How to Be Alive audiobook

I loved this book. I found it helpful to break up my life into small segments and start making small changes instead of seeing improving my life as a major undertaking. It is easy to feel completely disabled by personal and world problems that you do nothing because it is so overwhelming. Instead, I was able to look at one small thing I could do to improve my life and the world and make that change. I have also been changing my mindset, instead of feeling helpless to feeling like there is something I can do.

I would like to give 3.5 stars, but I will round up because I think Colin is a good guy and I would like to encourage people to read his stuff. This book, as well as his blog and other activities, focus on finding the way to being happy while helping the world. His premise, which I very much agree with, is that being happy and helping the world are not mutually exclusive goals, and are often quite in alignment. The book includes stories of real or imagined individuals to illustrate ideas, and there are numerous helpful exercises for the reader to do to further their own exploration of what life would bring them true fulfillment. I have read other authors on this topic, most notably Robin and Dominguez ("Your Money or Your Life" - a book that really did change my life), whom Beavan quotes and is inspired by. The book was longer than it needed to be - I understand the desire to explain things thoughtfully, and take your time leading people through these ideas. But I had to push to get through it, because it really just was a bit too slow. Maybe a reader who had not already been introduced to these ideas by other authors might find this book more revolutionary, and thus more interesting despite the length.

How to be Alive is a terrific book! It is so very detailed and well thought-out. The author Colin Beavan has considered every aspect of the modern life and offered thoughtful, well-considered suggestions on how to make the most of the one-time offer that is life. Among other things, he helps us decide how to eat, how to engage with community, how to make friends, how to live in alignment with one’s values, and how to find purpose in life. He proposes that we think about how we can help the world and also help ourselves—such that one does not feel that one is sacrificing one’s happiness for the sake of the world. His tone throughout is conversational, inviting, and often funny, making the book a delightful read. Self-development books are plentiful, and I have read some of them, but How to be Alive is the most detailed and specific one that I have come across. What that means is: the book’s tips can be applied directly and immediately. In fact, I read the book just at the turn of the new year, and I found that it helped me make a plan for the year 2020. I liked the book so much that I got copies as gifts for my parents and sister.

Fantastic book. It's clear, well-written, and inspiring. I think it's 5 star for many people, a lot of this I already knew, there were a few chapters less meaningful (though still a good read), like the ones on kids was less significant for me, but many good stories and lessons on here on how to live a good life, be useful, and make the world a better place.

3.5 stars. Full review on The Verbal Thing.

A book that has joined me on a personal journey over the last couple of years from the moment I spotted it in the UN bookshop in NYC.. Some truly thought provoking activities to help ourselves and the planet at the same time.

Beavan brings a wealth of norm-challenging ideas to the table. How to Be Alive is truly an interesting and challenging read which calls the reader to examine various aspects of their life and see where they are aligned with their "True Self, " and even calls into focus what that "True Self" and essentially "good life" exactly means for them. The biggest take away for me from this book was to question and rethink some of the norms or "standard life approaches" we're born into given the society we're in and that the "standard life approach" isn't the only way to live.

The book has intriguing ideas, but the research included are not well cited. Nonetheless, I believe there is value in learning his theories and perspectives. After that, we can start finding evidence to either support or refute his theories. I thought of it as an idea bank to at least get the conversation going.

Seek your true inner self, a lot of this book are common truths and common sense, that we all strive for on some level. I enjoyed it and would give some of what he talks about a go, especially on the carbon footprint and environmental factors anyway enjoyed it and a decent self help romp around.

This is a self-help book unlike any I've read in quite a while. It teaches you how to help yourself by helping the world, solid ideas that are definitely in line with my personal Catholic faith. A lot of what Beavan talks about in this book just make a lot of common sense: you don't have to follow the crowd or be at a job you don't like in order to become successful. True happiness will come when you are doing what you feel you are called to do. As he points out, every major religion has tenants in their faith like this, so he's just dredging up old ideas, and putting a new spin on them.What I really enjoyed was doing the writing exercises throughout the book. Occasionally, the book will tell the read to pull out a pen and some paper, and then try writing down certain thought exercises. These were actually extremely helpful for me, especially being someone who loves to write, in really organizing the thoughts that he was stirring up with his words. At the end of the book, I definitely felt like it had influenced me in a way other self-help books have failed to do.However, I am taking one star off for two reasons that coincide with each other. One is that the book occasionally devolves into new age hippie dippy crap that makes it seem like living in a commune where you farm your own food and live with twelve other people who form a mini-tribe to care for you and the rest of your family is the only way to live. I'm sure this isn't his intention, but that's definitely what it comes off as, and it is a grating thing to read. For one, he says that people should only have one or two kids because kids produce more carbon than if you don't. That's on the level of people who want to put bags on the asses of cows because they produce too much carbon. If you're worried about carbon, go protest one of the big companies ruining the environment tons at a time, don't tell me having a kid who has to breathe air is going to put that much of a strain on it. The second, and much more concerning thing, is that his POV is definitely centric to that of a privileged white male American living in New York. Why? For one, he tells people one of the ways to live better is to get rid of your car. Nice idea, but clearly, he's never lived in other parts of the country. I live in Southern California, and giving up a car in favor of public transport is a laughable idea when public transport is so bad. My commute would triple if I went from a car to taking the bus. It just isn't feasible to try to walk everywhere. He tries to say live closer to downtown to save time, but downtown is miles away, and the cost of living there is too damn high to be that close, it's a ridiculous concept. He says to try working from home, which is great for some people, but definitely not when you work in the public sphere like some people do, and it's an especially laughable concept when he says to take some sick days off purely to prove you can work more efficiently from home. Mr. Beavan seems to have forgotten most of us barely have enough sick days to cover the actual times when we're ill, let alone to prove a point. Lastly, one of the ideas he has to save money is to live in a commune-like setting. That's great and all in metropolitan areas, but what about regions like Texas or Iowa, where your closest neighbor is twenty miles away, let alone the actual town itself? How are you supposed to live together to save money in regions like this?While these issues are many in the book, they don't warrant more than a single star being taken off, for his message of tolerance and helping the world ring loud and clear. I definitely recommend this as a read to anyone who feels they have reached a rut in their lives on trying to move forward both emotionally and spiritually.

Most books follow a predetermined script, but this isn't one of them. It might be classified as a self-help book by the publishers and booksellers though the author likens his literary work to that of a each-other help book. The central question tackled is "What does it take to achieve a successful and satisfying life?" in the 21st century. With personal stories from real-life "lifequesters" to drawing from history for guidance you'll soon find that the small actions presented in this book could be the spark you need to break the mold of society and change your life along with the world for the better.

Interesting read.

It's a self-help book for truthseekers. I thoroughly enjoyed this years ago. I wonder if I still do...