The Plain Reader: Essays on Making a Simple Life

This is one of those days when I am feeling terribly blessed because I was able to buy a copy of The Plain Reader Essays on Making a Simple Life - Edited by Scott Savage. This is one of those books if you can find a copy I recommend you buy it. It is out of print, so I think the only places you can find a copy are via used books or small new booksellers who may have a copy stuck away somewhere.So what makes this book a gem? Well, for one thing it is a series of articles on a variety of topics, written by a lot of simple living folks on subjects that those seeking or living a simple life will really appreciate. One might even say its a great book to have next to your bedside so you can read something short, and encouraging before going to sleep.

This selection of essays should be on the bedside table -- and read -- by everyone who claims to want to simplify their life. The truth is, many of us (Baby Boomers, Yuppies, BoBos et al) would like to live a simple life, provided we could still have all the amenities we've grown accustomed to -- cars (but nothing flashy), television (but not cable, of course), movies (art on film), designer clothes (but simple ones), gourmet food (we'll grow the herbs ourselves), computers/Internet access (well, it's just a modern typewriter/telephone and what a research tool!) Savage and his friends claim that the techno life most of us lead is actually simpler than the lives they lead. In the techno life, we can do away with too much interaction with others. We separate ourselves with complications. We can live in virtual reality, paring down the complications (human beings) into abstracts. We can have friends around the world, although we might not know our neighbors names. We can amuse ourselves, filling our time with fantastic games, entertaining TV, music from around the world. What's wrong with that? It may be that life is so short, and we are spreading ourselves so thin, with all the possibilities at our finger tips, we may be missing real life completely.They claim the simple life is actually the more complicated life, with all the mess and difficulties of living in a small community, having to rely on neighbors (who we might not even like) for help, raising our own foods, finding ways to entertain ourselves and our families that might involve planting, sewing, talking, writing, singing, and being in the moment (without the new agey spin to it). Without lecturing, this collection of articles from The Plain Reader newspaper (subscribers are limited to 5,000 in order to keep it small and hand-made) motivates, illuminates and educates us.Although the authors are generally Luddites, Quakers, Mennonites and other plain living folks, living sans TV, Nintendo, radio, daily newspapers, ownership of automobiles, etc., the articles are not judgmental of those of us still living in the consumer world. And let's be honest -- as much as we claim we want the simple life, here we are, you and I, writing and reading reviews, and buying books over the Internet! We're mentioned in the book, sympathetically.In an interview with Jerry Mander, the Plain editor says, "..but I have never had anyone say to me, 'No, no get away from me. These issues aren't important to me. I like being a machine.' On the contrary, in every case where I've spoken heart-to-heart about my concerns, they've turned around and said, 'You know, I, too, have a real sense of unease about what I'm doing. I think I do watch too much television. I do feel controlled by it,' etc. Now if I were to wag my finger at them, or organize activities to "wake them up," appealing to their minds, they would simply hold more tightly to their stake in the dominant culture. When I tell them my fears and faili

My husband and I bought this book shortly after we were married, looking for a devotional to read together. What we discovered between it's pages was life changing. It literally spun our home around 180 degrees. This book is a collection of essays originally published in a magazine called "Plain". It is a magazine of small "human scaled" proportions, that is it is entirelly produced by hand using only human power operating a printing press. Because of this labour intensive approach they have actually turned down requests to new subscriptions because they cannot humanly handle the greater load. And that is what this book is about. It is about people telling their stories about living life on a more human scale. It's about touching and smelling and tasteing life. It's message rips at the heart of the current western culture, but gently shows you a whole other world of people who know what life really is like instead of the virtual life we have become accustomed to. It deals with our basic assumptions about work, health, money, education, wisdom, and technology. It tells us that the assumptions we have made about truth are based much less on our educated and enlightened view points than we think. It shows us the naked truth about who were are. And that reality is an uncomfortable read at times. Not very many people who read these essays are ready to be this honest about themselves. But if you are willing it is simply excellent.

An interesting way to see the world: through amish eyes. Actually, the plot of this book isnt to force you into Amish life.....but to stop and look at the materialistic and all to consumeristic ways of life that we americans live now-a-days. I cant tell you what a breath of fresh air this book was to me, and how much it opened my eyes to wants, needs and how they ARNT the same thing-even though we fool ourselves into thinking that they are.

A book for anyone who has the growing feeling that all of modern life's complexities aren't really such a good thing after all.