Recently, the mother of my son´s friend showed me a colourful modern looking bike her son proudly drove. Curious, I asked her shyly how much did it cost, aware that for such gadgets, one should be prepare to pay a relatively high price. To my surprise, she answered that using this bike costs around 17 Euro per month, for the rental. Confused but pleasantly surprised - as in why I never thought about it before I couldn´t imagined that someone was smart enough to create such a convenient method to use objects without necessarily owning them. When you have a child in full growing process, paying humongous amount of money for things that should be shortly replaced as no more fitting is a waste of money. Paying the rent for a bike that after 8 months should be changed is a smart investment without necessarily owning anything.
In Thanks for Sharing, Eleonore Tucker provides many more examples in this respect, aimed at creating an affordable, sustainable and practical way of life. Beyond the financial advantages of using such an approach, there is a hidden philosophy question that everyone will try to answer after reading this book, which is: Is it really worth to own things?
The modern life is no more suited for the accumulation of things, but for experiencing life in its diversity. The adepts of the noman lifestyle need few things to move from one place to another, in their plans of trying to own the world. Giving up owning for the easier and most convenient options of borrowing - mostly for free - or renting are smart moves against the overcrowded spaces with different kinds of objects. Some may be emotionally important for us, but what about all the junk that we refuse to give up on?
Thanks for Sharing is the handbook preparation for a new lifestyle and also a new type of person that rather focus on life than on what frames life. Having enough money to rent different kind of objects that do have a clear practical role announces a different mentality switch and therefore a different fo set of values guiding his or her life.
A very recommended read to anyone up to making a dramatic life-change into a more sustainable direction.
Rating: 5 stars
Disclaimer: Book offered as part of the book tour but the opinions are, as usual, my own
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