Voluntary Simplicity Reading List

Andrews, Cecile. Circle of Simplicity: Return to the Good Life. Harper Collins, 1997.

Arraj, Tyra and James Arraj. The Treasures of Simple Living: A Family’s Search for a Simpler and More Meaningful Life in the Middle of a Forest. 1987.

Aslett, Don. Clutter’s Last Stand: it’s time to de-junk your life! Writer’s Digest Books, 1984.

AtKisson, Alan. Believing Cassandra: an optimist looks at a pessimist’s world. Chelsea Green, 1999.

Blix, Jacqueline and David Heitmiller. Getting a Life: Real Lives Transformed by Your Money or Your Life. Viking Penguin, 1997.

Callenbach, Ernest. Ecotopia: a novel about ecology, people and politics in 1999. Pluto Press, 1978.

Callenbach, Ernest. Ecotopia emerging. Banyan Tree Books, 1981.

Carlson, Richard and Joseph V. Bailey. Slowing Down to the Speed of Life: How to Create a More Peaceful, Simpler Life from the Inside Out. HarperCollins, 1997.

De Graaf, John (editor). Take Back Your Time: fighting overwork and time poverty in America. Berrett-Koehler, 2003.

Dominguez, Joe and Vicki Robin. Your Money or Your Life: Transforming Your Relationship with Money and Achieving Financial Independence. Viking Penguin, 1992.

Durning, Alan. How Much is Enough?: the Consumer Society and the Future of the Earth. W.W. Norton & Company, 1992.

Durning, Alan. This Place on Earth: Home and the Practice of Permanence. Sasquatch Books, 1996.

Elgin, Duane. Voluntary Simplicity: Toward a Way of Life that is Outwardly Simple, Inwardly Rich. Morrow, 1993.

Glendinning, Chellis. My name is Chellis & I’m in recovery from Western Civilization. Shambhala, 1994.

Jensen, Derrick. The Culture of Make Believe. Context Books, 2002.

Kifer, Ken. The New World. 2003.

Kinder, Melvyn. Going nowhere fast: step off life’s treadmills and find peace of mind. Prentice Hall Press, 1990.

Lasn, Kalle. Culture jam: the uncooling of America. Eagle Brook, 1999.

Lerner, Steve. Eco-Pioneers: Practical Visionaries Solving Today’s Environmental Problems. MIT, 1997.

Luhrs, Janet. The Simple Living Guide: a Sourcebook for Less Stressful, More Joyful Living. Broadway Books, 1997.

Mander, Jerry. In the absence of the sacred: the failure of technology and the survival of the Indian Nations. Sierra Club, 1991.

Mander, Jerry. Four arguments for the elimination of television. Morrow, 1978.

Máté, Ferenc. A Reasonable Life: toward a simpler, secure more humane existence. Albatross, 1993.

Miller, Timothy. How to want what you have: discovering the magic and grandeur of ordinary existence. Henry Holt, 1995.

Nearing, Scott and Helen Nearing. Living the good life: how to live simply and sanely in a troubled world. Schocken Books, 1970.

Oelschlaeger, Max. The idea of wilderness: from prehistory to the age of ecology. Yale University Press, 1991.

Pierce, Linda Breen. Choosing simplicity: real people finding peace and fulfillment in a complex world. Gallagher Press, 2000.

Princen, Thomas, Michael Maniates, and Ken Conca (editors). Confronting Consumption. MIT Press, 2002. [I hesitated to recommend this book because I disagreed strongly with chapter 3. The rest of the book is very good though, so I am recommending it with that caveat.]

Ray, Paul H. The cultural creatives: how 50 million people are changing the world. Harmony Books, 2000.

Register, Richard. Ecocity Berkeley: building cities for a healthy future. North Atlantic Books, 1987.

Rosenblatt, Roger (editor). Consuming desires: consumption, culture, and the pursuit of happiness. Island Press, 1999.

Schmidt, Leigh Eric. Consumer rites: the buying & selling of American holidays. Princeton University Press, 1995.

Schor, Juliet B. The Overworked American: the unexpected decline of leisure. Basic Books, 1991.

Schor, Juliet B. The Overspent American: upscaling, downshifting, and the new consumer. Basic Books, 1998.

Schumacher, E.F. Small is Beautiful: economics as if people mattered. Harper & Row, 1973.

St. James, Elaine. Simplify your life: 100 ways to slow down and enjoy the things that really matter. Hyperion, 1994.

St. James, Elaine. Living the simple life: a guide to scaling down and enjoying more. Hyperion, 1996.

Thoreau, Henry David. Walden. 1854. (If like many modern readers, you find Thoreau’s 19th century prose difficult to understand, try reading the version with commentary adjacent to Thoreau’s text on Ken Kifer’s website at http://www.kenkifer.com/Thoreau/.)

Wachtel, Paul L. The Poverty of affluence: a psychological portrait of the American way of life. New Society Publishers, 1989.

Videos

The Ad and the Ego: truth and consequences. California Newsreel, 1996.

Affluenza. Bullfrog Films, 1997.

Escape from Affluenza. Bullfrog Films, 1998.