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Throw Out Fifty Things: Clear The Clutter, Find Your Life (2009)

by Gail Blanke(Favorite Author)

3.4 of 5 Votes: 4

ISBN

044650579X (ISBN13: 9780446505796)

languge

English

genre

Nonfiction

publisher

Grand Central Life & Style

review 1: I started to pay more attention to my belongings in recent years and every time I do spring cleaning, I do throw/ give away the things that I don't need. Hence the book title appeals to me while I was browsing in the library.What I like about this book is that in addition to throwing away the physical things, there is a section on dumping the unwanted mental stuff that we may keep in our minds for years. It's a good reminder to me to stop thinking about certain events that makes me feel bad or have no positive value in my life.
review 2: At a time of transition in my own life, it was suggested that I might enjoy reading this book. So I did. There was nothing in the book that was 'wrong' or 'horrible' in my opinion. Blanke does a nice job of guiding the reade... morer through the process of sorting through all the things that accumulate in our lives - from our material things (going through the house room by room), to the mental and emotional baggage we often carry and which burdens are daily living. All of that is good stuff.The book was obviously directed toward female readers - nothing wrong with that - it was just something that I noted. But the main reason I gave this book an 'average' rating is because it was missing one very important component.Throughout the book, Blanke asks the reader to have the strength and will power to do the things, and throw the things, that needs to be eliminated from our lives. But as a person who has served as a pastor for 22+ years, I can tell you with full conviction that willpower alone will not suffice - to either make real change in our lives, or to throw out things that need to be discarded. There are 12-step groups meeting across the country filled with millions of people who have discovered that willpower alone will not be sufficient to bring about real and needed change in our lives. What was missing in Blanke's book, and what most 12 steppers and people of faith have realized, is that real change can only happen when one examines the spiritual component of our lives. Without a spiritual surrender to God - to "come to believe only a power greater than ourselves" can bring about real change - then the steps Blanke urges upon her readers will not come to pass. Perhaps the changing status of religion in America made Blanke nervous or hesitant to address the spiritual component of life; but without it, none of her suggestions will happen in the lives of most readers. Having said that, much of what she writes is good and insightful and helpful nonetheless. less

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