Re: "The Small Stuff" book review

On Fri, 31 Jul 2026 15:15:17 -0000 (UTC), Tara <[email protected]>
wrote:

>On Jul 31, 2026 at 10:53:13?AM EDT, "Noah Sombrero" <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>> On Fri, 31 Jul 2026 14:12:02 -0000 (UTC), Tara <[email protected]>
>> wrote:
>> 
>>> (I haven't read this book yet but I heard the author interviewed on CBC this
>>> a.m and liked what he said).  Just another self-help book or one of that ilk?
>>> Nah, I don't think so.
>>> 
>>> https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-small-stuff-how-to-lead-a-more-gratifying-life-ian-bogost/bb5309da15426d51?ean=9781668062630&affiliate=12476
>>> 
>>> 
>>> And -
>>> 
>>> The Small Stuff
>>> How to lead a more gratifying life
>>> -Ian Bogost -  Atlantic Columnist
>>> 
>>> Out summer 2026.
>>> 
>>> 
>>>    ?The world tells us that the path to happiness is to go bigger in
>>> everything: experiences, success, consumption?all of it. In The Small Stuff,
>>> Ian Bogost shows us why this is the wrong approach to the good life?that the
>>> true secret lies in discovering life?s little delights.?
>>>    ?Arthur C. Brooks, #1 New York Times bestselling author
>>> 
>>>    ?Brilliant
>I loved this profound, witty, and quietly revolutionary book.
>>> Ian Bogost makes the liberating case that the material world is teeming with
>>> unexpected opportunities for life-enhancing sensory pleasure?and that all we
>>> need to do is to allow ourselves to experience them.?
>>>    ?Oliver Burkeman, New York Times bestselling author of Four Thousand Weeks
>>>    ?The Small Stuff is a clarion call to rediscover the quiet joys woven into
>>> everyday routines. Bogost argues that in our rush toward efficiency and
>>> digital convenience, we?ve lost touch with the tangible world?and its simple
>>> gratifications that bring real contentment. This wonderful book reminds us
>>> that happiness isn?t out of reach. Rather, it?s right under our fingertips.?
>>>    ?Charles Duhigg, bestselling author of Supercommunicators and The Power of
>>> Habit
>>> 
>>> About the Book
>>> 
>>> In an era dominated by convenience and efficiency, one would think that life
>>> would be simpler, easier, and most importantly, happier. After all, shouldn?t
>>> all the time saved with machines and technology leave us with more time for
>>> ourselves? The Atlantic columnist Ian Bogost thinks not. From QR code menus
>>> and digital tickets to automated self-checkout counters, he argues that the
>>> simple pleasures of daily life have been stripped away, replaced by sleek, but
>>> soulless, design.
>> 
>> In other words, why well off people are not happy.  So they pine for
>> the good old days, forgetting that they were not happy then either.
>
>Uhhh. No, not really what the book is about. 
>
>why don't you read the book. 
>
>> 
>> "sleek, but soulless, design".  Of course that is not satisfying.  On
>> the other hand, if a person has a satisfying fulfilled life, it won't
>> matter what knickknacks one includes or not.  Who notices such things?
>> 
>> On the other hand, "automated self-checkout counters"?  Who puts up
>> with such emptiness?  As if people needed another way to avoid
>> interacting with each other.  But if you have plenty of human
>> interaction in your life, maybe those counters wouldn't matter so
>> much.  There it is, we are so isolated from each other in our cars,
>> and lockable houses that we need to interact with clerks in stores.
>> 
>> How do we feel?  Lonely and bored.  Scared of each other, and out of
>> patience with ideas we don't want to listen to (from other people).
>> Simple, huh?
>
>His approach is more about being aware of the pleasure and experience of
>holding and drinking a warm cup of coffee on a cold morning.  kind of stuff
>like that.

Yes, understood.  Is life about more than being aware of such
pleasures?  Is pleasure fulfilling?  Is there any insight in this:

Frustrated desire causes sighs, and nobody sighs more than contented
people.

What exactly does that mean?  What are the implications? 

>> 
>>> Through engaging anecdotes and sharp analysis, Bogost uncovers how modern
>>> conveniences not only fail to deliver on their promises but also rob us of
>>> small, satisfying tasks and moments that keep us grounded and human. He
>>> challenges us to rethink our daily interactions with the material world and
>>> illuminates how the loss of these tangible interactions has contributed to
>>> widespread feelings of disconnection and dissatisfaction.
>>> 
>>> But all hope is not lost. Bogost guides us to identify and appreciate the
>>> overlooked joys hidden in everyday life. By reforming how we approach ordinary
>>> tasks, we can rediscover the gratification embedded in the tactile world
>>> around us.
>>> 
>>> Humorous, thought-provoking, and practical, The Small Stuff reveals that
>>> finding joy isn?t about achieving monumental happiness or prolonged
>>> satisfaction. It?s about doing small things, deliberately and with attention,
>>> to unlock the basic pleasures that flavor our daily lives.
>>> 
>>> A Note from Ian, before publication
>>> 
>>> I wrote a new book! It will be my first new book in 10 (!) years. I guess I
>>> needed that long to figure out what was worth sharing in this many words, in a
>>> way that I felt good asking my readers to buy and carry and so forth.
>>> 
>>> It all started when I wrote about the end of the stick-shift transmission for
>>> The Atlantic in 2022. Millions of people read that story, which I didn't
>>> expect! I wondered What It Meant, what signal that interest meant to send.
>>> 
>>> After thinking about that question for six months or so, I realized that the
>>> manual transmission is just one of many more ways people have become
>>> disconnected from their own lives. I don't even start my car with a key
>>> anymore, I just press a button. Heck, you can't even turn on a restroom faucet
>>> or dispense a towel by yourself. The sensory world, the world we share with
>>> things of all kinds, living and human-made, has been withdrawing from our
>>> contact for years, and for lots of reasons. That loss feels bad?and you
>>> probably didn't even notice it happening, because it happened so slowly.
>>> 
>>> This book explains many of those reasons, among them automation, computation,
>>> regulatory change, and shifting habits of work and home life. It also offers a
>>> way out, and one that you can actually achieve, and one that's easy besides.
>>> If you're thinking, wait, Bogost wrote a happiness book?, then, yeah, I did,
>>> but I promise it's like no other such book.
>>> 
>>> The key idea in The Small Stuff is gratification, a kind of contentment that
>>> is different from happiness and satisfaction. I rescue this concept from the
>>> psychologists and economists who have misunderstood or ruined it, and I
>>> explain how gratification can help make every day of your life just a little
>>> better. All those little-betters will add up.
>>> 
>>> If you've been following my work at all over the years (and decades) I've been
>>> writing and making stuff, this book is sort of a summation of everything I've
>>> learned from games, computing, philosophy, design, and the built environment.
>>> And more. If you've wondered where I took my game-design interests, this is
>>> the answer. If you wondered what was next for me as a phenomenologist, this is
>>> the answer. (If you don't know what phenomenology is, don't worry, the word
>>> does not appear in the book, nor do any other scary words). If you wondered
>>> what someone who writes about AI, toasters, and lemon-lime soda thinks all of
>>> those things have in common, this is the answer. It's helpful, and hopeful
>>> (for real), and useful, and fun and super chill besides. Anybody can read it,
>>> and I hope everyone will.
>>> 
>>> The Small Stuff will be published by Simon & Schuster / Atria in the USA and
>>> Penguin in the UK in summer 2026
-- 
Noah Sombrero mustachioed villain
Don't get political with me young man
or I'll tie you to a railroad track and
<<<talk>>> to <<<YOOooooo>>>
Who dares to talk to El Sombrero?
dares: Ned
does not dare: Julian  shrinks in horror and warns others away