Ikigai — Book Review
What is Ikigai? Why does it matter? In the book, “Ikigai: The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life”, written by Hector Garcia and Francesc Miralles, they explore Ikigai, and how to apply the mindset of the centenarians of this world.
This is my honest opinion on this book, and though I will summarise the book somewhat, if you specifically want a summary, this is not the article for you.
What The Book Is About
This book is mainly an exploration and investigation of the world’s centenarians — people who live past their 100s. How they live, how they approach life, those types of things. The main focus is on the Okinawans (mainly the island with the most centenarians) in Japan, and their “Ikigai”.
The book dances around with different ways the centenarians — those in the blue zone — live. So although the title is “Ikigai”, they also touch on other “blue zones” around the world, and the commonalities between them. The book is fairly short, so if you wish to dive deeper into these concepts and ideas of the centenarians, I would recommend “The Blue Zones” titles (there are currently 7). The one I’ve flipped through is the first book, “The Blue Zones: Lessons For Living Longer From The People Who’ve Lived The Longest” by Dan Buettner. He writes about similar concepts, one of which is Ikigai. He writes about actual people who are centenarians, life examples to show exactly what he means. For those that like a more dense, real life show, this is probably the book you should reach for instead of this book.
Ikigai is like a condensed version of The Blue Zone, more focused on Ikigai, and Okinawa, Japan. It also lacks the case studies that The Blue Zone offers. You should read whatever you prefer. And for those that enjoy Ikigai and want to go into further details, you’ll likely find yourself reading The Blue Zone anyways.
Both books have some real life, practical applications written in its pages. Ikigai touches on some ways to introduce movement into your routine through different practices across the world, and The Blue Zone should have some practical applications (I haven’t read it thoroughly).
These books contain wise words from those that have lived for around a century, and if you have never heard about them before, you’ll be amazed at how they live their life.
Ikigai
A brief description of what Ikigai actually means. It has Japanese origins, and basically is “the reason you get out of bed”. Essentially, your purpose in life. This can be something like seeing your grandchildren, or caring for a garden.
Book Review
Honestly, I am not a good reviewer, so take my words as a grain of salt.
I liked how it was fairly short. I also liked how it mixed information and applications to real life into its texts. It was also fairly fun to read, and spoke wise words.
Since I kind of read (flipped through) The Blue Zone before Ikigai, I found some of the concepts a bit repetitive. However, it was nevertheless a fun read, and I would recommend it to anyone who wishes to attempt to live for more than a century. Also, since the main idea was around Ikigai, I found that they struggled to say more on the subject. Sometimes, it felt like Ikigai was not the main idea at all. Perhaps due to my experience with The Blue Zone, I found myself interested in the other blue zones, and was a bit disappointed that they only mentioned the other blue zones. However, this is understandable since the book’s main focus was on the Japanese.
To put it shortly, for those that have never read on the topic, this book is the best introductory book there is for you. It’s short and concise, and touches a bit on the other factors that may result in the group of centenarians. It is well written, and has real life applications for those that wish to walk the path.
Final Thoughts
Both Ikigai and The Blue Zone was a first for me. The concept enlightened me, and the books contained a lot of words of wisdom. If I happen to read The Blue Zone, I’ll try to write a book review on it. Either way, it was pretty entertaining to read.
Links to the books down below for the lazy fellows (I’ll try finding the cheapest ones)
Discussion Question: What do you believe your Ikigai is?
(I’m sorry. I like this book cover more)
