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Summary: A Story of One Person's Journey
Review: Cecile does a good job of relating her personal simplicity journey. I especially enjoyed her insights about organized religion and how lacking it is in teaching us how to connect with our individual spiritual side. Some of her life experiences, as told, seem a bit trite, but it is her story. As a reader of many of these books I found the book to be 'fresh' in some of its ideas.I almost fell out of bed when I reached the chapter espousing communism as a better way of life. Her premise being that it forces simplicity upon the participants thus saving them from a mis-guided life of the pursuit of riches. This chapter comes towards the end, I disagreed with her point of view so vehemently on this subject that I have to admit it did sour my overall enjoyment of the book. I found her view to be contradictory with personal choice. Cecile writes in a very genuine voice. I found some good references in her book for further reading and research.
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Summary: The most influential non-fiction book I read in 1997.
Review: Feeling consumed by, rather than consuming, materialism? Too many trivial concerns cluttering your life? Ever feel like there's got to be a better way to live than the lifestyle mainstream society prescribes? Then you've got to check out Cecile Andrews's THE CIRCLE OF SIMPLCITY. It's more fun to read than WALDEN, more accessible than VOLUNTARY SIMPLICITY, and lots less holier-than-thou than Elaine St. James's plethora of "simple living" books. Andrews, in fact, seems like an old friend. Her writing style is immediately likeable and quite lucid. And I can assure you the book will change your life.
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Summary: When the student was ready, the teacher arrived!
Review: I first read this book about five years when I was yearning for SOMETHING in my life, but didn't know quite what. Cecile seemed to have read my mind and outlined the very needs of someone caught up in the "junk" of life -- both mentally and physcially -- and gave solid ways of untangling one's life. If you heard of "voluntary simplicity" but haven't yet caught the wave, this book is a wonderful introduction to the concept and will lead you on to learn more. You will see your life in a new light after the seed of simplicity is planted in your mind.
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Summary: Good ideas poorly executed book
Review: I found this book to be a fast read. The author is very good at giving a lot of information bites about a variety of issues, just enough to whet the appetite but not so much that the reader feels dragged down. While I did enjoy a lot of Cecile's thoughts about consumerism and the many ills of our modern society, I have to agree with some of the previous reviewers who pointed out that she makes a lot of random and unsupported statements throughout the book. But then I look at this book as less of a "how to" and more of a "here's how I did it, maybe you can too." In any case, I think she's on the right track and I applaud her for daring to be different -- she's obviously a lot happier because of her choices. Read this book for inspiration...and keep in mind that it's only one person's opinion.
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointed
Review: I picked up this book after reading about it on the Simple Living network, which I found as an outgrowth of my interest in the work of the late Joe Dominguez and Vicki Robin and their work "Your Money or Your Life". Unlike Mr. Dominguez and Ms. Robin, who manage to lay out an actual plan for simple living, Ms. Andrews chooses to ramble and rail against consumerism. After reading Dominguez, this book is disjointed, preachy and quite frankly, bad. That's not so say that Ms. Andrews doesn't have some good ideas. She does, but as with so many anecdotal books, they're not the basis for changing your life in any significant way. If you live an environmentally sensitive life, Ms. Andrews will certainly make you feel good about yourself, but if your goal is to simplify your life, you could do better than spending time on this book.
Rating:
Summary: Disappointed
Review: I picked up this book after reading about it on the Simple Living network, which I found as an outgrowth of my interest in the work of the late Joe Dominguez and Vicki Robin and their work "Your Money or Your Life". Unlike Mr. Dominguez and Ms. Robin, who manage to lay out an actual plan for simple living, Ms. Andrews chooses to ramble and rail against consumerism. After reading Dominguez, this book is disjointed, preachy and quite frankly, bad. That's not so say that Ms. Andrews doesn't have some good ideas. She does, but as with so many anecdotal books, they're not the basis for changing your life in any significant way. If you live an environmentally sensitive life, Ms. Andrews will certainly make you feel good about yourself, but if your goal is to simplify your life, you could do better than spending time on this book.
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Summary: Inspiring, with a good, real-world process
Review: I'm surprised at the negative reviews of this book -- I've found it very inspiring. While it doesn't lay out a plan for the individual, it lays out a process for engaging with other folks to work toward a simpler, yet more fulfilling, life. In my personal experience, such a "support group" is vital to both mainitaining the focus on simplifying, and in enriching your world.
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Summary: Good ideas poorly executed book
Review: There are several very good ideas buried in this poorly written book. There are also good quotes starting each chapter. As other reviewers have pointed out, the author wanders off on screeds that are not well supported or in all cases topical.
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Summary: Could Not Get Past the First Chapter -- factual inaccuracies
Review: This book is one of the finest resources for someone contemplating a simpler lifestyle. The book succeeds on its strong points of which I found two. First, the philosophy of simplicity that is suggested is non-dogmatic. Recognizing that everyone starts from a different place and will find different solutions in their quest to simplify their lives. If you are expecting a one size fits all simplicity strategy, you won't find it here. The second point, and the jewel of this book is the concept of "simplicity study circles" a Swedish derived process that brings people together to explore that age old form of human wisdom -- conversation with kindred spirits. I cant think of a better way to insure the long lasting success of your personal simplicity program than to have the support of other like minded people. Buy this book and start to simplify your life today.
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Summary: Simplicity Discussion Groups
Review: This book provides a broad overview of some of the issues behind the Simplicity movement. The author, Cecile Andrews set up a number of Simplicity study circles near her home in the Northwest. This book reveals some of the factors that led her to become interested in Simplicity as well as her ideas of how Simplicity study circles might work. Much of the beginning of the book provides justification for adopting Simplicity. Andrews enumerates problems such as hyper-consumption, environmental degradation, and personal isolation. She also explores possible actions we could take to solve these problems, such as consciously building community with other people and the earth, finding ways to express our spirituality, and restructuring our economic system to make it more environmentally and socially friendly. In the last part of the book, she describes the idea of Simplicity study circles, the benefits that might be gained from participating in one, and how a study circle should operate. She also provides a 10-week study plan based on the earlier material in the book.
Although I agree with the ideas in this book, I found the book rather disappointing in content. Much of the discussion is either so personal as to be hard to generalize, or else a superficial summary of other more substantial texts. For example, Andrews frequently refers to findings of Juliet Schor; readers would have more material for discussion by reading Schor's works directly. Some of Andrews' suggestions for addressing problems are rather inappropriate. To draw attention to hyper-consumerism, she suggests surreptitiously clothes-pinning tags with messages like "You don't really need this, do you?" inside articles of clothing in shops. While I'm all for trying to get people to become more aware of their needless purchases, I don't think messing with the property of individual store owners is an acceptable way to go about the mission. Her suggestions for reforming our economic system would be great in an ideal state, but until we are run by a benevolent socialist dictator, I don't think they can realistically be put into action. It would be better to focus our efforts on goals that are conceivably achievable. Overall, while I found the topic of this book interesting, I think there are numerous other books on the topic of Simplicity that are better implemented, starting with Joe Dominguez and Vicki Robin's "Your Money or Your Life". It's hard to tell from this book if Andrews can take credit for originating Simplicity study groups such as those run by the Northwest Earth Institute. If so, she certainly deserves credit for her efforts in that area, but I don't think there's enough substantial material in this volume to use as background reading for an effective study group by itself.
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