Minimalism

出版者:Mins Publishing

作者:Joshua Fields Millburn

页数:133

出版时间:2011-9-18

价格:0

装帧:Kindle Edition

isbn号码:9781936539451

具体描述

About the Book

Minimalism: Essential Essays is an edited collection of 29 of our favorite essays about living a more meaningful life with less stuff. This 133-page collection also contains a special forward by Joshua and Ryan, as well as two bonus essays you can’t find anywhere else.

The book is organized into seven interconnected themes:

Living in the Moment

Emotional Health

Growth

Contribution

Passion and Mission

Taking Action

Change and Experimentation

The order of this collection is deliberate: it is meant to be read from beginning to end. We believe doing so will result in a better overall experience—a different experience from reading our essays all over the web—connecting various concepts that might otherwise seem unconnected.

Two Bonus Essays

As a special thank you to our readers, we also included two unpublished essays in this collection: Dealing with Overwhelm and Focus On What’s Important. These two essays can’t be found anywhere else on the web.

About The Minimalists

A couple years ago, as we approached age 30, we had achieved everything that was supposed to make us happy: we had great six-figure jobs, nice cars, big houses with more bedrooms than inhabitants, lots of toys, and lots of stuff in general.

And yet with all that stuff, we knew we weren’t satisfied with our lives. We knew we weren’t truly happy. We discovered that working 70 to 80 hours a week for a corporation and buying even more stuff didn’t fill the void. In fact, it only brought us more debt and anxiety and fear and loneliness and guilt and overwhelm and paranoia and crippling depression.

What’s worse, we found out we didn’t have control of our time and thus didn’t control our own lives. So we took back control using the principles of minimalism to focus on what’s important in life—to focus on living meaningful lives.

Our Vision is to see more people live meaningful, happy, passionate, free lives.

Our Mission is to contribute to other people in meaningful ways and share the freedom that minimalism provides.

作者简介

http://www.theminimalists.com/

About Joshua Fields Millburn

Born in 1981, I came into this world at the tail end of Generation X. I recently turned 30. I used to lead a large group of people in the corporate world, but I left my six-figure job to pursue my passions. Now I’m a full-time writer. I’ve written two bestselling non-fiction books with Ryan Nicodemus: Minimalism: Essential Essays and Minimalism: Live a Meaningful Life. My first book of fiction, Falling While Sitting Down: Stories, recently reached #1 on Amazon’s Bestselling Short Stories list. And my first novel, As a Decade Fades, will be published in 2012. I also write essays with Ryan Nicodemus about minimalism and living a meaningful life with less stuff on this site. I think own less than 288 things (but I don’t actually count my stuff). I live in Dayton, Ohio. You can laugh at more photos of me here and connect with me on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, and LinkedIn. Read more about me on my personal fiction site.

Ryan’s Comments About Joshua

I’ve known Josh since the fifth grade. I’m younger by six months (note from Joshua: actually it’s less than four months, but who’s counting?), and as long as I’ve known him I’ve been the more attractive one (another note from Joshua: sadly, this is true). Even though I’m the one that’s always gotten the hotter girl (Joshua: this is not true though), we’ve managed to stay friends. I’m happy that Josh is my friend. Together, we have an ability to make anything happen when we put our minds to it. We bring out each other’s strengths, and we keep each other motivated. My favorite memory of Josh is the first time I saw him eat an entire 10 pack of White Castles at age 10 (Joshua: I don’t remember this, but I’ll take your word for it. I was a fat kid, after all). Oh, and he had a mullet until he was 12 years old (Joshua: unfortunately I can’t deny this fact, mainly because there are pictures to prove it).

About Ryan Nicodemus

Hi, my name is Ryan and I like sandwiches (among other things). I was born in 1981 in Knoxville, Tennessee. My family moved around a lot when I was young, but we eventually ended up in Ohio (by way of upstate New York) when I was eight. Three states in eight years. I could go on, but you probably don’t care. I have a ton of hobbies, like volleyball, snowboarding, wake boarding, etc. Professionally, I had it made in the corporate world. I was living “the corporate dream” until I was laid off unexpectedly. But that was one of the best things that ever happened to me. Now I’m living a meaningful life with less stuff and pursuing my passions. I’ve written two non-fiction books with Joshua Fields Millburn: Minimalism: Essential Essays and Minimalism: Live a Meaningful Life. If you like interesting/funny updates, follow me on Twitter and Google+.

Joshua’s Comments About Ryan

I’m fairly certain Ryan will not approve of any of the follow “facts” about his life. Ryan is the same age as me, although he was born a few months after I was (he looks much older than me though). We have nearly identical thought processes, but we are almost completely different people: I’m a bit OCD, Ryan is a bit ADD; I’m an introvert who loves time alone, Ryan is an extrovert who loves to be around people; I’m 6’2″, and Ryan is … well, he’s less than six-feet tall. We have a lot of similarities though: we both had difficult childhoods, we both know how to effectively lead people and successfully run a business, we are both tremendously passionate people. This will sound sentimental, but Ryan is the best person I know. He is habitually honest, caring, loving, and passionate. Oh, and he likes turtles and Wendy’s coffee and watching the evening news. I’m extremely grateful we’re friends.

目录信息

PART ONE: INTRODUCTION
About the Minimalists
Foreword
What Is Minimalism?
PART TWO: LIVING IN THE MOMENT
Be on the Mountain
Clear Your Damn Plate
PART THREE: EMOTIONAL HEALTH
On Happiness
Letting Go of Sentimental Items
Jealousy Is a Wasted Emotion
Dealing with Overwhelm (Unpublished)
Motion Creates Emotion
PART FOUR: GROWTH
Growth Through Minimalism
Minimalism Scares the Shit Out of Me
Minimalism Is Healthy: How I Lost 70 Pounds
30 Is Not the New 20
30 Life Lessons From 30 Years
PART FIVE: CONTRIBUTION
Giving Is Living
Establishing Deeper Connections with People
Adding Value
Minimalist Family: Start with Yourself
PART SIX: PASSION & MISSION
I Quit My Six-Figure Job to Pursure My Passions
Stop Living the Lie; Start Living the Life
Screw You, I Quit!
Minimalist Finances and Budgeting
PART SEVEN: TAKING ACTION
How to Make a Damn Decision
Never Leave the Scene of a Good Idea without Taking Action
Packing Party
PART EIGHT: CHANGE & EXPERIMENTATION
Stop Trying
Minimalist New Year Rsolution
You Are Not Your Khakis
Why I Don't Own a TV
Killing the Internet Is the Most Productive Thing I've Ever Done
Killing Time: Over Time I Got Rid of Time
Focus on What's Important (Unpublished)
· · · · · · (收起)

用户评价

这本书给我带来的最大震撼，是它对于**“身份认同”**的颠覆。我们常常通过我们拥有的东西来定义自己：我是个爱阅读的人，所以我需要一整面墙的书架；我是个成功人士，所以我需要名牌手表和西装。这本书挑战了这种将自我价值与物质积累挂钩的传统观念。作者用一系列发人深省的案例指出，真正的身份认同来自于我们**行动、创造和贡献**，而非我们占据了多少物理空间。我记得其中一个例子是关于收藏家的，他为了维护他的收藏品付出了巨大的心力，最终收藏品反而成了束缚他的枷锁。读到那里，我立刻想起了我那些出于“面子”而堆积在角落里的昂贵运动器材。这本书的语言风格非常沉稳有力，它不是在说教，而是在提供一个哲学框架，让我们重新审视“我是谁”这个核心问题。它鼓励我们将精力从“维护和管理资产”转移到“发展自我和体验世界”上来。这本书的结构清晰，逻辑严密，读起来非常流畅，让人忍不住一口气读完，然后立刻开始反思自己的生活轨迹。

我必须承认，在阅读这本书之前，我对极简生活抱持着一种“清贫”的刻板印象，认为那是一种牺牲品质、降低生活体验的做法。然而，这本书彻底纠正了我的偏见。它所推崇的，是一种**“高质量的少”**，而不是单纯的数量削减。作者强调，在你决定减少某物时，必须确保你保留下来的东西是**同类中最好的、最能满足你需求的**。比如，你不需要十件平庸的T恤，你只需要三件面料舒适、剪裁合身的优质T恤。这种对“精选”和“深度满意度”的追求，反而提升了日常生活的幸福感。它让我开始用“工匠精神”去选择我生活中必须留下的物品，无论是工具、家具还是一项技能。书中关于“消费的道德性”的部分也引人深思，它鼓励读者去关注物品的来源、制作过程以及它们对环境的影响，将极简主义上升到了一个更具社会责任感的层面。这本书读起来就像是与一位经验丰富的人生导师进行深入对话，充满了启发性和建设性的指导。

这本书，怎么说呢，读完之后，我感觉自己的生活好像被按下了“重置”键。它不是那种大道理一套一套的、让人听了觉得虚无缥缈的“心灵鸡汤”，而是非常扎实、手把手教你如何审视自己拥有的东西，并且毫不留情地做出取舍。最让我印象深刻的是它对于“价值”的重新定义。以前我总觉得，拥有得越多，代表我越成功，书里却清晰地指出了这种逻辑的陷阱。作者没有鼓吹你立刻把所有东西都扔掉，而是引导你去思考：**这个物品或习惯，它真正的功能是什么？它是否在积极地为我的生活增添价值，还是仅仅占据了空间和精力？** 比如，我清理我的衣柜时，以前总会因为“也许哪天会穿”而留下一些基本不合身的旧衣服，这本书提供了一个“一年内是否使用过”的简单过滤器，让我不再对过去做无谓的执念。它带来的改变是实实在在的，房间里少了杂乱，心里也空出了一块地方来呼吸。这种对物质的“断舍离”，最终导向的是精神上的轻盈感，仿佛卸下了好几副不必要的重担。我尤其喜欢它关于时间管理的章节，它将“待办事项”的精简提升到了一个新的维度，提醒我们，任务的减少比任务的优化更能带来效率的提升。

拿到这本书的时候，我其实是抱着一种怀疑态度的，毕竟“极简主义”这个概念已经被过度消费了，市场上充斥着大量肤浅的模仿品。然而，这本书的内容深度和广度超出了我的预期。它没有停留在表面的“清理桌面”或者“只保留黑白灰”，而是深入探讨了极简思维如何应用于**数字生活、人际关系乃至职业选择**。书中对于“信息过载”的分析尤其犀利，它用数据和清晰的逻辑说明了我们的大脑是如何被各种通知和无休止的资讯流耗尽的。我借鉴了它提出的“信息防火墙”概念，开始严格限制社交媒体的使用时间，效果立竿见影——我惊讶地发现，我多了好几个小时的专注时间去深度阅读或学习新技能。更令人称道的是，作者在倡导“少即是多”的同时，非常现实地处理了“必要性”与“欲望”之间的微妙界限。它承认生活需要一定的舒适和便利，关键在于**有意识地选择**哪些便利是值得保留的，哪些只是被营销制造出来的“假性需求”。这使得极简不再是一种苦行僧式的自我折磨，而是一种更贴合个体需求的、充满智慧的生活策略。

这本书的叙事方式非常巧妙，它没有采用那种冷冰冰的理论说教，而是大量穿插了作者本人在实践过程中遇到的困境、妥协以及最终获得的顿悟。这种真实感让作为读者的我感到非常亲近和被理解。特别是在处理“情感性物品”的部分，作者没有要求读者采取一刀切的方式，而是提供了一套成熟的情感处理流程，教我们如何带着感激之情去释放那些承载了过多回忆的物品，而不是陷入愧疚。这才是真正人性化的极简指南。它让我明白，极简不是一个终点，而是一个持续调整的过程，它允许我们在人生的不同阶段有不同的需求和侧重。通过这本书的指引，我开始有意识地为我的“未来自我”腾出空间——无论是身体上的空间、财务上的空间，还是精神上的带宽。阅读完后，我感觉自己不再是被动地被外界的物质洪流裹挟着走，而是重新掌握了生活的主导权，选择性地吸纳那些真正能滋养我的东西。这本书无疑是一部值得反复阅读，并在人生不同阶段都能带来新启发的工具书。

近期读过的关于极简主义的书里面写的最好，且文笔最好的一本。

20150131-20150201跳读扫了一遍，没什么收获

移除不良枷锁。去成长，和奉献。

极简主义。

移除不良枷锁。去成长，和奉献。