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rampaginglibrarian's review against another edition
4.0
"if all is not lost, where is it?"
I’m not sure i have the answer to THAT question; but, if you fear you “suffer” from disorganization then you really should read A Perfect Mess: the hidden benefits of disorder (how crammed closets, cluttered offices, and on-the-fly planning make the world a better place) by Eric Abrahamson and David H. Freedman (not that i would ever tell you what to do, but it is absolutely enjoyable as well as quite informative and sensical~that is, as opposed to non-sensical).
Many of the reviews of this book have objected to its annectoctal nature but i found that part of it to be rather refreshing, especially as i read it, as i do many of my non-fiction reads, in bits and pieces sandwiched between parts of other books. Abrahamson and Freedman laid out their theories in, what i believed to be, a surprisingly organized way (or perhaps not so surprising~because what we are talking about here is not so much an absolute mess as hidden or unconventional methods of organization). Speaking as someone whose mind does not quite work in the usual way i feel i can relate. I learned many new and interesting things from this book and if i ever recover, even in the slightest from my horrible debt i might even acquire my own copy (tho its more likely my biblioaddiction might see to that for me).
Read this book and you might come away from the experience knowing all sorts of new anecdotal stories yourself, as well as the meaning of terms like: clutter; mixture; time sprawl; inconsistency; blur; noise; distraction; bounce; convolution; inclusion; distortion; width; depth; and intensity as they relate to mess and organization. You also might find reasons to give to your relatives and friends as to why you don't need a professional organizer (& how it might even be injurious to your health & well-being or your roof could come crashing in~literally). Though there are pathological degrees of messiness, i.e. the Collyer Brothers or crazy old cat ladies~oh please gods, don't let this ever happen to me~balance in everything (the perfectionist in me needs reminding of this~as does the professional organizer~i am a librarian after all...and dare i admit it...i even have a bit of the cataloger in me...)
I’m not sure i have the answer to THAT question; but, if you fear you “suffer” from disorganization then you really should read A Perfect Mess: the hidden benefits of disorder (how crammed closets, cluttered offices, and on-the-fly planning make the world a better place) by Eric Abrahamson and David H. Freedman (not that i would ever tell you what to do, but it is absolutely enjoyable as well as quite informative and sensical~that is, as opposed to non-sensical).
Many of the reviews of this book have objected to its annectoctal nature but i found that part of it to be rather refreshing, especially as i read it, as i do many of my non-fiction reads, in bits and pieces sandwiched between parts of other books. Abrahamson and Freedman laid out their theories in, what i believed to be, a surprisingly organized way (or perhaps not so surprising~because what we are talking about here is not so much an absolute mess as hidden or unconventional methods of organization). Speaking as someone whose mind does not quite work in the usual way i feel i can relate. I learned many new and interesting things from this book and if i ever recover, even in the slightest from my horrible debt i might even acquire my own copy (tho its more likely my biblioaddiction might see to that for me).
Read this book and you might come away from the experience knowing all sorts of new anecdotal stories yourself, as well as the meaning of terms like: clutter; mixture; time sprawl; inconsistency; blur; noise; distraction; bounce; convolution; inclusion; distortion; width; depth; and intensity as they relate to mess and organization. You also might find reasons to give to your relatives and friends as to why you don't need a professional organizer (& how it might even be injurious to your health & well-being or your roof could come crashing in~literally). Though there are pathological degrees of messiness, i.e. the Collyer Brothers or crazy old cat ladies~oh please gods, don't let this ever happen to me~balance in everything (the perfectionist in me needs reminding of this~as does the professional organizer~i am a librarian after all...and dare i admit it...i even have a bit of the cataloger in me...)
spacedout_reader's review against another edition
2.0
It had a few useful insights, but was a bit repetitive and ironically seemed too disorganized to effectively get its point across, especially considering it's such a short book. If the book had taken more time to cite, investigate, and explain relevant studies (in a less subjective and judgmental tone) it could have been much better.
As an aside, as someone with ADHD who read this book looking for practical advice on what levels of mess might be acceptable or even beneficial, I don't recommend it to others with ADHD. Not that I'm expecting it to be written specifically for an ADHD audience, but some of the advice is completely impractical for many of us - especially when the authors decry to-do lists as superfluous and extol procrastination, saying that people generally get the really important things done on time either way, and if not, it must not have really been that important. Unfortunately I am in fact capable of wasting whole days with procrastination and distraction, or completely forgetting important tasks. I think the intended audience is really just entrepreneurs and managers, since the book mainly focuses on company policies around organization anyway.
I listened to this on audiobook and don't recommend that format for this book - one of the authors reads it and listening to him smugly describe incidents in the lives of professional organizers and their clients was grating.
As an aside, as someone with ADHD who read this book looking for practical advice on what levels of mess might be acceptable or even beneficial, I don't recommend it to others with ADHD. Not that I'm expecting it to be written specifically for an ADHD audience, but some of the advice is completely impractical for many of us - especially when the authors decry to-do lists as superfluous and extol procrastination, saying that people generally get the really important things done on time either way, and if not, it must not have really been that important. Unfortunately I am in fact capable of wasting whole days with procrastination and distraction, or completely forgetting important tasks. I think the intended audience is really just entrepreneurs and managers, since the book mainly focuses on company policies around organization anyway.
I listened to this on audiobook and don't recommend that format for this book - one of the authors reads it and listening to him smugly describe incidents in the lives of professional organizers and their clients was grating.
amotisse's review against another edition
3.0
The title alone does it for me!
I never got around to reading all of this but borrowed it many times.
Obviously got lots of comfort and reassurance just from the title!
I am not a hoarder as such though piles of things seem to trail about me...I've even found scraps of my writing about these stalker piles dated at times when they have bugged me most.
So I laugh and think must I simply embrace them as a part of me and do my best with them?
To be continued...
I never got around to reading all of this but borrowed it many times.
Obviously got lots of comfort and reassurance just from the title!
I am not a hoarder as such though piles of things seem to trail about me...I've even found scraps of my writing about these stalker piles dated at times when they have bugged me most.
So I laugh and think must I simply embrace them as a part of me and do my best with them?
To be continued...
harriet_toad_maradona's review against another edition
2.0
i think i will finish the book today or be finished with it or whatever. i read a well-written book today--natalie robin's Savage Grace--that was so unrelentingly sordid that i just have to think of something besides the ugly dissolute stupid foul ways of careless rich people and the nasty appetites of readers like me, ugh.
anyhow, i am glad i have continued because of the neat take-down of New Urbanism between pages 202 and 206.
"What a dense, stylish urban environment and its predominantly residential outer rings do not provide...are what most of the 36 percent of Americans who are currently raising children...want"
'They're building ephermeral cities for the nomadic rich'
.....
why this book has inspired current reading notes and others have not, i do not know.
.....
page 159 reminds me that sarbanes-oxley required precise tracking of financial documents and that when i lived in nyc i was, for the most part, a sarbanes-oxley temp. pretty much every job i had was for a company that had been in the news for being bad.
......
---oh my gosh, not a review, just stuff i want to think about. is very messy...is not meant to be clever, like here is a book about mess and here is my messy mess. i hope no one could even consider that i would do such a george herbert-ass thing! here is a poem about an altar; i have made the words look like an altar! or whatever.----
i started reading this book when it came out, but it is so very, very *2oo6* that i couldn't take it. it's 2021 now, so back at it.
i need some help figuring out this 2006-iness quality. is this a publishing trend? the dubner&levitt gotcha! school of writing: "we know you think you know that [whatever] is true, but allow us to present very specific small sets of numbers that will reveal your idiot ways." the gladwell-inspired self help from sociologists for professional professionals. like, they arent jared diamond but aspire to the diamondesque and in the more peripheral texts (this one!) are sure to quote him.
was all this the efflourescence of the Fast Company era? a repudiation of it? both?
i really don't and really didn't dislike Freakonomics as much as it may seem. d&l relied overmuch on a narrative formula, but that was ok...it is just that the book was so popular that it seemed like everyone started relying on that same formula (the jonah whoever boston globe guy who was always writing those "you no doubt think people in cities are smart but ACTUALLY cities make you dumb because you never have to look down and wade through a creek to get somewhere"
2006 was about the time i decided to focus on just a few authors instead of the whole hot wide world of new nonfiction. just for a little while, i thought, i will only pay attention to new releases from thomas frank, paul krugman, sarah vowell, chuck klosterman, jon krakauer. david brooks was on the list, but his interests diverged from mine (no hard feelings, go with god etc). at any rate, it was a good decision because i'm not not enjoying this book.
anyhow, i am glad i have continued because of the neat take-down of New Urbanism between pages 202 and 206.
"What a dense, stylish urban environment and its predominantly residential outer rings do not provide...are what most of the 36 percent of Americans who are currently raising children...want"
'They're building ephermeral cities for the nomadic rich'
.....
why this book has inspired current reading notes and others have not, i do not know.
.....
page 159 reminds me that sarbanes-oxley required precise tracking of financial documents and that when i lived in nyc i was, for the most part, a sarbanes-oxley temp. pretty much every job i had was for a company that had been in the news for being bad.
......
---oh my gosh, not a review, just stuff i want to think about. is very messy...is not meant to be clever, like here is a book about mess and here is my messy mess. i hope no one could even consider that i would do such a george herbert-ass thing! here is a poem about an altar; i have made the words look like an altar! or whatever.----
i started reading this book when it came out, but it is so very, very *2oo6* that i couldn't take it. it's 2021 now, so back at it.
i need some help figuring out this 2006-iness quality. is this a publishing trend? the dubner&levitt gotcha! school of writing: "we know you think you know that [whatever] is true, but allow us to present very specific small sets of numbers that will reveal your idiot ways." the gladwell-inspired self help from sociologists for professional professionals. like, they arent jared diamond but aspire to the diamondesque and in the more peripheral texts (this one!) are sure to quote him.
was all this the efflourescence of the Fast Company era? a repudiation of it? both?
i really don't and really didn't dislike Freakonomics as much as it may seem. d&l relied overmuch on a narrative formula, but that was ok...it is just that the book was so popular that it seemed like everyone started relying on that same formula (the jonah whoever boston globe guy who was always writing those "you no doubt think people in cities are smart but ACTUALLY cities make you dumb because you never have to look down and wade through a creek to get somewhere"
2006 was about the time i decided to focus on just a few authors instead of the whole hot wide world of new nonfiction. just for a little while, i thought, i will only pay attention to new releases from thomas frank, paul krugman, sarah vowell, chuck klosterman, jon krakauer. david brooks was on the list, but his interests diverged from mine (no hard feelings, go with god etc). at any rate, it was a good decision because i'm not not enjoying this book.
ladyscientist's review against another edition
3.0
It's an interesting book that advocates slight disorder. It's what I refer to as "paper mess." It's a fun read with amusing anecdotes. However, I don't think it'll convince Stephen that it's better for me just to allow the papers and stuff to pile up on my desk at home. It did comfort me, though, that the mess of papers (and lots of stuff) on my desk at work may make me a better-- not worse-- scientist.
kiskadee321's review against another edition
4.0
This book probably wouldn't rate "amazing" for most. However, at the time that I read it, I was in the greatest state of obsessive compulsiveness with regard to cleanliness, organization and planning in my life. Reading this book showed me that it might be time to lighten up and that sometimes, a little last minute change or a book left on the table rather than the shelf wouldn't kill anyone.
I'm still not ready to leave my house w/o making my bed though. That still bothers me all day long.
I'm still not ready to leave my house w/o making my bed though. That still bothers me all day long.
atomicleda's review against another edition
2.0
I started listening to the audio book and I couldn't finish it. The premise is very interesting, but the long drawn out details and the fact that the author skips from one seemingly unrelated subject to another caused me to lose interest quick.
emmalita's review against another edition
4.0
I had no idea that my reviews of books on cleaning and tidying was going to become a series. Three makes a series. right? This one though, advocates for mess. I am on board for this message.
Eric Abrahamson is a professor of management at Columbia University and David Freeman is a journalist and author. While they do talk some about mess in the home, their hearts are really in mess in business and the office. This is not a book that tells you how to be strategically messy, it does tell you why you should be strategically messy.
As I said in the previous reviews, I help people clean and organize AND I don’t care how neat or messy you keep your house. Like Abrahamson and Freedman, I am well aware that there is a billion dollar industry that has grown up around organization and storage. You should not trust any industry that makes billions of dollars off your culturally driven insecurities – organization, wellness (diet, fitness, beauty) and wealth (mlms, wealth management, all those courses that teach people how to become rich). They will never allow us to be enough. We will always fall short because if we stop needing their help, they stop making money.
It should be noted that this book was published in 2006. It has an ode to “rising political star” Arnold Schwarzenegger that has not aged well. Ignore that part. The book starts off at a national conference for professional organizers. They make it very clear that organization is a fast growing industry and it is designed to use your insecurities to sell you services and stuff. From there they wander through some case studies and features some experts on why a certain amount of mess and disorganization is more beneficial than harmful. They also talk about the flip side – why too much organization and neatness is far more harmful than beneficial. Some of the points they make are:
* our society takes an unnecessarily dim view of mess and judges people for mess
* our world, the universe, and our brains are naturally messy and contain a certain amount of disorder
* neatness and organization are time consuming and may require unneeded labor costs
* the disorder we create in our work spaces very often has a logic that allows us to work more productively
* for a variety of reasons, mess promoted productivity and creativity
* children learn better and perform better with a degree of mess and disorder
* a certain amount of mess and disorganization allows your enterprise to adapt quickly to changing trends
* our personal messes reflect who we are as individuals and eliminating them strips us of our personality.
I had an strong emotional reaction when they were talking about the persistence of the “clean desk” policy in work places. Years ago, I went to law school to make the world a better place. I discovered that I was unsuited for the particular area I had planned to study – human rights (weak stomach). I ended up working for a mental health association managing a small, controversial advocacy agenda. I loved it and I was good at it. My workplace became increasingly toxic and I ended up burning out, going to massage therapy school and working in a bakery. One of the points of contention was my messy desk. I dislike wasting my time on cosmetic things that are done purely to meet an unrealistic and arbitrary standard. It was hardly the only problem, and the head of my department was hardly my only antagonist, but the conflict over my desk exacerbated all of the other toxic issues, drained my motivation and ground me down. I have not worked in an office since.
One of the things that Abrahamson and Freedman allude to, but don’t dive into, is the gendered nature of judgement about mess and disorganization. They do follow an appointment between a professional organizer and client. The client is a successful woman and it is hinted at that her failure to keep a clean and tidy house is causing marital strife. The husband is no where to be found during the appointment. Viewers of Tidying Up with Marie Kondo will recognize the pattern of both the husband and the wife blaming the wife for the mess while also discovering that the husband isn’t exactly the patron saint of throwing things away.
One of the reasons I appreciated Marie Kondo’s book was because it focused on the individual creating a space filled with the things that brought them joy. I liked Rachel Hoffman’s Unfuck Your Habitat method because it doesn’t insist on a spotless house at all times and strongly recommends that you limit your cleaning time commitment. Abrahamson and Freedman back up a lot of my personal feelings about not getting wrapped up in shame about mess. Mess is fine. Relax. You have better things to do with your time.
One final anecdote – A woman contacted me about helping her daughter clean and organize her room because her daughter wasn’t getting her homework done and she blamed the room. I met with them in their home and asked the daughter to take me to her room without the mother. The room was messy. I asked the daughter to tell me about her room. As she explained, it was clear to me that the room was organized, just messy. I asked the daughter why she thought she wasn’t getting her homework done. She said she and her mom fought so much about the room that she hated being at home, so she hung out with her friends instead. I asked the mom to come into the room and I explained her daughter’s organization to her. After some compromises about keeping dirty dishes out of the room and dirty laundry in baskets, she agreed to let go of the perfectly neat room she envisioned for her daughter. Her daughter agreed to spend less time with friends. I worked with the daughter for the rest of the school year, helping her learn to organize big homework projects. She graduated from high school on time and I feel better about that first hour long meeting than I do about my decade working for the mental health group.
Eric Abrahamson is a professor of management at Columbia University and David Freeman is a journalist and author. While they do talk some about mess in the home, their hearts are really in mess in business and the office. This is not a book that tells you how to be strategically messy, it does tell you why you should be strategically messy.
As I said in the previous reviews, I help people clean and organize AND I don’t care how neat or messy you keep your house. Like Abrahamson and Freedman, I am well aware that there is a billion dollar industry that has grown up around organization and storage. You should not trust any industry that makes billions of dollars off your culturally driven insecurities – organization, wellness (diet, fitness, beauty) and wealth (mlms, wealth management, all those courses that teach people how to become rich). They will never allow us to be enough. We will always fall short because if we stop needing their help, they stop making money.
It should be noted that this book was published in 2006. It has an ode to “rising political star” Arnold Schwarzenegger that has not aged well. Ignore that part. The book starts off at a national conference for professional organizers. They make it very clear that organization is a fast growing industry and it is designed to use your insecurities to sell you services and stuff. From there they wander through some case studies and features some experts on why a certain amount of mess and disorganization is more beneficial than harmful. They also talk about the flip side – why too much organization and neatness is far more harmful than beneficial. Some of the points they make are:
* our society takes an unnecessarily dim view of mess and judges people for mess
* our world, the universe, and our brains are naturally messy and contain a certain amount of disorder
* neatness and organization are time consuming and may require unneeded labor costs
* the disorder we create in our work spaces very often has a logic that allows us to work more productively
* for a variety of reasons, mess promoted productivity and creativity
* children learn better and perform better with a degree of mess and disorder
* a certain amount of mess and disorganization allows your enterprise to adapt quickly to changing trends
* our personal messes reflect who we are as individuals and eliminating them strips us of our personality.
I had an strong emotional reaction when they were talking about the persistence of the “clean desk” policy in work places. Years ago, I went to law school to make the world a better place. I discovered that I was unsuited for the particular area I had planned to study – human rights (weak stomach). I ended up working for a mental health association managing a small, controversial advocacy agenda. I loved it and I was good at it. My workplace became increasingly toxic and I ended up burning out, going to massage therapy school and working in a bakery. One of the points of contention was my messy desk. I dislike wasting my time on cosmetic things that are done purely to meet an unrealistic and arbitrary standard. It was hardly the only problem, and the head of my department was hardly my only antagonist, but the conflict over my desk exacerbated all of the other toxic issues, drained my motivation and ground me down. I have not worked in an office since.
One of the things that Abrahamson and Freedman allude to, but don’t dive into, is the gendered nature of judgement about mess and disorganization. They do follow an appointment between a professional organizer and client. The client is a successful woman and it is hinted at that her failure to keep a clean and tidy house is causing marital strife. The husband is no where to be found during the appointment. Viewers of Tidying Up with Marie Kondo will recognize the pattern of both the husband and the wife blaming the wife for the mess while also discovering that the husband isn’t exactly the patron saint of throwing things away.
One of the reasons I appreciated Marie Kondo’s book was because it focused on the individual creating a space filled with the things that brought them joy. I liked Rachel Hoffman’s Unfuck Your Habitat method because it doesn’t insist on a spotless house at all times and strongly recommends that you limit your cleaning time commitment. Abrahamson and Freedman back up a lot of my personal feelings about not getting wrapped up in shame about mess. Mess is fine. Relax. You have better things to do with your time.
One final anecdote – A woman contacted me about helping her daughter clean and organize her room because her daughter wasn’t getting her homework done and she blamed the room. I met with them in their home and asked the daughter to take me to her room without the mother. The room was messy. I asked the daughter to tell me about her room. As she explained, it was clear to me that the room was organized, just messy. I asked the daughter why she thought she wasn’t getting her homework done. She said she and her mom fought so much about the room that she hated being at home, so she hung out with her friends instead. I asked the mom to come into the room and I explained her daughter’s organization to her. After some compromises about keeping dirty dishes out of the room and dirty laundry in baskets, she agreed to let go of the perfectly neat room she envisioned for her daughter. Her daughter agreed to spend less time with friends. I worked with the daughter for the rest of the school year, helping her learn to organize big homework projects. She graduated from high school on time and I feel better about that first hour long meeting than I do about my decade working for the mental health group.