Product Description

When Voluntary Simplicity was first published in 1981, it quickly became recognized as a powerful and visionary work in the emerging dialogue over sustainable ways of living. Now, more than ten years later and with many of the planet's environmental stresses having become more urgent than ever, Duane Elgin has revised and updated his revolutionary book.

Voluntary Simplicity is not a book about living in poverty; it is a book about living with balance. It illuminates the pattern of changes that an increasing number of Americans are making in their everyday lives -- adjustments in day-to-day living that are an active, positive response to the complex dilemmas of our time. By embracing, either partially or totally, the tenets of voluntary simplicity -- frugal consumption, ecological awareness, and personal growth -- people can change their lives. And in the process, they have the power to change the world. First published in 1981, Voluntary Simplicity was instantly recognized as a visionary work. The New York Times called it "seminal"; the Wall Street Journal noted that it was "considered the movement's Bible." Revised in 1993 to address the trend toward downshifting, this pertinent book helps us to adjust our thoughts, habits, and goals and embrace the key elements of simplicity: frugal consumption, ecological awareness and personal growth.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #46951 in Books
• Published on: 1998-11-04
• Released on: 1998-10-21
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 240 pages

Amazon.com
Voluntary Simplicity by Duane Elgin, first published in 1981 and revised in 1993, is the sacred text for those wanting to liberate themselves from enslavement to a job and the pursuit of status symbols. Elgin's work emerges from a concern for the environmental consequences of our mass consumption lifestyles. His book exhorts us to save the planet and our souls by "living with balance in order to find a life of greater purpose."

Vicki Robin, coauthor with Joe Dominguez of "Your Money or Your Life"
"Promise Aheadis essential reading for people flooded with information yet filled with confusion. Never before have humans had to function responsibly and gracefully as citizens of the whole earth. Thankfully, Duane Elgin has the courage and the credentials to provide us with a visionary andplausible road map into the deep future."

Larry Dossey, M.D., author of "Reinventing Medicine" and "Healing Words"
"Promise Aheadis a corrective to the negative messages about the state of our world that are prevalent today. Elgin provides a compelling blueprint for the future that is both hopeful and doable. This book deserves the attention of our entire society."

Customer Reviews

Voluntary Simplicity
I'm a great devotee of voluntary simplicity and have read many excellent books on the subject (among my favorites are Janet Luhr's "Guide to Simple Living," Dominguez's "Your Money or Your Life," and Dyzychen's "Tightwad Gazette" collections). This is definitely the worst and least helpful of them all. Seems extremely dated (even though revised in 1998) and "70s" with rather hazy California granola/New Age overtones. The author spends a lot of time waxing poetic on the more general philosophy of the movement (with an emphasis on one motivation, while ignoring others) rather than discussing and offering practical suggestions and tips for achieving a simpler life. Excepts from those practicing the lifestyle were helpful, but the entire book seemed very heavily-handedly biased in favor of a sort of self-congratulatory socialist "sharing the wealth/taking from the rich to give to the poor" doctrine which not all who embrace VS also embrace. Personally, I don't work hard at living simply in order to give the noney I save in doing so away to those who don't work as hard as I do and thus don't have as much, and I gradually grew to resent the assumption that this is what VS is (or should be) all about. For many of us, it's more about being free (i.e., saving money so as to sustain ourselves on less) vs. feeling guilty about being born in "a land of wealth." Too 60s flower child and liberal-leaning for my taste, with not enough substance to sustain it. Possibly a good introduction to the subject and perhaps significant in its day (the early 80s), but it doesn't stand the test of time, in my opinion. There are better books on the topic out there, but at least now it's off my must-read list.

Some great insights from several years ago, better living through better living
Elgin, the author of Voluntary Simplicity, however, is bringing up his Now observation to point out that we can't even get to voluntary if we get strangled by a mind all bound up in phantasms of the past or the future. That's an interesting argument, and I wonder how it might apply to the freedom movement as well. Topic for another day.

By identifying the spiritual basis for a different, more elegant way of living, the author couldn't be more on target. Still, most people reading the book are interested in some practical guidelines for how we can decomplexify our lives in the real external world. Elgin, I feel, eventually delivers, in Chapter 5 Living More Simply, where he outlines three basic areas that we can address immediately:

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For my complete review of this book and for other book and movie
reviews, please visit my site [...]

Brian Wright
Copyright 2007

Worse than a waste of time
Hours of my life energy wasted in reading this collection of chapters from a think-tank hippie that I will never get back.

Totally worthless. The only pages worth their ink are the "Suggested Readings" list at the end: provides a list of books from authors that actually know how to write and provide useful information on learning to live simply in our modern world.

In one of his token verses acknowledging Christianity he quotes from 1 John 3:17, but in his ignorance erroneously attributes it to the Gospel of John 3:17 (page 47).