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A Simpler Life

A Guide to Greater Serenity, Ease and Clarity

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A Simpler Life

By: The School of Life
Narrated by: Rachel Lanning
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About this listen

This book explores ideas around minimalism, simplicity, and how to live comfortably with less.

The modern world can be a complicated, frenzied, and noisy place, filled with too many options, products, ideas and opinions. That explains why what many of us long for is simplicity: a life that can be more pared down, peaceful, and focused on the essentials.

But finding simplicity is not always easy; it isn’t just a case of emptying out our closets or trimming back commitments in our diaries. True simplicity requires that we understand the roots of our distractions – and develop a canny respect for the stubborn reasons why things can grow complex and overwhelming.

This book is a guide to the simpler lives we crave and deserve. It considers how we might achieve simplicity across a range of areas. Along the way, we learn about Zen Buddhism, modernist architecture, monasteries, psychoanalysis, and why we probably don’t need more than three good friends or a few treasured belongings.

It isn’t enough that our lives should look simple; they need to be simple from the inside. This book takes a psychological approach, guiding us towards less contorted hearts and minds. We have for too long been drowning in excess and clutter from a confusion about our aspirations. A Simpler Life helps us tune out the static and focus on what properly matters to us.

©2022 The School of Life (P)2022 The School of Life
Consciousness & Thought Personal Success Psychology Stress Management Decluttering

What listeners say about A Simpler Life

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    4 out of 5 stars

Every single adult should read this book

The author starts out string but the ending wasn’t as revolutionary. I’ll be re-reading the book just to get a better insight into the author’s ideas; a must read.

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I loved it.

I’ve very much enjoyed and found very useful other books by The School of Life but, in my opinion, this is a standout.
The content is great but I found the narrator’s performance specially good. Soothing and calming with almost poetry like cadence, very suited to the subject.
I definitely recommend it.

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I have listened to this book many times.

Such a wise and beautiful book. I return to it when the world's complications have crept up and threaten to overwhelm me. This book reminds me that most of it is unnecessary and irrelevant to me.

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Inflexible and brief

An okay book, but too short and too prescriptive. It is too much about opting out when opting in can also work if you do it well.

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Skip it - One Star

Skip the introduction. It jumps around and has nothing to do with the concept of the rest of the book. Very simple language and concepts. Better yet, just skip the whole book. I didn’t make it to the end of chapter 1.

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