Part of my Living Free odyssey is constantly seeking and learning. Learning is and should be a never-ending process. No matter how much you know or I know, we’ll never know it all. Thus, I seek out and read other people’s blogs. I find books, sometimes written by the bloggers I follow or by others. Some of the books are written by authors I know personally. Most are written by individuals I don’t know, but look forward to meeting someday and getting to know.
Recently, I happened upon a blog written by Courtney Carver. Her blog is called BeMoreWithLess. Her focus is on living a simple and minimalist lifestyle. Courtney is a happily married mom and a talented individual. Her talent is as a writer and fine art photographer. Courtney wrote and published an ebook titled Simple Ways to Be More With Less: Life on Purpose.
Ebooks (or electronic books published and distributed digitally, for the few uninitiated who may read this review) are rapidly becoming the book format of choice for the 21st Century reading audience. Like just about everyone, I tend to resist change simply because the status quo is usually comfortable. As a “retired, reformed, recovering” publisher, myself, I have tended to be somewhat staid in my thinking about ebooks.
However, as a self-professed “techy,” I do love technological progress, especially when it involves electronics and digital technology. And, as a living free, minimalist professional nomad, I am constantly seeking ways to carry more while carrying less. Yes, that is a paradox. The ebook “revolution” fits me perfectly. I can carry an entire library on a netbook computer, a thumb drive or even an SD compact flash memory card. I can have hundreds or even thousands of books at my disposal with no more weight then my little three pound netbook computer.
Courtney’s ebook is a perfect edition to my personal library and I highly recommend it to everyone seeking to live free. There are two reasons I recommend her book. The first is obvious, it’s an ebook and has no weight and doesn’t require any physical space.
The second is because she provides 27 ideas that virtually anyone and everyone can implement in his or her life to live simpler and freer. I have to be honest, I’ve read a number of books on this subject and I’ve, obviously, implemented a lot of the ideas I’ve read into my lifestyle and my living free philosophy. But, Courtney enlightened me to several new ideas and in some cases, she made strong cases for ideas I knew about, but hadn’t yet implemented for some reason. Thus, she inspired me to make more changes.
I also liked the idea that she included six chapters by contributing “guest” authors. Each of these authors focus on slightly different facets of the minimalist, simplicity, living free experience. They all have blogs and/or books and she provides the connection to these individuals. Thus, the reach of her ebook expands even more.
Some of the ideas in her book include:
Destination-less Walking
Driving
Dreaming
Dream Killing
Meaningful Work
Gift Giving
These are only six of the 27 ideas in the book. I selected them to mention because something about each one resonated with me. But, they are in no way more or less important, useful or impacting then the other 21 ideas. There is something that will benefit everyone in her book.
The chapters are short, easy to read and most of all, every idea is doable. Sure, you have to be willing to change, make the decision to implement the change and then take action. And taking that action is how she concludes the book. But, the best part, in my opinion is that Courtney opens a door with a link directly to her, if you feel she can personally assist you in your quest to simplify your life and become a minimalist.
This is my kind of book. It’s short, easy to read, full of great ideas explained in a simple, clear manner and fully implementable. If you only find one idea and put it to work, you’ll be miles ahead on your road to living free. Believe me, you’ll have regained your minimal investment many times over.
Here’s the link to order the book directly from Courtney’s Web site.
Enthusiastically,
Ed
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