The Longing for Less
Living with Minimalism
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The Longing for Less
Narrated by:
Christopher Ragland
Buy Now for $23.92
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Narrated by:
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Christopher Ragland
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By:
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Kyle Chayka
New York Times Book Review Editor's Choice
"More than just a story of an abiding cultural preoccupation, The Longing For Less peels back the commodified husk of minimalism to reveal something surprising and thoroughly alive." —Jenny Odell, author of How to Do Nothing
“Less is more”: Everywhere we hear the mantra. Marie Kondo and other decluttering gurus promise that shedding our stuff will solve our problems. We commit to cleanse diets and strive for inbox zero. Amid the frantic pace and distraction of everyday life, we covet silence—and airy, Instagrammable spaces in which to enjoy it. The popular term for this brand of upscale austerity, “minimalism,” has mostly come to stand for things to buy and consume. But minimalism has richer, deeper, and altogether more valuable gifts to offer.
Kyle Chayka is one of our sharpest cultural observers. After spending years covering minimalist trends for leading publications, he now delves beneath this lifestyle’s glossy surface, seeking better ways to claim the time and space we crave. He shows that our longing for less goes back further than we realize. His search leads him to the philosophical and spiritual origins of minimalism, and to the stories of artists such as Agnes Martin and Donald Judd; composers such as John Cage and Julius Eastman; architects and designers; visionaries and misfits. As Chayka looks anew at their extraordinary lives and explores the places where they worked—from Manhattan lofts to the Texas high desert and the back alleys of Kyoto—he reminds us that what we most require is presence, not absence. The result is an elegant new synthesis of our minimalist desires and our profound emotional needs.©2020 Kyle Chayka (P)2020 Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
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Critic Reviews
Delving into art, architecture, music and philosophy, [Chayka] wants to learn why the idea of ‘less is more’ keeps resurfacing … For Chayka, Kondo’s method clearly doesn’t spark joy. More generative for him are the examples of artists who became known as Minimalists even as they disavowed the term. Experiencing their work sharpens his senses; in place of the dull hum of overstimulation, Chayka gains a heightened existential awareness . . . The minimalism that Chayka seeks encourages not an escape from the world but a deeper engagement with it.
The Longing for Less arrives not as an addition to the minimalist canon but as a corrective to it … Writing in search of the things that popular minimalism sweeps out of the frame—the void, transience, messiness, uncertainty—[Chayka] surveys minimalist figures in art, music, and philosophy … Along the way, he offers sharp critiques of thing-oriented minimalism … Underneath the vision of ‘less’ as an optimized life style lies the path to something stranger and more profound: a mode of living that strips away protective barriers and heightens the miracle of human presence, and the urgency, today, of what that miracle entails.
Chayka suspects, astutely, that minimalism can be used not just to make complex experiences simpler, but the other way around. Whether it is deployed as an ethical practice or as an aesthetic device (or as both at once), the minimalist mode can unlock truths lying dormant in one’s own mind . . . Chayka’s odyssey through the modern minimalist tradition is worthy of a stand-alone text. His study of the ‘blank spaces’ explored by the painter Agnes Martin, the architect Philip Johnson, the composer Julius Eastman, and many others is an exercise in grace and fidelity.
Kyle Chayka's fascinating new book explores not only how one might live in a minimalist fashion, but in fact where the idea comes from and how it's changed and adapted over the ages.
The Longing for Less tries to understand the current obsession with minimalism in all its complexity: the influence of Silicon Valley, yes, but also capitalism, the economy in the early 2000s, Stoic philosophy, Marie Kondo . . . Chayka takes the reader through history and around the world, giving equal consideration to minimalists like Steve Jobs (who lived in a giant house that remained entirely empty) as he does to Cicero.
[A] wide-ranging synthesis of a fascinating and perplexing impulse … Persuasively argues for the power of works associated with the minimalism movement.
[A] sharp debut . . . Chayka is in tune with the spirit of the movement.
With impressive breadth and depth of knowledge, Mr Chayka deftly skewers the shallowest, consumerist form of minimalism while being sensitive to the impulse for a simpler life, historically a response to decadence or chaos, and how the truest expression strips away artifice, challenging us to see things as they really are.
I purchased this book because I wanted to understand the larger philosophical picture of minimalism, which I've recently been considering as part of a large household decluttering project. Decluttering is causing me to question my relationship to the material world in general, and I've been racing through a number of books - mostly practical - on the topic.
While I have enjoyed the trip through the historical roots of minimalism, unfortunately the author has adopted a tone towards current-day minimalism which is dismissive and even, at times, takes on a subtle sneer. He seems to be suffering from small journalist malaise, whereby investigating a particular movement requires, in order to be taken seriously, an underlying dose of imperiousness assumed from the pedestal of 'one who knows'. He lumps all modern-day minimalists into an Instapleb category, disparaging the "curated authenticity" of soft colours, natural materials and bare, open spaces. He derides minimalist literature as 'an exercise in banality. It's saccharin and pre-digested, presented as self-help as much as a practical how-to guide. Each book contains an easy structure of epiphany and aftermath... important phrases are bolded like a high school text book... each one offers more or less the same version as the others." He portrays minimalist authors such as Marie Kondo as prescriptive and commanding, rather that merely giving advice based on her experience, and refers to people adopting minimalism as 'devotees', which linguistically associates minimalism with blind religious zeal.
It seems to me that the author could achieve the goal of giving historical context to modern-day minimalism without insulting his audience. The reality is that we live in a world of over-consumption where we are constantly being advertised to. Mindfulness is required to navigate this world, and minimalism provides a solution. It seems petty and mean-spirited to be so dismissive of the current-day movement and zero in on the consumptive and derivative aspects of it, rather than highlighting the positive.
This could have been a celebration of minimalism, its history and its place in the modern world, including its enormous benefit as an antidote to overconsumption. Instead it comes across (so far) as an exercise in academic cynicism.
I will continue to listen to it, and edit this review if I feel it's justified.
However, for those who are riding on the upward and freeing energy of decluttering, I would not recommend this book. It will take the wind out of your sails.
Minimalists Beware
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Spends too long talking about the art movement
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