The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up

Four stars for tidying! The book, and her method, are quirky enough to be fun, and there are ideas with real merit here. She makes the very good point, for example, that most of us in the US or Japan have probably always had so much stuff that we haven't had the chance to know what it's like to live a truly uncluttered life.

This was a very long read for a short book, and not even that good. Maybe I'm just not tuned to the “japanese art of tidying”, but the repeated phrases and wisdom-nuggets did not inspired joy at all. And if you believe this book, there's nothing more important if you want to put your house (and by extension, life) in order.

But if you don't get stuck on the form, there might be some value in the message: cleaning house - literally and figuratively - can have a refreshing effect on your life, and it might lead to a generally happier existence. I'm just not sure I want to achieve it by saying hi to my house every time I come home.