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3.28 AVERAGE
3.28 AVERAGE
I'm only half way through the book, but I'm loving it so far. A brand new approach to living. And no, I'm not reading it just so I can convince my mother that I should not clean my room. But at least now I can come up with a good enough argument to put off organizing and be confident about the way I do things.
Another one of the type of non-fiction books I like: take a topic and make it come alive with a mixture of research and writing about people involved with that topic (see also my review of 'Backyard Giants.' I've never felt so good about my messy office.
Emmbrace your inner 'slob'!
Great book! Throughout the first chapter I found myself practically yelling 'YES!' outloud, I could relate so well. I love his explanation of organizing chronologically, in a stack (or 2...or 3...or....) on your desk, as it is me and it works. The stuff you really need will end up on top of the pile and the stuff that shifts to the bottom can be tossed later as it will either prove to have been unimportant or accomplished without the paper. So toss it now. See, it's not that we are DISorganized as much as organized DIFFERENTLY.
I'm pretty sure the authors would understand the quote I heard on Nickoledeon years ago by a little boy who stated that most people think of a floor as a means of transportation, when the truth is the floor is the largest shelf in the house!
Great book! Throughout the first chapter I found myself practically yelling 'YES!' outloud, I could relate so well. I love his explanation of organizing chronologically, in a stack (or 2...or 3...or....) on your desk, as it is me and it works. The stuff you really need will end up on top of the pile and the stuff that shifts to the bottom can be tossed later as it will either prove to have been unimportant or accomplished without the paper. So toss it now. See, it's not that we are DISorganized as much as organized DIFFERENTLY.
I'm pretty sure the authors would understand the quote I heard on Nickoledeon years ago by a little boy who stated that most people think of a floor as a means of transportation, when the truth is the floor is the largest shelf in the house!
informative
slow-paced
I really liked this one, more for some of the sparks it set off in my head than some of the actual content. This explores the phenomenon of professional Organisers and how they try to impose a rigid structure of order on people's lives. What isn't often explored in the quick TV show is the fact that a lot of these people find it almost impossible to maintain this order. Without some form of fludity in the choice many people find order a difficult prospect, and many find that it really doesn't quite work, both on a professional and personal level.
Personally I'm in a bit too much of a mess but rigid order doesn't really work all that well for me either (yes I'm a librarian, yes some parts of my life are well-organised)
While complete chaos isn't ideal, people in general are messy and systems have to reflect this. This is a look at humanising systems and instead of everyone being the same, that we all chose a system that works (and complete chaos doesn't tend to be a workable system) for us and that we all should allow for the fact that other people's mileage may vary.
It does display a certain amount of bias towards a more chaotic feel but that's slightly refreshing (for me at least) in a sea of books about rigid order.
Personally I'm in a bit too much of a mess but rigid order doesn't really work all that well for me either (yes I'm a librarian, yes some parts of my life are well-organised)
While complete chaos isn't ideal, people in general are messy and systems have to reflect this. This is a look at humanising systems and instead of everyone being the same, that we all chose a system that works (and complete chaos doesn't tend to be a workable system) for us and that we all should allow for the fact that other people's mileage may vary.
It does display a certain amount of bias towards a more chaotic feel but that's slightly refreshing (for me at least) in a sea of books about rigid order.
One of my resolutions for the New Year is to be a bit messier. Crazy? Maybe not so much. Four difficult years for my family has made me a believer in not worrying about piles of things, of being okay with leaving plans to the last minute. So it was a pleasure to find my thinking on the subject confirmed - and more - by this book. Other great reasons to be messier, that I had never thought about: there is more likelihood of serendipitous discovery when there is a mess, and a messy room provides wonderfully rich insights into its occupant's personality. Guess that is where I get my fascination with cluttered rooms. Overall, this was a great stroll through the idea of mess, and a lot of fun to read if, like me, you are a fan of the counter intuitive.
"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...)
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.
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...
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.