In Search of Balance

January 15, 2010
Swenson scored a best seller with "Margin: Restoring Emotional, Physical, Financial, and Time Reserves to Overloaded Lives"; his latest is also geared toward helping adults reorder their priorities to find more purpose and joy in their lives. Swenson denounces uncontrolled profusion (e.g., bigger houses, lavish weddings) as the cause of uncontrolled stress and imbalance in most of the population. He counsels the reader to resist escalating norms and to weigh positives and negatives on such things as allowing interruptions, taking on discretionary burdens, and social networking. While his recommendations are quite good, he spends well over half the book laying out the dilemma of imbalance and less space on solutions. Those who want to commiserate over a changing world and get off the treadmill will enjoy this book.

Copyright 2010 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.