Great Depression returns. More works or more time? How to save your money in difficult time? Read this book and you may make up your mind.

This book felt more like an in-depth essay or dissertation, than a non-fiction book. I think the topic is interesting and the author clearly has a lot of evidence. The charts were interesting and demonstrated how more free time vs. more work is actually better for people, economies, and overall health.

With that being said, I think it is, unfortunately wishful thinking. The author argues that giving people a chose between more free time or less work (and smaller income) is a better approach to standard 40+ hour work weeks. I'm not saying I disagree with the idea. Since the pandemic and working from home, we've seen what a healthier work/life balance looks like. I don't think anyone needs to work a full 40-hours. With this we can also think about the negative environmental and health aspects that capitalism creates. I would love for America to move towards a more flexible work schedule that accommodates each individual.

I just don't think America will ever leave the grasps of capitalism unless something radical changes within our government and culture. The author spends a lot of time discussing commuting and America's dependency on cars. As someone who lives in a major city and does not own a car, I agree that walkable and transit-oriented cities are ideal. But the automobile and gas industry would lobby any forward thinking law. Perhaps, overturning Citizens United would be a great first step, but in order for the ideas in this book to work we need to reset how think about working, capitalism, consumerism, materialism, and what makes life fulfilling outside of a job.

More Work or More Free Time is a necessary read if for no other reason than it is a good introduction to the on going debate on what the future of work should look like. It specifically looks at America and the factors that have and continue to shape what works like. Some of the topics covered are urban development, technological advancement, evolution of the American work week/hours, income inequality, daycare scarcity, and economic policies. I found this book fascinating if a bit rudimentary. At times it is a bit dry and reads like a thesis paper. While the conventional wisdom is to not judge a book by its cover, I think there could be some more appealing graphic design effort put into this one for marketability.

This book had some interesting ideas and concepts, but overall, it definitely read more like a research paper than a book. I realize that in order to give the information credibility, the author had to include studies and sources, but the writing still felt as if I was reading a report. I even found some of the writing to be very, very repetitive, which was reminiscent of how a student might try to make a research paper long enough or try to meet the required word count.

That said, the book did contact some interesting content. I do see validity in the idea of working less and having more free time to enjoy this life, but I don't know that I agreed with the author's ideas of how to make this happen. It seems somewhat impractical and highly unlikely to happen in America, though it sure would be nice to achieve a better work-life balance. I found the information about how work hours continually decreased over the years/decades/centuries, only to come to a standstill in postwar America to be particularly interesting. Somewhere we went wrong, because things should be easier today. The author does a great job of explaining where and how things went wrong and provides ideas of how these things could be changed or corrected.

I do feel that the author is pretty openly politically opinionated. It felt very much like he was blatantly stating that some parties are altogether wrong, whereas his political standing is the only one that's right. I understand that in some cases, certain parties did and do make mistakes, but to make it so black and white, and to stereotype people solely based on political affiliations came across as immature and biased.

And although the book felt very repetitive and long-winded at times, the ending was very abrupt. Even though the point of the book was restated over and over again, it felt like it was missing a few closing paragraphs.

Overall, I did find some parts of the book really interesting, and while I think some of the ideas for how we could achieve a better balance are unrealistic, there were also some good ideas in there as well.

I think other readers will find parts of the book to be informative and enlightening. Just be prepared for a good bit of repetition.

More Work or More Free Time was an interesting and timely read. As someone who strongly believes that endless economic growth and working nonstop is detrimental to our mental & physical health as well as society, I was eager to read this book.
Complete with graphs and charts, this is a concept that will force us all to rethink our relationship with our jobs and careers. Whether you agree or not, Siegel offers you a way to think of something many of us take for granted as just being the norm.

I have never heard of the author but he attempts to sell Denmark as a near-perfect economic system. Sadly, this is only more left-wing claptrap. Denmark can implement some of its ideas because it gets free national defense from the US and NATO. Adolf Hitler swept through Denmark in hours and not days.
This book also tries to refute Aesop's fable about the ant and the grasshopper where one worked and the other played until winter arrived. The author has also forgotten the rule in early Jamestown -- those who do not work do not eat. Make certain that you skip this book!

not a book for me but could be for someone else tho. I just think I dont like reading about other peoples political views. But I do like hearing people talk about them. So if you like a book thats about Political issues that the world doesn't talk about this book is for you.

More Work Or More Free Time The Crucial Political Issue that No One Is Talking About By Charles Siegel

Published: January 10, 2022
Omo Press
Pages: 174
Genre: Economic Conditions
KKECReads Rating: 3/5
I received a copy of this book for free, and I leave my review voluntarily.


“—But we do not seem to benefit from that extra work.”

This was a well-researched book. There were a lot of facts and figures and several charts to present the information visually. However, it was evident that Charles Siegel prefers how the Netherlands does things.

While I can understand the mindset behind working less and living more, millions of people don’t have that as an option. And I do t necessarily feel as though that reality was fully addressed.

Sure, if we all decided to consume less and have fewer material things, we could work less. But many people are proud of their work-life and enjoy their salary benefits.

While there were a lot of good reasons, explanations, and numeric examples throughout this book, it didn’t make for pleasurable reading. Admittedly, I’m not a figures person, though.

Even if I were presented with the option to work less, I wouldn’t take it. There are many days my boss (whom I adore and have a fantastic working relationship with) tells me to go home.

I'm a salaried individual, so I’m paid the same amount whether I work 40 or 50 hours a week. And truthfully, working 50 hours a week wouldn’t upset me at all. I'm passionate about my job, and I enjoy the atmosphere.

I won’t be seeking to work less.

I found this book very interesting and although I did find the charts graphs and statistics a little bewildering I thought Mr. Siegel’s opinions and diatribes were very well thought out. With the exception of a few that I thought he took leaps and bounds to get to his conclusion. I didn’t agree with everything he wrote about especially the car dependents situation. I would very much love to live in a walking neighborhood that said that due to zoning and other underhanded things they can no longer make neighborhoods like that. The one thing I can’t say about this book is whether you agree with the author or not you will still be entertained and in most cases educated. I highly recommend this book to those who love non-fiction books that have an opinion and something to say you would definitely like this book I totally did! I was given this book by net galley and I am leaving this review totally voluntarily. Please forgive any grammatical or punctuation of errors as I am blind and dictate my review but all opinions are my own

This book is a wildly interesting and exploratory look at creating a better work/life balance. For a million reasons I am passionate about this same thing. The author brings up many good points that lead to self exploration as well as a gentle call to challenge the status quo. Although I can't get on board with his every assumption, I love the discussion I hope this book can bring to American policy regarding labor and its effects on mental health and the need to provide more part time employment for professional work.

This was a fascinating read. One that I just had to read a second time before giving my review. This book really shares so much. I definitely recommend it to anyone .

Charles Siegel compares the average American work week with the Dutch work week, which is shorter than the American average work week. He explains the benefits of America having a shorter work week instead of having a work week of 40 hours. He also goes into the history of the American 40 hour work week. He explains that with a shorter work week that Americans can spend more time in activities that they enjoy doing and spend more time with their families. I received a copy of this book in exchange for a review from NetGalley.

More Work or More Free Time
By Charles Siegel

This book is hard work. It is full of graphs and statistics to back up the author's ideas concerning the economic value of working fewer hours (slowing economic growth) and increasing free time. Digesting all this information and then deciding in the reader's own mind whether the author's arguments are realistic will keep the reader occupied for quite some time.

While the ideas here may work well in smaller, more homogeneous economies, in reality it seems that there is more to the issue than the purely economic. If we are given the choice to earn less and work less, how many of us truly would be able to survive with less income to provide the basic life requirements? And if some choosing to work less would lead to more jobs for others, that does not equate to the "others" being qualified to perform those jobs. Also, for those choosing to work less to enjoy more free time, what would their lowered income have to be to afford the enjoyment of more free time over and above basic living costs?

Many of the ideas espoused in this book seem reasonable. The creation of freeways and urban sprawl may, in hindsight, have contributed to some of the problems Mr. Siegel describes. It remains to be seen whether his solutions are truly feasible in America today, but he has certainly given the reader much to think about.

A very interesting piece on the Dutch way of working smarter not harder and valuing free time. The book could have used a bit more flare in terms of presenting ideas so as not to be so dry. Worthwhile read though.

I received an advanced copy of this book from the publisher through netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This book is set in the Netherlands. It talks about how different governments handle part time and full time work. It is a interesting informative book. It is well written and fast paced. This book is in stores for $12.95 (USD). Would I recommend reading this book to anyone and everyone, yes I would.

More Work or More Free Time was a fascinating read. Siegel walks the reader through the problems with the modern fantasy of endless economic growth, and explains how reducing work hours could be improve quality of life and help avoid looming environmental catastrophe. The book is informative without being dry, and is at all times accessible to non-experts.