The Way of the Small

October 29, 2007
Psychoanalyst Gellerts (The Fate of America) gives readers a chance to feel big in small ways with this guide to cultivating a "less is more, simpler is better" life. Both a zen-like meditation on the significance of insignificance and a cultural-historical tour of an idea-an "organic way of living" rather than a "theory, formula, or fixed belief system"-Gellert locates and celebrates the small in individual experience (including his own and those of his patients), all the major world religions and the Big Bang, among other settings. Eloquent consideration of ideas like "celebrating the right details" and "embracing diminishment" follows, as well as more practical strategy like "facing adversity with humor," "letting go of perfection" and the "mystical idea of amor fat, or loving your fate." Covering a decidedly large range of issues-love, death, warfare, morality, humankind and the cosmos-Gellert applies his "small" principle confidently but perhaps too broadly; still, Gellert's graceful text will definitely boost readers' capacity for accepting one's predicament and finding satisfaction in the slight.

December 3, 2007
Psychoanalyst Gellerts (The Fate of America) gives readers a chance to feel big in small ways with this guide to cultivating a "less is more, simpler is better" life. Both a zen-like meditation on the significance of insignificance and a cultural-historical tour of an idea-an "organic way of living" rather than a "theory, formula, or fixed belief system"-Gellert locates and celebrates the small in individual experience (including his own and those of his patients), all the major world religions and the Big Bang, among other settings. Eloquent consideration of ideas like "celebrating the right details" and "embracing diminishment" follows, as well as more practical strategy like "facing adversity with humor," "letting go of perfection" and the "mystical idea of amor fat, or loving your fate." Covering a decidedly large range of issues-love, death, warfare, morality, humankind and the cosmos-Gellert applies his "small" principle confidently but perhaps too broadly; still, Gellert's graceful text will definitely boost readers' capacity for accepting one's predicament and finding satisfaction in the slight.

Copyright 2007 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.