A Perfect Mess

fun and educational: worth rereading:
I chanced upon this at the library and read almost all of it in 1 sitting. Its that interesting. The real life examples given are eye openers. The next time I feel compelled to hyperorganize my receipts/coupons/desk I will weigh the time cost versus benefit. Right now I am recycling as many outdated/junk mail/etc papers as I can though so there wont be much of a mess to deal with.

Mess without Guilt!:
Commuting to work, I listened to the audio version of this wonderful book and, with every mile, found myself more relaxed with my own clutter. The examples and insights into messiness--from personal to professional to political mess--are fascinating. The authors explode many of the cliches about the virtues of extreme organization and the vices of mess. Highly recommended!

Little Substance Plenty of Anecdotes:
Fun read. Waste of paper. If you are looking for some proof that mess, even possibly your mess, is good, do not expect to find the proof. The book is mostly full of anecdotes about the success of messy scenarios. Some examples are backed by studies and evidence, but most are not. I could easily see a separate book that would contradict the evidence in this book, as well as plenty of anecdotes explaining failed scenarios because of too much mess. Also, the book is not well-written in places where sentences end in a preposition.

An Amusing Diversion:
The premise of this book was great; those of us who do not thrive in the world of color-coded file boxes should not feel anxious and less successful because we aren't organized enough. In America's constant quest for progress, we have defaulted to a rigid standard of neatness and organization. People who have a more creative style and organize information differently from what is touted in the popular television shows and de-cluttering books will enjoy the validation; however, the authors wander off-topic, state conflicting conclusions, and throw in everything they have, including the theoretical kitchen sink. By about chapter 5, I was reading this more as a parody of the initial theory, which made the rest of the book great fun. I think it was the Arnold Schwartzeneger piece that took it over the top for me. Overall, A Perfect Mess was an amusing diversion and a refreshing departure from the "buy a million plastic boxes, hide all your stuff in them, and stack them alphabetically by label" world of organization. I gave it three stars because I was looking for more substance and less fluff. As a parody, I probably would have rated it four stars.

A New Perspective on Mess:
_A Perfect Mess: The Hidden Benefits of Disorder_ provides vindication for those of us who never seem to attain the level of orderliness we feel our lives "should" contain. Authors Eric Abrahamson (professor of management at Columbia Business School) and David H. Freedman (a contributing editor and the technology columnist at _Inc._ magazine) label a system "messy" "if its elements are scattered, mixed up, or varied due to some measure of randomness, or if for all practical purposes it appears random from someone's point of view." Thus, what may be orderly to one person may appear messy to another -- if, for example, the system of order cannot be discerned. While "messiness" may be due to an absence of order, it is more often due to a system of order that isn't working properly. "Messy" can describe not only living quarters and workspaces, but also lawns, schedules, traffic patterns, company policies and procedures, leadership styles, thought processes, and a host of other things. The authors contrast "messiness" and "neatness" in these various contexts, and they describe individuals, businesses, and organizations that have achieved phenomenal success despite -- or, more accurately, because of -- their unconventional organizational structures. While Abrahamson and Freedman concede that messiness is not always superior to neatness, they point out the benefits of messiness because of our society's general bias toward neatness. They demonstrate how moderate disorganization often leads to greater flexibility, efficiency, and effectiveness than do more highly organized systems. In addition, the unusual juxtapositions that may occur in a messy environment can spark creativity or suggest solutions to problems. _A Perfect Mess_ may inspire us to reconsider the optimal level of neatness or messiness in various areas of our lives. Doing so may free up hours of our time, unleash our creativity, and allay our guilt.