The Freedom Manifesto

Feb 13, 2008 Chris rated it 4 of 5 stars

Murray Bookchin once made a distinction between "social anarchism' and "lifestyle anarchism," and if we adopt his conceptual scheme this work definitely falls in the latter. It is, after all, catalogued in the self-help section rather than the social science section. This is a lively, wide-ranging and anarchic assault on modern Western lifestyles and a plea to adopt the wisdom of our medieval forebears, who if Hodgkinson is to be believed, enjoyed a level of freedom and leisure that can scarcely...more Murray Bookchin once made a distinction between "social anarchism' and "lifestyle anarchism," and if we adopt his conceptual scheme this work definitely falls in the latter. It is, after all, catalogued in the self-help section rather than the social science section. This is a lively, wide-ranging and anarchic assault on modern Western lifestyles and a plea to adopt the wisdom of our medieval forebears, who if Hodgkinson is to be believed, enjoyed a level of freedom and leisure that can scarcely be dreamed of by today's office drones.

One of the reasons why I enjoyed this book is that it is so peculiarly English. Hodgkinson makes his case largely through extensive references to the heavy hitters in the English canon: Johnson, Lawrence, Russell, Wilde, the Shelleys, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Blake and Godwin just to name a few. Late 1970s and early 1980s English punk rock, as exemplified by the Sex Pistols and CRASS, are major influences on his argumnent and his brand of backward looking, almost conservative radicalism is in the vein of William Cobbett, William Morris and George Orwell (and he quotes all of these chaps extensively as well). While his use of his texts is not very deep and indeed rather superficial at times, it's a pleasure to come across so many great thinkers and writers in one book, especially when they are encouraging you to quit your job, drink, have guilt-free sex, start a vegetable garden and engage in work that actually interests you.

The book does possess some serious shortcomings, however. Hodgkinson's depiction of medieval times is rather idealized and almost completely overlooks its more nasty and brutish aspects. His advocacy of completely abandoning any attempt to intervene in the political system does not sit well with me because I think it is a mistake to hand the state over to the most conservative and reactionary elements of society. Unlike the author, I don't think that it is feasible for everyone to completely reject large-scale economic organization to become yeoman farmers. Political and economic struggle in order to secure the basics of life for all is still more necessary than ever, and in order to secure increased freedom and leisure for all they need to be institutionalized in some sort. And there's no reason why the provision of social welfare by the state cannot be decentralized in some fashion. But then again that's part of why I think anarchism is far more effective as a personal ethic than a political program, and that's why the sections of the book that deal with ways in which to improve your everyday life are far better than his sections on government and class. It's also kind of strange to hear a man who is perhaps best known for running a magazine (the UK-based Idler) telling his readers not to read magazines, while also telling the reader that they should check out magazines that friends of his have produced.

Still, read this book. It's stimulating and entertaining, and will send you scurrying to pick up obscure Situationist texts while you reference Jean-Paul Sartre to explain why you bought a ukulele. (less)

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Nov 23, 2008 Tom rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Tom Hodgkinson's admirable intention may have been to write a parody of self-help books but unfortunately ends up falling into similar territory of smuggery as the genuine articles. It seems to me the underlying reasoning behind authors of self-help guides is steeped in narcissism, i.e. I am great ergo do as I do and you too shall be great. Thus, the cynical reader of 'How To Be Twee' will find it difficult to see beyond the calls to mimic the author's own choice examples of upper-middle class v...more Tom Hodgkinson's admirable intention may have been to write a parody of self-help books but unfortunately ends up falling into similar territory of smuggery as the genuine articles. It seems to me the underlying reasoning behind authors of self-help guides is steeped in narcissism, i.e. I am great ergo do as I do and you too shall be great. Thus, the cynical reader of 'How To Be Twee' will find it difficult to see beyond the calls to mimic the author's own choice examples of upper-middle class virtuous past times (the not watching telly, the horse riding, the growing your own vegetables, the retreating to the country, etc. – all after a good spell in London of course). Alas, they will be less likely to ponder on, presumably, his more fundamental, thought-provoking musings on the irrationality of most people's struggle with modernity.

Strangely, given this estimable aim of debunking myths about the glories of the bourgeois status quo, he harks back to the irrationality of the Catholic church and feudal regime, and ignores all concepts of social and political struggle since the Reformation, a major flaw if he aims to deconstruct modern society. Omitting the intervening centuries of intellectual discourse sometimes leaves his ideas seeming redundant and contradictory. For example, his advice to rid oneself of job protection: set in a 20th Century context this would be most likely espoused by a fan of the non-turning ferrous female known for snatching milk and spending 20 hours a day awake – not exactly an Idler. By trying to ignore more recent historical and contemporary arguments surrounding industrial relations, he may be attempting to introduce fresh ideas using a more pragmatic approach but to me generally fails and comes across as ignorant, condescending and arrogant.

Rather than aligning to anarchic radicalism, he seems to share a conservative reactionary desire to return to the ideal of “static” medieval feudalism and the guild system. (Tellingly, his anarchist influence of choice seems to be the anarchist Prince, Kropotkin). He fails to justify why he extols a beautifully crafted piece of furniture over, say, a beautifully coded piece of computer programming. I feel his misgivings probably lie within the prevailing neo-liberal economic model but his superficial polemics lead him open to accusations of simple Luddism. His repeated unilateral promotion of a romanticised Medieval era to highlight the flaws of today's world removes his argument, and solutions, further from the reader who is stuck very much in a real modern predicament. Changing one's lifestyle based on a personal revival of a previous age may have its benefits, but it is somewhat impractical unless you are lucky enough to share with the author a fortunate career in freelance journalism, perhaps arising from a similar education at £15,000+ per year Westminster School, and Cambridge University.

He champions Ye Olde Merrie England and wants us to know that before Enclosure things weren't so bad when we stayed in the same village for the whole of our lives, had benevolent Lords (temporal and spiritual) look after us, and that we had a pretty jolly time before we died aged 27 of bad teeth. It is a fair, if hardly original, exercise to look to the past to identify and resurrect beneficial forgotten ideas. He does try to highlight the more pleasant ideals of the chivalric age, leaving out the less enviable infant mortality rates for example (yet he still often callously writes in a sweeping enough manner to not sift out all the less appealing relics of a bygone age – why would anyone outside tabloid journalism keep Prince Charles?). I was hoping he could explain how to fit the good freedom-loving elements of medieval life he identified, such as healthy food and relaxation, with the freedom-loving elements of modern life he ignored, such as high agricultural productivity that allows us not to toil in grubby fields all our lives and gives us the opportunity to do loads of other stuff. Sadly I feel he doesn't fully explain how his ideas could be accommodated in the present domain. Essentially, by the end of the book I felt left to choose between the overbearing past feudal system and the overbearing current state/capitalist one rather than feeling free at all.

Hodgkinson is clearly intelligent, and as a columnist his articles are always enlightening. I am cruel to overlook and take for granted the many valid points he discusses, the interesting cultural references, and his quirky and eccentric style. He rightly attacks over-competitiveness, loss of community and real democratic involvement, artificial alienation from nature, hyper-consumerism, and the unquestioned virtue of industry. Yet despite offering teasing stabs and forays into his ideas of Utopia, he ultimately fails to lay out a clear workable socio-economic doctrine. I could accuse his book of being naïve but maybe it was my high expectations that were. Maybe he merely wished to dispense personal tips on how to avoid the pitfalls of modern living. Unfortunately, once the readers free themselves from his oft quoted 'mind forg'd manacles' of today, his more solid life changing advice rests upon overly familiar yet anaemically expounded concepts of disengagement, localism and ruralism. I still wish to read a convincing book properly explaining how this irksome retreat from properly confronting injustices and failings of the current “system” at its roots, and instead merely extricating oneself by imitating a 13th century serf, is supposed to bring radically liberating change. Hodgkinson seems to have the adept mind and public school arrogance to produce such a manifesto but sadly it is not to be adequately found within this book. It is because I agree with so many of his points that I was so disappointed with the ultimately unsubstantial nature of his musings. Maybe he just was happier to intermittently nip off and play the ukulele than concentrate on creating a 21st Century version of 'What Is To Be Done?'. It wouldn't be keeping with his style after-all.(less)

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Dec 10, 2007 Mark rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Everybody who works for a living (English Profs don't count)

Shelves: set-aside

Just starting it, but it reminded me how much I liked Hodgkinson's previous book
How to Be Idle: A Loafer's Manifesto. Alas, I managed to ignore it's lessons completely and now I work too much and am unhappy b/c of it. Will try again.

The lessons here though are very simple and are spelled out at the end of each chapter. For example, "THROW AWAY YOUR WATCH" and "RIDE A BIKE."

Can't get much simpler than these, but they do make a difference. Just 100 pages in, but I'm going to give it the full f...more

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Jan 25, 2011 Ernesto Elias rated it 4 of 5 stars

I can't put this book down, It's a fantastic read! It seriously feels like you are having deep conversation with Hodgkinson, his writing style is that of a conversation's.

Hodgkinson is so passionate of a topic I love , that notion that simple is more and if any one was to offer an argument that is similar you'll easily get me on your side. So when Hodgkinson uses those fantastic references from a range of different fields and periods of time it inspires me to go an read those books. (even thoug...more

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Jan 30, 2009 Amy rated it 3 of 5 stars

This is my second read of this terrific little book. His ideas are based on life before the Protestant Reformation when people lived without mortgages, without the weight of individualism, consumerism and "keeping up with the Joneses" - He suggests anarchism in everyday life:

Share a House with friends
Grow your own food
Light candles to avoid direct light on the dust & dirt
Pour yourself another glass of wine, invite friends over
Turn off the TV,
Lose the "Career"
Stop Worrying
Remember that Socie...more

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Apr 04, 2013 Annie Harrison rated it 5 of 5 stars

I adore this book. Until reading it, I hadn't appreciated quite how enslaved we all are - to the boredom of our jobs, the supermarkets' toxic tentacles, the hollow promises of our pensions, the rip off of our mortgages and the benign blandness of modern life.

This book is full of obvious observations, but I found myself re-reading certain paragraphs, nodding and even screaming out loud, 'You're right, you're so bloody right!' How can we be so closed to the truth? Tom Hodgkinson is in fact, the Da...more

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Nov 25, 2012 Skye rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is not a self help book. If anything, it is an examination of modern, western, middle-class (particularly British) society and the 'mind forg'd" manacles it perpetuates. There are a few suggestions in each chapter for various alternative ways of living, but no one lifestyle is suggested over any other.

I found this a brilliant, amusing and liberating read. Not because it proposed any revolutionary concepts, but because it validated and affirmed my own attitudes to life and my own values whi...more

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Nov 18, 2012 Rick rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I think Tom approaches life very much from a Rousseauian perspective that "Man is born free, but everywhere he is in chains". He, like Rousseau, believes that people left to their own devices are perfectly able to self govern within small communities. The chains now are provided not only by interfering governments, but by soulless "Mcjobs". This view of the human condition has been long debated however and Thomas Hobbes, who was a contemporary political philosopher of Rousseau, adopted the posit...more I think Tom approaches life very much from a Rousseauian perspective that "Man is born free, but everywhere he is in chains". He, like Rousseau, believes that people left to their own devices are perfectly able to self govern within small communities. The chains now are provided not only by interfering governments, but by soulless "Mcjobs". This view of the human condition has been long debated however and Thomas Hobbes, who was a contemporary political philosopher of Rousseau, adopted the position that without government life was "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short". He thought that without strong governance the natural state of men was one of competition and war; I guess the modern British equivalent would be feral packs of youths terrorising the neighbourhood. I think it depends which view you instinctively lean towards as to whether you find this book the naive ramblings of a middle class dreamer or an optimistic manifesto for a more humane society. I personally found it to be quite an uplifting read after a day chained to the computer in the office, although my cynical side does find the constant harping back to the middle ages as a golden age a little hard to take. It's too easy to see the past with rose tinted specs; life for most in the middle ages was a constant battle to make sure you and your family had enough to eat. Famines were common as were outbreaks of plague and typhoid, 20% of women died during childbirth and "witches" were put to death. Advances in healthcare, nutrition, housing, sanitation, religious and ethnic tolerance, mental healthcare, etc etc don't (unfortunately) happen in a vacuum outside of industrial and economic development. In any system there is an element of taking the rough with the smooth. I would also question whether refusing to vote, and spending most of your time playing the ukulele, doing a bit of writing, drinking, etc is going to do much to address such pressing global issues as world poverty and the global environment. Having said all that, the book is diverting and funny, and does contain numerous small ways to make life more enjoyable and fulfilling. Just don't expect too much.(less)

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Apr 10, 2012 Heyjoe rated it 3 of 5 stars

It's a good read. Some chapters are great and spot on, but on some I've felt like he was trying too hard to make a point and his views were just too out there for me, too radical. I would've liked a more grounded approach because some people (me) just aren't ready or don't want to committ to the level he expresses. But other chapters really spoke to me and I would recommend it in spite of the flaws stated before. Some of the things he said truly changed the way I face and live my life.

quotes tha...more It's a good read. Some chapters are great and spot on, but on some I've felt like he was trying too hard to make a point and his views were just too out there for me, too radical. I would've liked a more grounded approach because some people (me) just aren't ready or don't want to committ to the level he expresses. But other chapters really spoke to me and I would recommend it in spite of the flaws stated before. Some of the things he said truly changed the way I face and live my life.

quotes that resonated with me:

1. "life is about recapturing lost freedoms."

2. "Feed your mind (...) Replace T.V. with friends and newspapers with books."

3. "Sometimes I think that life is becoming no more than staring at a screen. (...)
Work, rest and play: all involve staring at screens."

4. "I think one problem is that we have been brought up to believe in the idea of a job, a salaried position in which your money worries are taken care for you. We are dependent on employers. We do not have the freelance mindset which is so important to the freedom seeker, the mindset that tells you to llok after yourself."

5."Career is a path set down for you by some outside authority, whereas the truly free make their own path through the woods."

6. "Freedom, then, exists in a sort of spiritual selfsufficiency. The truly free do not join the chase for riches or for honours because they know that along that road lies slavery. The truly free fear nothing.

7. "(...) fear as a creative force rather than a creative one. Fear was not a reason to shrink away from living, as it is today, and to find solace in shopping and TV. Fear is a sort of humility. (...) acknowledge your fear and play with it, make use of it."

8. "You get so much more clarity about things. It's like fishing, you go beneath the surface and bring things back which are very useful. There'd be no Keat, Byron or Shelley if they'd been on Prozac. Society needs manic depressives, it needs people potholers, to bring back their treasures from the underworlds, and to polish them and turn them into things that are bautiful and glittering."
(less)

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May 03, 2011 Rob Clark rated it 4 of 5 stars

Tom Hodgkinson is the founder of the bi-annual book sized magazine, The Idler. The Idler’s stated philosophy is one of bringing dignity back to the art of loafing. Tom is also an anarchist, who believes the state hinders human relations and creates, rather than prevents, the problems that people face in modern society. His philosophy espouses personal responsibility, honor, self-sufficiency, and civility. Rather than being a radical who believes that the government should be overthrown in favor...more Tom Hodgkinson is the founder of the bi-annual book sized magazine, The Idler. The Idler’s stated philosophy is one of bringing dignity back to the art of loafing. Tom is also an anarchist, who believes the state hinders human relations and creates, rather than prevents, the problems that people face in modern society. His philosophy espouses personal responsibility, honor, self-sufficiency, and civility. Rather than being a radical who believes that the government should be overthrown in favor of chaos, Hodgkinson states that “the true radical will create their own society existing alongside of the state and will laugh at the folly of those chasing promotions, a pension, and cheap consumer goods.” He calls for the truly free to enjoy life and to “eat, drink, and be merry.”

The Freedom Manifesto is fascinating, and a real page-turner. It is full of many practical ways in which the individual can practice anarchism in his or her own life. I laughed at the cheek in which Tom presents his ideals and the humor inherent in his delivery methods. The author often comes across as idealistic and a throwback to so-called “better times”, but he embraces his anachronistic stance. He claims that looking to the past is preferable to looking to a future which has not yet happened, because the past has happened, it has been proven to work, and to be workable. He draws on such influences as French existentialists, beat poets, hippies, yippies, medieval thinkers, Taoism, St. Augustine, and other anarchists.

This book speaks to my deep dissatisfaction over being a member of a consumer culture and feeling a great deal of pressure to define myself as a successful person because I have managed to scrape up the rungs of the corporate ladder at a mind-numbing, soul-crushing job or, worse yet, become subservient to the same corporation with no mind, no will, and no voice of my own. As an alternative to the competition inherent in such a system, Hodgkinson says cooperation should be embraced instead. Oddly enough, I’ve found that the book The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, by Stephen R. Covey calls for people to engage in cooperation instead of competition. This is a book that is usually read by workaholics and obsessive corporate ladder climbers. Hodgkinson calls for a return to the guild system, in which members all worked to protect each other and their craft instead of competing with one another.

He says one shouldn’t define oneself by the expectations of anyone else, to not be a slave of the corporate-consumer-debt culture. He also says to grow your own food, make your own culture, create a society within society, be fully responsible for yourself, and learn to live on less. He continues on to suggest being more creative, civil, and polite, and keeping a careful record of where and how you spend your money. Hodgkinson urges us to live in the moment, to realize life is absurd so make your own meaning. Most of all, embrace life for all its imperfections and just enjoy it.

As much as I enjoyed the book, I cannot fully endorse anarchism for the entire world or even certain individuals, especially not in the world as it is now. Anarchism, along with libertarianism and socialism, all appeal to me. These systems assume that humanity is good; that people would cooperate and learn to look out for one another if only the government or other oppressive forces would get out of the way. I suppose I’m a pessimist, and it could also be argued that such a system as pure socialism or pure anarchism has never truly been tried and proven wrong, but I believe humanity is evil and there will always be people who abuse their freedoms, oppress their fellow man, and take advantage of those weaker than themselves. M. Scott Peck, another author whom I greatly admire, was once asked what human nature was. He stated that it was human nature to shit one’s pants, but one can be taught to overcome and transcend this basic behavior. I know many people cannot assume full responsibility of their lives and cannot be trusted to be kind and civil to those around them; people like addicts, sex offenders, and the greedy. Nevertheless, I believe this book has helped me gain a respect for myself and those people who call themselves idlers who are yet hard working, creative, and respectable. I did enjoy the book and I would recommend it to anyone who is looking for an engaging and fun read, or to anyone looking for a different perspective on life and for an alternative to the all-encompassing American consumer culture. But I would recommend caution before fully embracing anarchy as a way of life for everyone.(less)

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Jun 30, 2012 Mark Love rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Len gave me a copy of Tom Hodgkinson's previous book "How To Be Idle" as a bit of hint for me to calm down a bit, a few years back. It evidently didn't do the trick, for either Tom or me, as he's back with a new book "How to Be Free", and I felt the need to buy it during a recent(ish) trip to the Idler bookshop in West London.

Since his last book it appears he's escaped to the country and is happier than ever living on a fraction of his previous income, and I'm happy for him. But he wants us all...more

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Mar 14, 2013 emily rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Wow. What can I say really? I think everyone ever should read this book. I lent it to my mum straight after I finished it and I'm hoping to convince my dad (who is of the if-you-don't-work-all-the-time-and-sell-your-soul-to-the-man-then-you-are-bad-and-lazy-and-awful type) to give it a read. It might help him understand why I "don't do anything" (which I do, I just don't do anything that he personally perceives to be valuable). But truly, this book confirmed and validated a lot of opinions and t...more Wow. What can I say really? I think everyone ever should read this book. I lent it to my mum straight after I finished it and I'm hoping to convince my dad (who is of the if-you-don't-work-all-the-time-and-sell-your-soul-to-the-man-then-you-are-bad-and-lazy-and-awful type) to give it a read. It might help him understand why I "don't do anything" (which I do, I just don't do anything that he personally perceives to be valuable). But truly, this book confirmed and validated a lot of opinions and thoughts I'd had already, and introduced me to a lot of new ideas that I hadn't thought of. It's astounding how every single aspect of our lives has been infiltrated with the control of money and those in power. Fun comes second to work, and I simply don't want to live in a world where this is the case. It is reassuring to know that it is possible to flip it back around and live in my own way. I felt truly changed even after the first few chapters of this book. Usually I am quite "anti-social", mostly due to anxiety, but I suddenly felt empowered and decided that I just had to work through it, and have been spending a lot of my time looking up clubs, volunteer opportunities and other such things in my community. I am hankering for social interaction and to feel connected to my little town. There is a whole community here that I am not a part of, and I'd like that to change.

I did have tiny little issues with some bits and pieces. The chapter on depression for instance. I completely agree with most of it (I have refused for years to see even see a doctor about my own issues for years - I have a support network and a good understanding of how I can cope with things now, I don't need medications or $200 therapy sessions), I also felt like his understanding of depression and mental illness was a bit basic. It did make me glad I quit studying Psychology though. After a year and a half I couldn't take how uncomfortable it was making me. I would have been profiting off other people's illness and despair, though under the guise of "helping and fixing" them. Just for $200 an hour, while they were zonked out on useless meds. Ugh!

I also sometimes wish I could hear things from Victoria's point of view. I'd like to see it from a woman's perspective, and though I know he has published a book on parenting I think he does tend to glaze over things regarding his children in the books I've read. In my experience, it's the mothers who are generally (not always, of course) a lot more involved in noticing things about their children, whereas fathers just tend to notice when they complain or do something wrong/something that isn't up to their standards (which I think has a lot do with with gender roles and the idea that the man is there for "discipline" - they only come to see the bad).

But they're just little things, and overall I am quite blown away and happy! I feel I should be getting copies for everyone I know, and then some. (less)

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Apr 02, 2013 Kaat V rated it 4 of 5 stars

Leve de vrijheid !

Heerlijk boek, "Leve de vrijheid" van Tom Hodgkinson. Deze auteur met passie voor de middeleeuwen propagandeert het niets-doen. De ondertitel van zijn boek is dan ook "Hoe ontkom ik aan de cultuur van het moeten ?" Volgens Hodgkinson is zijn we helemaal niet vrijer dan pakweg enkele eeuwen, of zelfs vele eeuwen geleden. Integendeel, we zijn slaven van instituten, overheden en multi-nationals en onze slavernij uit zich in verveling, eenzaamheid en depressie. Eerst moeten we hard...more Leve de vrijheid !

Heerlijk boek, "Leve de vrijheid" van Tom Hodgkinson. Deze auteur met passie voor de middeleeuwen propagandeert het niets-doen. De ondertitel van zijn boek is dan ook "Hoe ontkom ik aan de cultuur van het moeten ?" Volgens Hodgkinson is zijn we helemaal niet vrijer dan pakweg enkele eeuwen, of zelfs vele eeuwen geleden. Integendeel, we zijn slaven van instituten, overheden en multi-nationals en onze slavernij uit zich in verveling, eenzaamheid en depressie. Eerst moeten we hard werken om vervolgens continu verleid te worden om ons geld terug uit te geven of het gevoel opgedrongen te krijgen dat we niets voorstellen zonder dit of dat. Onze consumptie maakt ons tot slaven.

"In de huidige situatie zijn we, als we niet werken, bezig met consumeren. We komen de fabriekspoorten uit en storten ons loon bij de supermakt rechtstreeks terug naar het systeem". (p. 16).

Hodgkinson is zelf van de stad naar het platteland verhuisd en werkt er minimaal : dwz zijn loonarbeid is minimaal, want hij houdt van zijn tuin en de groenten die hij verbouwt.
Hij droomt van een samenleving van gilden en ambachtslieden, van zelf voorziende kleine gemeenschappen die vieren en werken met elkaar, waar handenarbeid het onpersoonlijke van machines vervangt.

Nu en dan is het bijna vertederend om deze goed opgeleide bijna 40er te zien dromen. Hij verkondigt zijn droom met vuur en passie en beleeft hem zo vaak mogelijk in de kroeg van zijn dorp. Terug in de tijd, lijkt zijn leuze wel, want de industralisatie en de verhoogde consumptiecultuur heeft ons niet verder gebracht.

Het is goed dat er nog mensen zijn die onze jachtige kapitalistische consumptiecultuur in vraag stellen en afgoden als carrière en geld durven te ontmaskeren. Op tal van punten geeft hij te denken. Nu ik net een nieuwe auto gekocht heb - en dat is best duur - moest ik toch even opkijken bij volgend citaat, al heb ik er zo mijn twijfels bij.

"Als je het gevoel hebt tijd te tekot te komen, ben je een gemakelijke prooi voor producten warvoor wordt geadverteerd met beloften van tijdsbesparing, van werkbesparende dingen. De auto bijvoorbeeld bespaart op de lange duur geen tijd. Ivan Illich heeft eens uitgerekend dat, als je alle tijd die je aan een auto besteedt optelt, inclusief de ritujes naar de garage en de tijd die je kwijt bent met geld verdienen voor brandstof en auto-onderhoud, en dat deelt door het aantal gereden kilometers, je gemiddelde snelheid acht kilometer per uur is. Met de fiets zou je sneller zijn. Snelheid vreet, paradoxaal genoeg, je vrije tijd op. Dus als je tijd wil besparen, onderwerp je dan niet langer aan de kloktijd." (p. 96)(less)

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Apr 08, 2012 Diejai rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: sachbuch

Ich bezweifle, dass ich mir dieses Buch gekauft hätte, wenn ich es zufällig entdeckt hätte. Ehrlich gesagt, wohl eher nicht. Da ich es jedoch geschenkt bekommen habe, hatte ich es nun mal hier liegen. Und als es dann so auf meinem Schreibtisch lag, hat es mich irgendwie angelächelt, so dass ich es dann auch gelesen habe. Zum Glück, denn die Lektüre des Handbuchs für ein schönes Leben hat mir wirklich gut gefallen. Normalerweise lese ich solche Ratgeber eher selten, wenn dann als Zweitbuch, und i...more Ich bezweifle, dass ich mir dieses Buch gekauft hätte, wenn ich es zufällig entdeckt hätte. Ehrlich gesagt, wohl eher nicht. Da ich es jedoch geschenkt bekommen habe, hatte ich es nun mal hier liegen. Und als es dann so auf meinem Schreibtisch lag, hat es mich irgendwie angelächelt, so dass ich es dann auch gelesen habe. Zum Glück, denn die Lektüre des Handbuchs für ein schönes Leben hat mir wirklich gut gefallen. Normalerweise lese ich solche Ratgeber eher selten, wenn dann als Zweitbuch, und ich lese sie dann Kapitel für Kapitel. Anders war es mit diesem Buch, denn ich habe es in fast einem Rutsch durchgelesen.

Kapitel für Kapitel widmet sich der Autor einer anderen Thematik, welche uns seiner Meinung nach in unserer Freiheit einschränkt. Es sind Themen wie Angst, Langeweile, Zeitdruck, Arbeit, Stadtleben, Schuldbewusstsein, Konkurrenzkampf, Melancholie, Supermärkte, Hässlichkeit und Reichtum, welche der Autor anspricht. Ich muss zugeben, dass ich, nachdem ich das Inhaltsverzeichnis gelesen habe, bei einigen Themen dachte „Ach, das betrifft dich nicht, das brauchst du nicht“. Tom Hodgkinson hat mich jedoch eines besseren belehrt, und gerade bei den „Ach, das betrifft dich nicht“-Kapiteln, hat er mir in einigen Bereichen die Augen geöffnet und es mir somit ermöglicht, die Dinge aus einer neuen Sichtweise zu betrachten.

Tom Hodgkinson schreibt ehrlich, unverblümt und offen heraus was er denkt. Stellenweise würde ich seine Schreibe und auch seine Überzeugungen schon als radikal bezeichnen, was bei ihm jedoch nicht unangenehm ist. Man merkt deutlich, dass der Autor zu dem was er schreibt, auch steht und nicht nur kluge Ratschläge gibt, sondern das, was er schreibt, auch lebt. Dies belegt er mit vielen Beispielen und persönlichen Geschichten, wodurch man auch einen interessanten Einblick in das Leben des Autors erhält.

Ich habe aus dem Buch viele Denkanstöße und Erkenntnisse gewonnen. Dennoch ist das Buch in seiner Gesamtheit für mich so nicht umsetzbar. Dieses Buch ist meiner Meinung nach keines, welches man 1:1 auf das eigene Leben adaptieren kann – ich könnte es z.B. nicht, denn ich lebe gerne in der Stadt, mag meine Arbeit sehr und möchte meine Kreditkarten nicht zerschneiden. Und auch wenn ich viele seiner Vorschläge für mich und mein Leben ablehne, so habe ich verstanden, was er damit ausdrücken möchte und finde auch diese Themen vom Grundsatz her nicht schlecht.

Fazit:

Tom Hodgkinson hat mich mit seinem Buch wirklich positiv überrascht. Er gibt viele gute Ratschläge, und vertritt interessante Sichtweisen. Einige Dinge betrachte ich nun mit anderen Augen und finde es wichtig, sich diese Dinge auch bewusst zu machen. Denn nur wenn einem etwas wirklich bewusst ist, kann man auch frei darüber entscheiden. Und die Möglichkeit, frei über Dinge entscheiden zu können, ist für mich ein wichtiger Bestandteil emotionaler wie auch materieller Freiheit.(less)

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Sep 07, 2009 Gail rated it 4 of 5 stars

Tom Hodgkinson is the publisher of the British magazine Idler and in this book presents his philosophy of how to be happy by avoiding any of the Puritan ethics and Benjamin Franklin proverbs that have turned Americans (and now the rest of the world) into zombie consumer/workaholics.

Although mostly written tongue-in-cheek, Hodgkinson makes some important points about how we have abandoned our freedoms to big corporations, governments and group think. Many of his remedies to this enslaved life inv...more

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Jun 01, 2012 Sarai Mitnick rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

An enjoyable but sometimes silly book on the joys of removing oneself from the endless cycle of work and consumerism.

First, the eye-roll-inducing: I don't buy his oft-repeated premise that life was better in the middle ages, although I do understand the frustration with the protestant work ethic and what it's done to us. His position also reeks of privilege, something he admits to but brushes off as irrelevant. There's also a strong current of luddism, another viewpoint I understand but do not e...more

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Aug 18, 2009 Emmydielle is currently reading it

I saw this book in a bookshop in Dingle, Ireland while traveling. There it was titled "How To Be Free" and, let's face it, that's of interest to me. This is a smart and funny guide to good living, a sort of "Poor Richard's Almanac" turned on its head without tedious moralizing. Pleasantly Anarchist. Recommendations for good living include opening your doors to your friends & neighbors more, growing your own vegetables, leaving the wristwatch at home and overall embracing the joys of idelness...more

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Apr 21, 2013 Rebecca rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: food, growing-farming-foraging, hippy, how-to, reading-challenge, society-and-class, funny, family, favourites, food-entertaining, home, non-fiction, reviewed

In this very confident book Tom Hodgkinson tries to set us free from our mind-forgd manacles. He is an anarchist of thoughts, nostalgic for a communal, more caring past. I think it's easier to first point out some of the things I didn't agree with...

-Some of his views were inconsistent or contradicted himself. For example, he criticised 'extreme sports' as a waste of money, and something that wage slaves have to do to feel alive. However, later he says that we should not worry about money but sp...more In this very confident book Tom Hodgkinson tries to set us free from our mind-forgd manacles. He is an anarchist of thoughts, nostalgic for a communal, more caring past. I think it's easier to first point out some of the things I didn't agree with...

-Some of his views were inconsistent or contradicted himself. For example, he criticised 'extreme sports' as a waste of money, and something that wage slaves have to do to feel alive. However, later he says that we should not worry about money but spend it one what we enjoy doing... which would seem to include extreme sports. He also says it is not up to one person to judge what makes another person happy, so he shouldn't really be criticising an activity that so many people clearly enjoy.
Other ideas just don't seem very well thought out. He advises getting solar panels in order to be self sufficient and avoid bills, but he doesn't seem to consider how most people will pay for solar panels - they're so expensive that the new owners will more than likely be paying off the price of them month by month rather than power bills- i.e., still paying bills of sorts.

-At times, he promotes things that I think are irresponsible, like telling people not to vote. His reasoning behind this is that if we don't vote, we have to take responsibility for our problems ourselves, rather than blaming the government. However, I think this is stupid. It is perfectly possible to vote for a party that you believe will be the best possible chance for the country, and still take personal responsibility for your life. I would certainly not like to leave the chance of extreme right or left wing politicians getting in to power, because even if you take personal responsibility for your life, politics will still have *some* effect on you & I don't want to be ruled by crackpots.
Another example is telling people to just stop taking medicine for depression! He argues that depression is natural and should be instead called melancholy, like in the medieval period. He says that the illness 'depression' is made up by drug companies to get more money, so we shouldn't take their drugs. I agree to a point: if it is possible to avoid taking pills, then avoid them. However they can at times be very very necessary. It's like telling me to never take my inhaler; I avoid taking it as much as I can because being on steroids all the time is not fun, but at times it is literally a life saver and I would be stupid not to take it. He gives the example of one friend he has who is depressed and doesn't want to get un-depressed, so he doesn't want to take pills, but I don't think that one person wanting to remain depressed can speak for all sufferers.

-He is at times very historically inaccurate. His view of the medieval past is so nostalgic and rose-tinted, you'd think that the nobles were falling over each other in order to make peasants happy, and that guilds were massive happy families that accepted everyone and didn't have monopolies over individual crafts. This is such an inaccurate view, it sounds more like communist propaganda than anything reasoned. For example, he continually compares 'Puritan/Industrial Swindon' with Florence, built by a 'medieval collective', arguing that Florence's beauty shows how much better that political system was. I am sorry, but Florence was NOT some idyllic, perfect republic. The Medici were in charge (most of the time), what they said went. And it wasn't some happy-go-lucky commune, people were continually bankrupting themselves trying to climb the greasy pole to the Medici's inner circle. Florence's decline to "sprezzatura" and studied self-artifice happened for a reason, which would not have happened in the Florence that Hodgkinson dreams of.

So. If I have so many problems with How to Be Free, why on earth have I given it 5 stars? Because it is so irrepressibly optimistic! Reading it made me feel happy! I engaged passionately with Hodgkinson's ideas, both in agreement or again them, and i think this is ultimately what the book encourages. It is his personal idea of freedom, and how to get there, which the reader is invited to interact with and test out for it's truth for each individual. I know that this section on what is good in the book is much shorted than my problems with it, but trust me, it's good. I just think you should read it in order to find out for yourself, and to see how his ideas can make you change your thinking...

And it has changed some of my habits. For pretty much the first time in four years, I am going without my watch for hours at a time. (Queue gasps and a vague feeling of discomfort!) It has made me properly think about what i want in life, what will make me happy and free, which is especially important right now as I'm half way through my degree, and considering two pretty different career choices. Thank you, Tom, for really convincing me that it's not all about the money, that you can survive without it, because sometimes the importance placed on money in this bustling city can make it hard to remember that...(less)

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Jun 22, 2011 Spagetes rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

How to Be Free is a fun but arguable guide to getting off the producer/consumer treadmill and centering your life on creative pursuits and social bonding.

There is sensible advice about saving money by not eating out and growing your own food, and just basically living more with less stuff.
Hodgkinson is educated and had a lucrative job at one point in his life but learned to embrace thrift after being downsized. Therefore there is an element of privilege in his voice that overlooks how difficult...more

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Aug 15, 2010 Laura rated it 2 of 5 stars

I think David Cross put it best when he was reacting to a Promise Keepers story: "One... hundred... percent... BULLSHIT." (Honorable mention goes to Brian Cox: "The modern world is better than the middle ages so what's the problem with all these whinging hippies?") Tom Hodgkinson is the whingingest of all the whinging hippies. (That actually may or may not be true-- I haven't seeked out any whinging hippies and he happens to be the whinging hippy that was thrust upon me.) He summarily dismisses...more

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Aug 25, 2009 Marko Teräs rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: philosophy

Mr Hodgkinson telling you how to be more free and enjoy life. The tune is more down to earth (and joy!) than a guide to zen-like harmony with your inner and outer aspects of your so highly spiritual life.
What's it about

It's about Tom slapping you in the face [a friendly slap, that is:] and thus making you think for a while about the world and how you live in it. It's about how to live more freely in a society where everything seems to be based on consumption. Many examples and situation and many...more

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Apr 19, 2009 Richard rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction, philosophy, politics, psychology, comedy

Occassionally I read the reviews by other people, and I wonder if they've read the same book as me!

Tom Hodgkinson's book seems to me not to be a self help guide. It doesn't provide a programme to follow to be free, but it argues, occassionally eloquently, that it is possible for everyone to loosen their 'Mind Forged Manacles'. Much of his method for doing this revolves around taking control and responsibility for or and for your own life. If you hate your job then change it. If you have a naggin...more Occassionally I read the reviews by other people, and I wonder if they've read the same book as me!

Tom Hodgkinson's book seems to me not to be a self help guide. It doesn't provide a programme to follow to be free, but it argues, occassionally eloquently, that it is possible for everyone to loosen their 'Mind Forged Manacles'. Much of his method for doing this revolves around taking control and responsibility for or and for your own life. If you hate your job then change it. If you have a nagging feeling that you're working to maintain a lifestyle in order to keep up with the Joneses, or to maintain a crippling mortgage then look at the alternatives.

It felt to me more like a companion peace to the Chumbawamba and Crass albums that I've been listening to all these years. An easy introduction to the theory behind the calls for anarchy.

Some of his arguments are of course flawed. At least, assuming that you're reading this post on a computer, then the call to take back understanding in technology so that you're not behest to 'the man' is optimistic at best. Like many others, I'm happy to buy the bits to build a computer, but I couldn't tell you how to make the chips themselves, (beyond a hand waving explanation) never mind actually designing the chips. We live in a world where the ability to purchase technology which is way beyond our individual understanding is part of modern life. I guess the question is whether you buy in to the rat race, or take a more moderate approach.

It didn't provide any life changing suggestions to me. I think I fell out with the concept of consumerism a long time ago. My current PC is new, but the previous one was only replaced when it died on me after more than 6 years. My iPod is one that I bought second hand on eBay cos they were being sold off cheap by loads of people who had rushed out to buy an iPhone as soon as they became available (better for me, I chose to run Rockbox on it anyway...), but some of the ideas have given me food for thought, and as we embark on another years vegetable growing (something that we were doing before I read this book) it has given me a renewed enthusiasm for the joys of cultivation.

(less)

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Aug 20, 2010 Mo Tipton rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: political

I don't really need convincing when it comes to ditching soul-sucking jobs, government, institutionalized schooling, banks, big chain stores, and the many other "perks" of capitalism, and if you feel similarly, little of this book will seem revelatory, but it is interesting to learn more about the historical roots of our current, crappy system and to see plenty of successful examples of alternative modes of life.

Beyond that, Hodgkinson is endlessly entertaining, and even though I didn't entirel...more

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Feb 21, 2008 Liza rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: romantics, anarchists, cubicle-dwellers

The Freedom Manifesto is a Walden for the 21st century. Tom Hodgkinson proposes a diet of existentialism, absurdism, and anarchism as the path to liberation--basically a Zen approach to life. If life is absurd and meaningless, then why are you going to cry when you don't receive that coveted promotion at work? Somehow Hodgkinson manages to walk the thin line between philosophy and frivolity without embracing ironic detachment.

The book's chapters cover such themes as work, money, and news as well

...more

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Jun 08, 2008 David M. rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: direct-action

I seem to have a soft spot for eccentrically reactionary radicals. For a while, I was eagerly reading up on the anarcho-primitivists, who thought civilization was a bad idea and that mankind had taken a wrong turn when we started messing around with things like cities, agriculture, and literacy. And you may remember when I reviewed Bill Kauffman’s Look Homeward, America: In Search of Reactionary Radicals and Front-Porch Anarchists, which had a soft spot for the American isolationist, regionalist...more I seem to have a soft spot for eccentrically reactionary radicals. For a while, I was eagerly reading up on the anarcho-primitivists, who thought civilization was a bad idea and that mankind had taken a wrong turn when we started messing around with things like cities, agriculture, and literacy. And you may remember when I reviewed Bill Kauffman’s Look Homeward, America: In Search of Reactionary Radicals and Front-Porch Anarchists, which had a soft spot for the American isolationist, regionalist, anti-cosmopolitan tendencies of the early 20th century.

Hodgkinson is an English punk rock radical who finds his model for human society in a romantically-evoked version of medieval Europe that has since been destroyed by the Protestant reformation’s war against the assimilated paganism of the Catholic church, by capitalism’s assault on guilds and craft, and by the victory of Puritanism over joy and nature.

Hodgkinson is the co-founder and editor of The Idler, which hopes to defend the point of view of the Grasshopper who was unfairly maligned in Aesop’s ant propaganda.

The book is a series of exhortations intended to inspire the reader to stop being the conforming, clock-watching, urban, employed, worried, lonely, rude, guilty, accumulating consumer, and instead to go back to the land, slack off, indulge simple pleasures, stop worrying about the future, stop feeling guilty, take up the ukulele, and start cashing in on the pleasures of being a roustabout bon vivant.

It’s full of quotes on this theme from the likes of William Blake, Guy Debord, E.F. Schumacher, Friedrich Nietzsche, Thomas Aquinas, Pyotr Kropotkin, William Godwin, Leo Tolstoy, Robert Burton, Jean-Paul Sartre, Bertrand Russell, and Penny Rimbaud. You know, Penny Rimbaud of Crass. (To give the kids of today some context, Hodgkinson notes that Tolstoy “was the late-nineteenth-century equivalent of Crass” — Crass being the late-twentieth-century equivalent of, I dunno, Chumbawumba or something.) Obligatory tax resistance pullquote follows:

It is perfectly possible to create an uncomplicated, job-free life. Artists Penny Rimbaud and Gee Vaucher started Crass, the anarchist punk band of the eighties. Forty years ago they rented a tumbledown house just outside London and renovated it and filled the garden with flowers, fruit, vegetables, sheds and arbours for quiet repose. Thanks to an open-house policy, which has ensured a steady flow of helpful residents and guests, they have been able to develop the house and grounds to a high standard with very little money. People power replaced cash. They keep things simple, they don’t need jobs, and that gives them acres and acres of free mind-space to follow their own paths through life, to think, read, write, talk, drink, make art. Their income is virtually nothing, but they do exactly what they want and this, it seems to me, is a tremendous achievement. It proves that money and freedom are by no means synonymous. Gee said to me, “I don’t think I’ve ever paid tax. How much do you need to earn? £5,000 a year? I don’t earn anything like that.” And a more bill-free and liberated household I have never seen.

The book didn’t do much for me, but I’m already a believer in what I think is the most evident and important mesage of the book: take responsibility for your life; make an honest and necessarily radical reassessment of your priorities that will certainly involve unlearning the ones you have absorbed from a childhood overdose of public school, media, and commercial propaganda; and start living creatively according to what you uncover in this way. Or, as Hodgkinson puts it:

Don’t bother setting up free republics or moving to a country which offers more liberties. Simply declare yourself to be an independent state. Do not involve and coerce others. This is the only way we will effect a proper revolution. Once each of us recognizes our own freedom and our own responsibility, then the chains that bind us will fall away.

And that excerpt comes from his chapter on cultivating good manners and avoiding rudeness — perhaps not what you’d expect to find in an anti-puritan punk rocker’s book about thumbing your nose at workaday living.

If you can deal with the fact that it’s Brit-centric (a mental search-and-replace that swaps “john” for “loo” and “WalMart” for “Tesco’s” will probably do the trick) and that it includes a heaping helping of bollocks, and if you’re unable to work up the gumption to get you out of your cubicle and back to living, this might be the kick-in-the-pants you need.(less)

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Mar 31, 2008 Len rated it 3 of 5 stars

I read this on the heels of Tim Ferris' Four Hour Work Week and thematically they sort of go together. Except where Ferris argues that you should make a ton of money and then stop working (duh!) Hodgkinson argues not to bother with money at all. In fact, his premise seems to be it's better to go through life without anything so you won't be stressed about what you are missing.

I'll give Hodgkinson credit for being creative about his theory, but to me his premise goes too far. He seems to be "livi...more I read this on the heels of Tim Ferris' Four Hour Work Week and thematically they sort of go together. Except where Ferris argues that you should make a ton of money and then stop working (duh!) Hodgkinson argues not to bother with money at all. In fact, his premise seems to be it's better to go through life without anything so you won't be stressed about what you are missing.

I'll give Hodgkinson credit for being creative about his theory, but to me his premise goes too far. He seems to be "living" in some fantasy world where everything was better in the middle ages because people didn't have any money and so therefore didn't have to work hard to earn money to pay for all the crap they wanted. I think he needs to re-read his history a bit and come to terms with the fact that life was shitty back then too.

In one chapter of this book he suggests that all drugs are bullshit, especially anti-depressents. I worry about these anti-drug people who seem to think that all medical progress is bad. Hodgkinson forgets that people died of simple infections because we didn't have antibiotics! Also, as someone who has benefited from anti-depressents I take serious offense to his theory that we all just need to get over our melencholy feelings. I know the anxiety I had manifsted itself in me physically and I know the drugs have helped greatly.

On the plus side, I do agree with a lot of Hodgkinson's thoughts on what I call simplicity. But I don't think one has to go to the extreme measures he suggests to find benefits in simplicity. I think we can all find a life balance without running off to the woods to live like hermits.

One great message in the book is about finding happiness by surrounding yourself with friends. I've always found this to be true and the book inspired me to look for more ways to bring my friends together for food, drink and conversation.

Anyway, while the book does suggest some extreme measures, I just took a few nuggets out of it and will apply them to my life. I already agreed with his premise going in that simple is better, so the book reinforced many of my views and gave me some good ideas. Still, I'm not going to stop taking my cholesterol medication and move to a cabin in the woods!(less)

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Jun 20, 2009 Rukshana rated it 3 of 5 stars

This book describes most of the things that cause me anxiety and make me feel discontent in our society. Its funny too.

I didn't finish the whole book, just read it in bits and pieces according to what was causing me grief that day. Today I am feeling house lust...ooh, let me read the chapter on shunning mortgages and embracing freedom! Feeling self-absorbed today, let me read the chapter on those damn Puritans (according to Hodgkinson, they are responsible for creating a lot of our f*ed up valu...more

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Dec 21, 2010 Rev. rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book was a bit like pearl diving. There are bits in it that are absolutely fantastic, but the hard-on that Hodgkinson has for the medieval era is nothing short of bizarre. His nostalgia for the ancient Catholic church borders on frightening. I gave this two stars because there is some insight in this that is incredibly well though-out. However, references to "Piers Plowman" and "Pilgrim's Progress" are what kept me out of pursuing my English major to a PhD. Hodgkinson oft references problem...more

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Aug 23, 2009 Beth rated it 4 of 5 stars

I love what he has to say, but not necessarily always how he says it.... A bit too much focus on an ideal English past and an ideal Catholic England. It's also a bit repetitious at times as though he hadn't bothered to edit it enough. (Which is quite possibly true, seeing as how he's all for Being Idle.) That said, reading this book made me really happy. I already embrace so much of the lifestyle he promotes and it gives me support in it and a few more reasons for it. I don't need to find a care...more

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Jan 12, 2009 Cody rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: criticism-philosophy-religion

Positive anarchism! This book is irreverent, funny, uplifting, and very timely, and I'm grateful to my friend Karen--a, truly, radical counselor--for the recommendation.

Many of the ideas Hodgkinson tosses out in *The Freedom Manifesto* are not new in the least--we all know them, already. But we're not acting on them. Or we've forgotten to imbue them with the revolutionary importance they deserve. Or we've, simply, grown stale and apathetic. This text provides a chance to take a step back and ree...more

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