Timeless Simplicity

Creative Living in a Consumer Society

John Lane

Green Books 2001; £8.95/ $12.95p/b

This gem of a book is a lucid manifesto and plea for a creative frugality much needed in a world of techno-distraction, superficial entertainment and consumer blindness. In a style that coheres with its content, Lane offers a refreshing survey of the idea of voluntary simplicity. Avoiding the extreme of arid asceticism, Lane manages to communicate the richness and deep benefits of a radical simplicity that is 'a state of mind flying in the face of the dominant norm'. Backing up his arguments with historical and contemporary references from both eastern and western traditions, secular and religious, this is a manual of inspiring vision and practical encouragement. Timeless Simplicity restored my faith in the possibility of casting off the trends and complexities by which we are so bewildered. Read, act, simplify - the world needs this sort of imaginative generosity.

Padmakara