Rational Simplicity: Setting Course to a Simpler Life

by Tim Covell

FINALLY, A SIMPLE BOOK ABOUT SIMPLICITY!Eighty-one percent of Americans agree with the statement, "More and more, I am looking for ways to simplify my life." Yet in a world dominated by consumerism, most don't know where to start.Rational Simplicity offers a path. It is a program with no rules, steps or excessive paperwork. Instead, it provides a series of suggestions to help change your relationship with money.At its core, simple living is living on less than you earn. But simple living has the final goal of escaping from paid work and pursuing what is really important to you. The opposite of simple living is consumerism. Consumerism is the belief that things will make you happy. Simplicity is the acknowledgment that they will not.With rational recommendations and sensible strategies, this book encourages you to spend less time pursuing material goods and more time pursuing your dreams.

Genres: Nonfiction

Paperback

First published January 25, 2005

Reviews

[Blue · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quick and easy read about simplifying your life. It took me about 90 minutes to read and I enjoyed the suggestions, but I don't know if I agree with them overall. If writing books and traveling was what he truly dreamed to do I am more into the approach of trying to simplify to live your dream now. By trying to wait to live your dream, whether you wait to save a few million or save up a nest egg that you can live off of, there is always a chance that you may die before you get to the living your dream part. It seems that trying to work your dream into your life now would give you a much more fulfilling life.

[Marshall · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a short book about Voluntary Simplicity. It covers all the basics and gives some good ideas for the reader to explore, and it purposely limits its scope to that. Some of the ideas were really insightful, but some were awful, like the recommendation of using a 10% withdrawal rate. The one positive thing about this book that I can say without hesitation is that, with less than 100 pages of large letters, this book is not a waste of time.