Book Review: Little Shifts by Suzanna Beth Stinnet

Stinnett, Suzanna Beth. Little Shifts: Tiny Shifts that Make a Big Difference. Naperville, IL: Sourcebooks, 2004.

Stinnett has a utopian vision. If the people of the world, particularly women, will unleash there imaginations, we can they can transform their lives and the entire world in the process.

Before reading this book, I asked someone else who had read it if it was New Age-y. They said not much. As I was starting to read it, they skimmed it again and said it was more New Age-y than they remembered. It is, but in a philosophical way. Stinnett doesn’t express her views in religious terms, but like many self-help authors, indicates that some powerful, abstract force is shaping our lives and the world we experience according to our own consistent thought. For Stinnett, this is imagination directly.

It’s not all about thinking. As the title indicates, Stinnett recommends many little things people can do to make themselves happier and healthier. She calls many of them radical steps. They are radical in the sense that few people take the time to do them and they could result in a change of perspective; they are still little things that ordinary people can do.

The main audience for the book is women. Stinnett feels that women’s views and perspectives have been underrepresented in our culture and as they begin to express themselves, they’ll bring a new dimension to society that can make it fuller, happier and more sustainable.

The book has an unexpected environmental message. A concern for the environment carries through the book and one chapter is largely devoted to things people can do to improve the environment. As with the rest of the book, the vision is grand and the steps are small, so the focus is on making little changes to the way we live, buy and use (and reuse) products that can reduce our negative effects on the environment.

Order this book here.

If you’re interested in this book, you may also be interested in
One Small Thing Can Change Your Life by Robert Maurer