5 December 2025

I saw Goodbye, Things by Fumio Sasaki making the rounds a while ago. It reads a lot like Steven Pressfield’s The War of Art—that is to say, it reads like it was written in short, forced sessions and there is a lot of repetitive messaging. A collection of blog posts in book form. Both books detail their author’s writing approach and frame the rushed sessions in restrictive spaces as their ideal creative environment—the published author’s version of blogging about the blog.

This is one of those books where it’s best to take away what resonates and ignore the rest. I skipped several pages containing tech worship. But I loved reading about the philosophy behind Sasaki’s decisions while downsizing, and the idea that there are multiple approaches to minimalism—it doesn’t need to be about having the least amount of things. Sasaki writes about being mindful about the hidden time and mental costs each physical item brings with it, and while this isn’t a new concept, it hits hard after moving twice in two years.

Rating this one as Good.