Power of Minimalism by Will Mark

Overview of Minimalism

Nearly half of this book is a very high-level overview of the concepts about minimalism, an idea that has become popular lately. The first part is actually somewhat repetitious and goes into some of the philosophy of minimalism. After the halfway point, the book gives specific instructions about decluttering your physical space and your digital life. The author then also tries to apply the minimalism to ideas that it isn’t usually associated with, like diet, sleep, and relationships. The second half of the book is more practical than the first, but I didn’t think it successfully integrated with those latter concepts that I just mentioned. For instance, the diet section didn’t seem to me to be about minimalism; instead, it appeared to be about healthful eating. In general, I thought that many of the suggestions about how to be more minimalistic seemed impractical or just wrong; for instance, it is hard for me to imagine a monastically bare bedroom as he espouses. I question, too, if one truly did strip everything in all areas of life mentioned in this book as he states, what would life be like? What would one actually do? Those who are new to the concept of minimalism might like this short look at the philosophy of the idea as well as some ways to apply it. But those who already know some about this won’t find anything here that isn’t better stated elsewhere.