Take Back Your Time - Suggested Reading

Suggested Reading

Click on the titles in red to order directly from the Take Back Your Time web site (sponsored by The Simple Living Network). Your purchase directly supports the Take Back Your Time campaign.

7 Simple Steps To Unclutter Your Life -- Donna Smullin: Find balance in an unbalanced world. Taking control of the clutter that creates stress in our lives helps us to clearly see what is important to each of us. In 7 easy to follow steps performed over a 3 week period, Donna promises to help transform your life.
Affluenza: The All-Consuming Epidemic -- John de Graaf: What is Affluenza? Do you have it? Can you get rid of it? Yes, you might have it. It's easy to catch in the modern world. But this book explains what it is, where it comes from, and how to cure yourself so you can have a happy, healthy life.
Choosing Simplicity -- Linda Breen Pierce: Pierce spent three years talking to people who have simplified their lives. Over 200 Americans discuss the ups and downs, the rewards,and the solutions while charting a new course.
Don't Hurry, Be Happy -- Ernie J. Zelinski: Zelinski gives you more than 650 reasons to slow down! Life is beautiful. Don't miss it!
Freedom From Work - Our Obsession With Work: Is There A Way Out? -- Jack Fecker: Reformed workaholic Jack Fecker offers his his insights gained from living the uber-work lifestyle and giving it up.
Getting A Life -- David Heitmiller & Jacqueline Blix: Blix and her husband David Heitmiller have written a book detailing their journey from consumers of stuff to consumers of life! More than a money management tome, it's about changing the way we think.
Graceful Simplicity -- Jerome M. Segal: Explaining the politics of consumerism, this book gives an intellectual and compassionate impetus to scaling back and adding more love to life.
How To Survive Without A Salary -- Charles Long: Canadian Charles Long removed himself from the daily work grind and shares his adventures. Lots of practical tips to get what you need without shopping at the mall.
I Don't Know What I Want, But I Know It's Not This -- Julie Jansen: Focusing on dissatisfaction in the workplace because we're working in a field or place we dislike, Jansen walks us through the process of change.
Inner Simplicity: 100 Ways To Regain Peace & Nourish Your Soul -- Elaine St. James: Emphasizing spirituality and emotional work rather than just cleaning out the closets, this book looks at simplicity from the inside out.
Joined At The Heart: The Transformation Of The American Family -- Al & Tipper Gore: Our former Vice President and his wife look deeply into the effects of overwork, over-scheduling and time pressure on the American family, presenting powerful arguments and data. They call for a campaign to regain balance in American life between work and family and for new national policies that could help turn us in the direction of balanced lives.
Kellogg's Six-Hour Day -- Benjamin K. Hunnicutt: To understand why we place work before family and rest, Hunnicutt takes us on a well-written intimate journey through the history of the Kellogg's cereal company experiment to release workers to enjoy life. You'll learn why the 40 hour workweek became the only conversation rather than why the workplace owns our lives.
Living The Simple Life: A Guide To Scaling Down & Enjoying Life More -- Elaine St. James: A very simple guide to thinking and doing to get yourself to live simple.
Living Well On Practically Nothing -- Edward H. Romney: Want to know where to live cheap, and how to pinch pennies when you get there? A guide on how to turn hobbies and marginal talents into income while saving hours of free time for yourself to enjoy.
Making A Living Without A Job -- Barbara J. Winter: Thinking of starting your own business or working free-lance? This book takes you through some basics, and encourages you to assess your temperament.
Married To The Job: Why We Live To Work & What We Can Do About It - Ilene Philipson: For an in-depth psychological study on the over-attachment that Americans have to work and its roots, pick up Ilene Philipson's insightful Married To The Job. Using case studies and lots of data, Philipson shows clearly the ways in which we use work to try to meet unfulfilled emotional and relationship needs, throw ourselves deeply into jobs -- over-working at the expense of many other parts of our lives -- and often end up feeling betrayed when we are laid off or treated badly in the workplace. Philipson, a therapist and former UC-Berkeley professor presents a thought-provoking and disturbing picture of our obsession with work and the ways by which market values have invaded all aspects of our lives.
Nothing's Too Small To Make A Difference -- Wanda Urbanska & Frank Levering: Simple things you can do to change your life and the world around you. Chapters cover time, money, work, the environment, child rearing, community life, health, food and spiritual growth.
Our Own Time -- David R. Roediger and Phillip S. Foner: An exhaustive history of American labor. This book details the movers and shakers in the rise of labor unions and the politicians, merchantilists and corporations who shaped the lives of the working class. If you've ever said," TGIF" , learn why you have a weekend free of toil, and the prospects of keeping it that way.
Playing For A Living... Without Apology -- Lou Androes: About economics and money managing to take charge and create more fun in your life.
Putting Family First: Successful Strategies For Reclaiming Family Life In A Hurry-Up World - William Doherty: On the impacts of over-scheduling on American families and what to do about it, we recommend Putting Family First, a new book by William Doherty, professor of family studies at the University of Minnesota and a member of the TBYTD steering committee and Barbara Carlson, co-founder of the organization, Putting Family First, in Wayzata, Minnesota. Bill and Barbara have also written a chapter on this subject for the TAKE BACK YOUR TIME DAY handbook, but for the full story, give their excellent new book a read.
Sharing The Work, Sparing The Planet: Work Time, Consumption & Ecology -- Anders Hayden: Looking at work reduction policies around the world Hayden draws a new vision for ecology and human life to prosper while consuming less.
Slowing Down To The Speed Of Life " How To Create A More Peaceful, Simpler Life From The Inside Out" Richard Carlson and Joseph Bailey: Theories about how to live in the present moment. A good place to start on your journey to a more fulfilling life.
Take Back Your Time -- John de Graaf, Editor: The Official Handbook with several chapters on different topics concerning why we work, rush through life, and the real price we pay. Both problems and solutions are highlighted. If you have time to read one book this year...
The Art Of Doing Nothing: Simple Ways To Make Time For Yourself -- Veronique Vienne: A pretty book of small ways to slow down and enjoy life. Not so much to change your life in a big way, more of a meditation on lifes little pleasures in a rushed world.
The Circle of Simplicity -- Cecile Andrews: One of the most popular guides to giving up the consumption lifestyle and loving simple things that create spiritual wealth.
The Complete Idiot's Guide to Simple Living -- Georgene Lockwood: Money management, and how to afford a simple lifestyle is this book's strengths. Happy and upbeat, this might be a good primer.
The Lazy Person's Guide To Success -- Ernie J. Zelinski: Once again, Zelinski is a cheerleader for simple living, having less and enjoying it more!
The Overworked American -- Juliet Schor: The book that seemed to have started it all! By the early 90's people reported time-famine, yet research showed people were working the same as ever. Schor reexamined " common knowledge" to find we really were working longer days and weeks, taking less time off, and pressured to do more in less time.
The Right To Be Lazy -- Paul Lafargue: Marxist Lafargue wrote his long essay at the dawn of the 20th century to discuss the reasons why the rising obsession with work rather than living life for intelligence and compassion was becoming the goal of modernity. The more things change... .
The Simple Living Guide -- Janet Luhrs: Emphasizing a socially conscious style of living rather than worrying about less money, this book differs from most on the subject of simple living. Eating well, buying smart and connecting with people are emphasized no matter your income.
The Time Bind -- Arlie Russell Hochschild: Professor Hochschild's research documents the time-famine families feel now that the majority of parents work full-time. She also examines the role of " good" companies that try to meet workers needs, and how too much of a good thing can be a trap that places childrens needs at the bottom of the " list of things to do."
The Working Life -- Joanne B. Ciulla: Ethics professor Ciulla has written the history of work since the beginning of human communication in an entertaining way. What is really going on when the boss or CEO speaks is revealed, along with the joys and difficulties of working for a living.
Time Wars -- Jeremy Rifkin: If you wonder why you wear a watch, and someone else is in charge of your time, Rifkin explains all. The genius of Rifkin is that he is far ahead of the curve on social issues, and sets the debate. Reading any of his books will increase your IQ.
Un-Jobbing: The Adult Liberation Handbook -- Michael Fogler: If you want to align your values with your need to earn money, this book talks about the issues you'll encounter, and offers practical solutions.
Walden -- Henry David Thoreau: In 1854 Thoreau published his book examining the issue of essential living. He believed the less labor (for wages) a man did, the better for him and society. If you haven't read this since high school, read it again and see where the American simplicity movement learned its chops.
Work Less & Play More -- Steven Catlin
Work To Live: The Guide To Getting A Life -- Joe Robinson: If you think other countries get a lot more time off than we do, you're not mistaken. Find out just how much in Joe Robinson's groundbreaking new book, Work To Live. Robinson is the founder of the Work to Live Campaign in Santa Monica, California (www.worktolive.info). He is campaigning for national legislation that would give Americans a minimum of three weeks of paid vacation after a year on the job and four weeks after three years, bringing us closer to the standards in the rest of the industrial world. Robinson's book combines good data with great stories and lots of humor; the most powerful chapter, "Lay Down the Law" is by itself worth the price of the book.
Work Without End -- Benjamin K. Hunnicutt: The debate over the work week hours began to change and legislation was passed during the early 20th century. Detailed historical account of why 40 hours became the standard, instead of a shorter work week, and why work and buying became an American obsession.
Working Harder Isn't Working -- Bruce O'Hara: Canadian O'Hara examinies the price we pay in the seemingly unending cycle of job growth and unemployment. Pleading for a redistribution of work and regaining leisure, O'Hara challenges assumptions of the working life.
Your Money or Your Life -- Joseph R. Dominquez & Vicki Robin: If your high income isn't bringing you the happiness you thought it would, it's likely money has power over you, instead of the other way around. In a detailed plan, this book will help you rearrange your priorities.

This list was compiled by the People for a Shorter Weekweek, Mark and Tressie Schindele, Dave Wampler and John de Graaf.