Timeless Simplicity: Creative Living in a Consumer Society [Paperback]

John Lane (Author), Clifford Harper (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 2002

This is a book about simplicity, not destitution, not parsimoniousness, not self-denial, but the restoration of wealth in the midst of an afflence in which we are starving the spirit. It is a book about the advantages of living a less cluttered, stressful life than that which has become the norm in the overcrowded and manic-paced consuming nations. It is a book that has nothing to do with subsistence living on the Lake Isle of Innisfree, but everything to do with having less and enjoying more, enjoying time to do the work you love, enjoying time to spend with your family, enjoying time to pursue creative projects, enjoying time for good eating, enjoying time just to be.

Editorial Reviews

Review

In keeping with its title, this is a straightforward book, beautifully illustrated, well ordered, with clear directions and useful references. What is more, it is written without cant, and, most importantly, not by a zealot but by a practitioner. Only someone who has sought to practise the simple life would know its detail, the small matters that make it so. -- David Cadman Resurgence

About the Author

John Lane is a painter, author and educator. He was Chairman of the Dartington Hall Trust, founding director of the Beaford Arts Centre, and instrumental in the creation of Schumacher College. His books include The Living Tree: Art and the Sacred, A Snake's Tail Full of Ants: Art, Ecology and Consciousness and Timeless Simplicity: Creative Living in a Consumer Society (all published by Green Books).

Product Details

• Paperback: 107 pages
• Publisher: Green Books (February 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 190399800X
• ISBN-13: 978-1903998007
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,269,375 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Simply a Great Book, July 28, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Timeless Simplicity: Creative Living in a Consumer Society (Paperback)

This is a very good book decribing the need for a simpler lifestyle for the benifit of the individual as well as the environment. The author has a couple chapters devoted to practlical ways of living that are benifical to our spirits, our relationships, our health and our environment. Lots of quotes and references to other writings on the subject.

9 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Dissappointing, March 28, 2008

By 

J. Cravens (Portland, Oregon (or there abouts)) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Timeless Simplicity: Creative Living in a Consumer Society (Paperback)

This book talks a great deal about the "evils" of the consumer society, "mass conformity", self-indulgence, etc., but in the end, it offers only revisionist history about the way things never were and advice based on platitudes and repeated encouragement to bake your own bread (literally - he's not trying to be figurative). It's filled with unrealistic descriptions of "simpler" times, such as the author's description of the noble savage: simple indigenous communities unspoiled by the evils of modern times -- which any historian will tell you never existed. His lauding of "one woman, uneducated, poor, a full-time housewife and mother" being somehow "perfect" smacks of sexism; that woman also often died in child birth at a young age and had no one to turn to when victimized by the men in her family. His idea of "an acceptance -- a total acceptance -- of things as they are" is, ofcourse, frightening; thank goodness people like Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr. didn't follow that model. There are far better books on the subject of simplifying your life that won't leave you feeling talked down to, that don't warp history to make their points, and that don't encourage you to accept things the way they are, including injustice.