by Leo Babauta
Introduction. Zen Habits: Handbook for Life is a compilation of author Leo Babauta’s most popular blog posts to his website, “Zen Habits”. In this book, he discusses the various lifestyle changes he implemented into his life, which empowered him to quit consuming caffeine, train for and run several marathons, become a successful author, and enjoy his life more.
Analysis. Most of the content in Babauta’s book is not overly original but, rather, a testimonial to the power and influence that small, consistent decisions can have in shaping a person’s life. The uniqueness of this particular book is not in its contents, but in its sourcing. Compiling blog posts is very reminiscent of epistolary novels like Bram Stoker’s classic, Dracula, or Lucius Annaeus Seneca’s eternal guide, Letters from a Stoic.
Evaluation. It is important for every person to set aside the time to ponder about what motivates and inspires them, as well as to find their inner peace and tranquility. Zen Habits: Handbook for Life attempts to outline some of the best practices to aid a person in achieving these goals. Babauta’s life is a true testimonial that these habits can deliver measurable and reliable results, as has been documented countless other times in many other books on achieving success and/or happiness. Namely, the author focuses on a person decluttering their life, both mentally and in their surroundings, as well as emphasizing the importance of simplicity and organization. Generally, he asserts that chaos in one’s soul/mind can often be traced to chaos in their environment and, as a “neat freak”, I certainly endorse this line of logic.
Conclusion. Although this book doesn’t deliver anything groundbreaking or especially revolutionary regarding its intended topic, the sourcing of the content is unique and the author appears genuine in his quest to help others. All in all, I find far too often we slant the narrative on this topic to be fixated on “stress management” and far too rarely on actually replacing that stress with inner-peace. Consequently, I strongly recommend this book to every person who grapples with stress in their life, along with many other books aimed at finding inner peace and tranquility- of which, the list is very long.