used this book to help me manage my own life. I have shared its Biblical insights from the pulpit and used this material extensively in my counseling ministry. This is truly a "must read" book. It is a life changer.

Swenson's book is an excellent and timely read for the person who wants to learn how to develop more time and space for a fruitful life.

The book's layout is orderly and the text is easily understood - thankfully, Swenson does not attempt to impress the reader with technical jargon and knows how to address his audience. Swenson organizes the book into three main parts: 1) The problem (pain), 2) the prescription (margin), and 3) the prognosis (health).

As mentioned earlier, Swenson describes the problem of pain and the prescription of margin in layman terms. Swenson describes how we can either place undue pressure on ourselves or allow society to dictate the unrealistic expectations we are expected to live up to today. Especially helpful were the prescriptions Swenson prescribes for dealing with today's insane rat race. Particulary compelling were the suggestions for balance, rest, simplicity, and healthy relationships.

All in all, an excellent read. The only reason I did not give it 5 stars was because I believe (in my humble opinion) that the author spent a little too much time describing the problem - he did not get into a comprehensive definition and description of the term "margin" until 1/3 of the way into the book. Despite this minor complaint, I highly recommend this book. The Christian will be encouraged to just rest in the love and acceptance of Jesus while the unbeliever will be encouraged to consider life is more than just career success and busy activities.

This book made me quit a daily radio show that I loved -- and I couldn't be happier. I read "Margin" before having the author on as a guest. Reading through his description of "marginless living," I felt like he'd been spying on me. I was editing a newspaper, running a news service, doing a radio show, taking freelance jobs, and going to grad school. Something had to give, and too often it was my health and my family. "Margin" helped me learn to say no to good things that just don't fit into my life. I still struggle with "overload," but this book has given me practical tools to deal with the problem. Swenson's clear diagnosis of the problem of overload, combined with no-nonsense solutions, is just the cure for our overloaded times.

This book opens one eyes to the frantic futile pace at which we are living. Not only does it accurately describe the problem, but there are excellent prescriptions given for how to get out of the rat race and the many traps we have set in our lives.

After reading Dr. Swenson's life-challenging book, our family did what he did and left life in town to move to the Backside of Nowhere. With all of our "good" activities pulling us in 20 different directions, we had to do something to regain control of our time, our life and our environment.

That was in 1998 and we haven't regretted it once.

The fruit of this move is becoming evident in our children. They have the time and space they need to mature responsibly and this mom now has the time to live life with them in an incredible environment. We call it Paradise.

We've built learning centers throughout our log home, all through the woods and even in the creek to create a natural sense of adventure because we want our children to enjoy learning while they are young.

Dr. Swenson's Margin, and God's provision, gave us this life.

As its subtitle suggests, MARGIN is a holistic treatment of the modern day malady called overload. Written by Richard A. Swenson, M.D., a former practicing physician, the book is the result of more than a decade of professional research and personal experience.

Following several years as an associate professor at a state medical school, Swenson now writes and speaks full-time as an expert on the intersection of faith, health, culture and the future. And his insightful analysis here does not disappoint, as he succeeds brilliantly at bridging the gap between the sacred and the secular, the timeless and the temporal.

Defining margin as the space that exists between people and their personal limits, Swenson suggests it is has largely been squeezed out of our lives and become yet another casualty of the harried and hurried times in which we live. Yet margin must be restored if we are to experience health through contentment, simplicity, balance and rest, he says.

From the opening chapter titled "Marginless Living," Swenson describes the decimation left in the wake of living with chronic overload. From our overstressed teachers and overworked farmers to overburdened pastors and overwhelmed parents, society at large has succumbed to the pressures of progress.

And, according to Swenson, the type of overload we are experiencing is a relatively new phenomenon, exponential in growth and unprecedented in scope. Fueled by the power of technology, living today has accelerated to warp speed, with many people yearning for a rest stop, if not an exit ramp, off the frenetic freeway of life.

"Progress's biggest failure has been its inability to nurture and protect right relationships," writes Swenson. And he suggests that the remedy is a return to a safer and saner lifestyle, one where people are thought of as priorities instead of problems, time is considered an ally rather than an enemy, and material wealth is less about making money than it is about living meaningfully.

While the price of progress can exact a painful toll, through the establishment of healthy limits, such as learning how to say no to over-commitment, Swenson advocates that a renewed emphasis on voluntary simplicity not only enhances one's standard of living, it is fast becoming a necessity for survival.

Swenson's frequent use of statistics, figures and graphs --- especially as he diagnoses the symptom of pain caused by overload --- can itself be somewhat burdensome at times, but it is well worth wading through the material to get to the marrow of his message: the prescription of margin for a prognosis of health.

As proven and prescribed by Dr. Swenson, MARGIN acts as a timely antidote to what ails modern man. And with sales well into six figures since its initial release in 1992, the book has earned its well-deserved place among contemporary Christian classics. Explaining complex change in context is Swenson's calling card, and his cure for it is a cause for celebration. Consider it a house call from heaven with hope and help for the soul.

--- Reviewed by Sean Fowlds

Margin was one of the best books I have ever read. I have read it three times so far. It teaches you how to live life in a manner that seems to me the way Christ meant for us to live. Most of us are living life the way "the world" says we should. The book, Margin, makes you step back and review your life and reevaluate your priorities. I think it can help people reduce their stress and get much more enjoyment out of life. It teaches a simple life style, and wanting less, not more. If you read these reviews, Dr. Swenson, I just want to say thank you. I am buying two more copies for stressed out friends.

Dr. Swenson asks us if God were to ask us to do something, could we say yes? That was quite an eye opener for me! Who ever thought about being available for God? This book did change my life and made me refocus on my priorities. I think our society equates busyness with productivity. Not necessarily true. To the point, the author walks what he talks and that meant a lot to me. If you are not happy with your present lot - this book could be a great help!

This book really covers that sense of urgency that we Americans feel today. Dr. Swenson offers great suggestions for acknowledging the lack of margin in our lives and learning how to restore it. A must read, but follow it up with "The Overload Syndrome"!