Ikigai: The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life
Héctor García and Francesc Miralles
2/5 stars
According to this short book, the Japanese concept of ikigai --the happiness of always being busy-- will lead to having a long, happy, and purposeful life.
This book lacks in many areas How to find one's ikigai is not discussed, and the focus is on living extremely long lives. Impractical suggestions are offered, such as (having found one's ikigai) changing jobs to one that fulfills, flows, and increases ikigai. Working at a job one loves would be wonderful for all, yet it most often is impossible.
A lot of this book is taken up with information from studies by other people; the research done by the authors is mostly given as quotes from interviews with super-centenarians on Okinawa. This advice was mainly diet, exercise, ikigai, and friendships. A large portion of the book is taken up with giving diet and exercise information.
Learning the brief bits about ikigai was interesting, but overall, very little practical guidance was given and reading the book felt like a waste of time. I honestly would not have finished it had it not been so short, and had I not purchased it.
