The human addiction to comfort has dulled the experiences that make life meaningful. This is Michael Easter’s core argument in The Comfort Crisis. According to Easter we need to do more hard things, starting with engaging in activities with a 50 per cent chance of failure. Things that challenge us to grow at the edge […]
Wait, isn’t this the Good Life? I picked up The Good Life from a marina library enroute to Sydney. Surely I was living the good life already. At least I thought so. Beautiful sunsets, mild weather, frolicking dolphins, moving under the power of the wind and plenty of time for reflection. As it turns out […]
The Wisdom of Frugality is an unusual book for our times. It sets out to rescue frugality from its reputation as joyless, miserly, or morally suspect. Author Emrys Westacott’s core claim is clear. Living with less is not only ethically defensible, but often the most coherent path to a good life. This sits squarely within […]
A haunting vision, where the ashen landscape, ravaged by humanity, fights back ferociously. While a captivating thriller everyone should read, it misses one small but important point.
hedonismnoun living and behaving in ways that mean you get as much pleasure out of life as possible, according to the belief that the most important thing in life is to enjoy yourself Cambridge English Dictionary Instincts, Pleasure, and the Role of Hedonism You might find it hard to reconcile the idea that hedonism and living […]
When More is Not Enough We live in an era of unparalleled material abundance. Compared to every generation before us, people in just about every part of the world are healthier, wealthier, better educated, and more comfortable than ever. And this is not just by a little. Yet despite this progress, or perhaps because of […]
In the face of acid rain, eco-deterioration in the 1970s prompted significant societal change by the 1990s through cap-and-trade and cleaner fuels. This narrative parallels other movements, like same-sex marriage and smoking reduction, emphasizing the power of grassroots mobilization, changing norms, and diverse coalitions to inspire lasting transformations for a sustainable future.
“Children come into the world burning to learn. What extinguishes that flame is often school.”— Peter Gray, Free to Learn At Sudbury Valley School in Massachusetts, there are no teachers. No curriculum. No tests. No grades. No age segregation. And yet, for over fifty years, its alumni have gone on to become scientists, artists, engineers, […]
Living Better by Doing Less Imagine a world where neighbourhoods hum with shared tools and laughter instead of traffic. Where food grows in backyards and balconies. Where work ends at midday, and afternoons are for wandering, mending, cooking, or resting. Where we measure progress not in profits, but in how many people feel safe, nourished, […]
What Yuval Noah Harari’s bestseller taught me about living more with less. When I first read Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari, I expected a sweeping history of humankind and it delivered. But what surprised me most wasn’t just the rise and fall of empires or the leaps of scientific discovery. It was the deep and […]
