Endorsements

"Scaling down your life, like scaling down your house, is a good way to open your eyes to a new world and a new life. This not so big book will help you find your human scale and a life that suits you. It's practical, inspiring, and brilliantly conceived."

- Thomas Moore, author of Care of the Soul and Dark Nights of the Soul.

"Sarah Susanka has helped millions rethink their homes. Now she applies her visionary architectural principles to help us remake our lives. With remarkable insights and an array of smart exercises, she shows us how to remove the clutter, let in the light, and construct a not so big ---- but oh so much better ---- life. If you're feeling overworked and underinspired, this book is your answer."

- Daniel H. Pink, author of A Whole New Mind

"Sarah Susanka is a writer, architect, alchemist. But in truth, there are no categories for a woman who can see that the beams of our vision, the arches of our consciousness, and the portals to our deepest self are just as real as the domiciles we inhabit. Imagine a life under the roof of a consciousness that can be as easily remodeled as the rooms we dwell within. Imagine using design as a means to create a new way of being. Imagine that a "not so big life" means leaps in awareness, time, and pleasure. Imagine architecture as a metaphor for grace, presence, and happiness. Imagine a magical book. Here it is. You need only open the door."

- Paul Hawken, author of Blessed Unrest: How the Largest Movement in the World Came Into Being, and Why No One Saw It Coming

"Since Frank Lloyd Wright, I can't think of an architect who has given both the practical and sublime elements of American life more thought and care than Sarah Susanka. Just as her earlier books help us find the home in our houses, this one draws on her own wisdom and many traditions to help us find the core of meaning in our days."

- Winifred Gallagher, author of House Thinking, The Power of Place, and Spiritual Genius

"The complexity of modern existence is stealing the living from life. In The Not So Big Life , Sarah Susanka shows how the feeble pulse and breath of daily existence can be strengthened. There is urgency and universality to her message, because neither our individual lives nor our world can long sustain the "big" demands we place on them. This book is a blueprint for sanity and clarity, joy and peace, and should be widely read."

- Larry Dossey, M.D., author of The Extraordinary Healing Power of Ordinary Things.

"It is a beguiling paradox that while, from the ancients onward, humankind has always known what it takes to lead a happy life, few people choose to live it. We so easily worship false idols. It is left to prophets, seers, and other wise people to remind us of what we habitually forget. Sarah Susanka, in her disguise as an architect, is such a wise person. Her message is the most important message there is: how to live. Not only does she tackle the question, she answers it beautifully, persuasively, provocatively, specifically, and lovingly. This is a magnificent book."

- Edward M. Hallowell, M.D., author of CrazyBusy and Delivered From Distraction

"Sarah Susanka has devoted herself to delivering the most important message of our time: Less is more. Now she's taken that essential truth and applied it not to where we live but to how we live. It's the last piece in a crucial puzzle and her best and wisest work yet."

- Jeffrey A. Hollender, President and Chief Inspired Protagonist, Seventh Generation, Inc., and author of How to Make the World a Better Place, What Matters Most, and Naturally Clean

"Sarah Susanka taught us that big houses do not make bigger people. The Not So Big Life is a new and inspiring breakthrough: weaving together the architecture of our inner lives with the processes of creating and using our homes. This book is fascinating, brilliant, and passionate - getting at the very essence of what both life and architecture are all about."

- Sim Van der Ryn, Professor Emeritus of Architecture, University of California, Berkeley, and author of Design for Life, Sustainable Communities, and Ecological Design

"Creative people need creative spaces. That means a space that fits - really "fits" you - your work, your life, your family and your aspirations. The Not So Big Life is a blueprint for a fuller, more creative, more fulfilled life."

- Richard Florida, author of The Rise of the Creative Class

"Susanka is very smart, more importantly she's incredibly wise. A master myth-buster of the mainstream cultural consciousness that more is better and bigger is best. Many have become ensnared in their search for fulfillment by falling into the trap of materialism and activity overload. Read and learn the essence of real fulfillment. It will pay far more dividends than winning the lottery ever could."

- Dan Baker, Ph.D., author of What Happy People Know

"Using her design expertise, Sarah Susanka guides the reader; shifting the conversation from the external to the internal house. Step by step she takes us on a journey to the ultimate house ...a balanced and fulfilled life. Brilliant!"

- Erik Lindbergh, is the Chairman of The Charles A. and Anne Morrow Lindbergh Foundation and lives in a not-so-big strawbale house.