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Subtract: The Untapped Science of Less Kindle Edition

4.0 4.0 out of 5 stars 331 ratings

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"You need to read this book." —Adam Grant, #1 New York Times bestselling author

“A great book changes the world you live in, revealing mysteries you didn't even know were there. This is a great book." —
Sendhil Mullainathan, MacArthur fellow and author of Scarcity

“Klotz shows us how deleting things from our lives can lead us to exciting new places.”—
Carol Dweck, author of Mindset

We pile on “to-dos” but don’t consider “stop-doings.” We create incentives for good behavior, but don’t get rid of obstacles to it. We collect new-and-improved ideas, but don’t prune the outdated ones. Every day, across challenges big and small, we neglect a basic way to make things better: we don’t subtract. Leidy Klotz’s pioneering research shows us what is true whether we’re building Lego models, cities, grilled-cheese sandwiches, or strategic plans: Our minds tend to add before taking away, and this is holding us back.

But we have a choice—our blind spot need not go on taking its toll.
Subtract arms us with the science of less and empowers us to revolutionize our day-to-day lives and shift how we move through the world. More or less.

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From the Publisher

Subtract Leidy Klotz Carol Dweck quote
Subtract Leidy Klotz Adam Grant quote
Subtract Leidy Klotz Sendhil Mullainathan quote

Editorial Reviews

Review

"12 Best Business Books of 2021," Wealth Management
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"A good book whisks you on a journey to foreign lands filled with exotic ideas and captivating stories. A great book changes the world you live in, pulling back the curtain to reveal mysteries you didn't even know were there. This is a great book. Anyone who has interest in understanding their lives better--and who doesn't--should read it."―
Sendhil Mullainathan, MacArthur fellow and author of Scarcity

“This is a captivating, perceptive read on one of the most basic mistakes that we make in the pursuit of success and happiness. Combining his expertise in architectural engineering and behavioral science, Leidy Klotz pinpoints a gaping hole in our mental math: we’re constantly adding tasks, commitments, and possessions to our lives while neglecting to subtract any. If the defining word of your life is ‘more,’ you need to read this book.” --
Adam Grant, New York Times bestselling author of THINK AGAIN and ORIGINALS, and host of the TED podcast WorkLife

“Leidy Klotz leads the reader on an intellectual journey as he explores the fascinating question: In designing our world, why do we always seem to add rather than subtract?
Subtract is a great blend of academic research, stories, and practical tools. Enjoy the journey!”―Dan Heath, co-author of Made to Stick and author of Upstream

“The best book I read this year.” ―Bob Sutton, New York Times bestselling author of The No Asshole Rule


“Behavioral science at its best helps people to improve their lives. It may help them think about old things in new ways or add new and better habits. In
Subtract, Leidy Klotz shows us how deleting things from our lives can lead us to exciting new places.”―Carol Dweck, author of Mindset

Subtract is simply brilliant. With engaging and moving prose, Leidy Klotz travels back and forth between kids’ toys, evolution, Dr. Seuss, anthropology, racism, cognitive psychology, urban planning, global warming, and architecture to teach us that often, the best way to solve problems is by taking things away―by subtracting. To learn how to subtract, you must first add Subtract to your reading list.”―Barry Schwartz, author of The Paradox of Choice and Why We Work

“There could be no more important time to read this well-researched book, when so much needs subtracting: the prejudices, norms, and rules that perpetuate structural racism in our country; the mindless consumption that puts us on the hedonic treadmill and destroys biodiversity and a livable climate on our planet.” ―
Elke Weber, Gerhard R. Andlinger Professor in Energy and the Environment

"The heart of Leidy Klotz's SUBTRACT is a brilliant catch-all philosophy for living well: humans are predisposed to add―money, ideas, inventions, possessions, complexity―but the route to well-being is to take away. Subtraction doesn’t require you to be rich, or to have superhuman self-control, or plenty of free time. All you need is the right attitude, and a toolbox that will help you learn you to subtract effectively. SUBTRACT is that toolbox." --
Adam Alter, New York Times bestselling author of IRRESISTIBLE and DRUNK TANK PINK

“An engaging style and breadth of examples that guides the reader through an important new view of thinking by removing.”―
Eric J. Johnson, author of The Elements of Choice

"
The novel perspectives offered in Subtract make it a worthwhile read for decision-makers everywhere. Through its collection of contemporary psychology, anthropology, and economics, Subtract challenges its audience to defy standard modes of thinking and work to enhance organizations and cultures to reach new potentials." ―J. Alexander Thew, War on the Rocks

About the Author

Leidy Klotz is the Copenhaver Associate Professor at the University of Virginia, where he is appointed in the Schools of Engineering, Architecture, and Business. He co-founded and co-directs the university's Convergent Behavioral Science Initiative, which engages and supports applied, interdisciplinary research. Klotz earned a highly-selective CAREER award from the National Science Foundation, one of the NSF's first awards through its INSPIRE program, and over $7 million in competitive research funding. He advises influential decision-makers that straddle academia and practice, working with the Departments of Energy and Homeland Security, the National Institutes of Health, Resources for the Future, ideas42, and Nature Sustainability. A columnist for the Behavioral Scientist, Klotz has written for venues such as Science, Nature, Fast Company, and The Daily Climate.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B088DQMMXD
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Flatiron Books (April 13, 2021)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ April 13, 2021
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 8477 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 293 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.0 4.0 out of 5 stars 331 ratings

About the author

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Leidy Klotz
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Leidy Klotz is a Professor at the University of Virginia, with appointments in Engineering, Architecture, and Business. He studies the science of design: how we transform things from how they are to how we want them to be. He has secured over $10 million in competitive funding to support this new area of research. To share research insights with those who can use them, he has written more than 80 articles and two books. To apply these insights to address climate change and systemic inequality, Leidy also works directly with organizations including the World Bank, the World Design Organization, and ideas42.

Before becoming a professor, Leidy managed the design and construction of large engineering projects and before that he played professional soccer.

Customer reviews

4 out of 5 stars
4 out of 5
331 global ratings
Subtraction: a truly transformative tool
5 Stars
Subtraction: a truly transformative tool
The main idea of this book is very simple yet very powerful at the same time. Subtraction is about achieving an end result that is less. Getting to less doesn't mean we're doing less; rather, it's quite the opposite. We do much more thinking when we consider outcomes that involve subtraction because it forces us to think more than we did before when we defaulted to addition-solutions only.Subtraction isn't meant to be this end-all-be-all panacea to our problems; however, it's an extremely powerful tool to consider when we go about searching for solutions. While it is much easier to default to addition, I will personally try to apply this framework of subtraction in my own day to day.Personally, I enjoyed all of the examples that Leidy provides. It shows how ubiquitous subtraction is in problem solving and allows the reader to see subtraction through a multitude of different lenses and contexts. Whether it's a challenge as simple as connecting two Lego structures in the least cumbersome way possible, or redesigning a bike such as the strider bike, to much larger challenges such as climate change, subtraction can--and arguably should--play a vital role in the solution.Leidy is incredibly brilliant, and his work on subtraction is novel and has the potential to be transformative in the way people attack the grand challenges of our time. I highly recommend others give this book or any of his other published works a read.
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Top reviews from the United States

Reviewed in the United States on September 29, 2021
The main idea of this book is very simple yet very powerful at the same time. Subtraction is about achieving an end result that is less. Getting to less doesn't mean we're doing less; rather, it's quite the opposite. We do much more thinking when we consider outcomes that involve subtraction because it forces us to think more than we did before when we defaulted to addition-solutions only.

Subtraction isn't meant to be this end-all-be-all panacea to our problems; however, it's an extremely powerful tool to consider when we go about searching for solutions. While it is much easier to default to addition, I will personally try to apply this framework of subtraction in my own day to day.

Personally, I enjoyed all of the examples that Leidy provides. It shows how ubiquitous subtraction is in problem solving and allows the reader to see subtraction through a multitude of different lenses and contexts. Whether it's a challenge as simple as connecting two Lego structures in the least cumbersome way possible, or redesigning a bike such as the strider bike, to much larger challenges such as climate change, subtraction can--and arguably should--play a vital role in the solution.

Leidy is incredibly brilliant, and his work on subtraction is novel and has the potential to be transformative in the way people attack the grand challenges of our time. I highly recommend others give this book or any of his other published works a read.
Customer image
5.0 out of 5 stars Subtraction: a truly transformative tool
Reviewed in the United States on September 29, 2021
The main idea of this book is very simple yet very powerful at the same time. Subtraction is about achieving an end result that is less. Getting to less doesn't mean we're doing less; rather, it's quite the opposite. We do much more thinking when we consider outcomes that involve subtraction because it forces us to think more than we did before when we defaulted to addition-solutions only.

Subtraction isn't meant to be this end-all-be-all panacea to our problems; however, it's an extremely powerful tool to consider when we go about searching for solutions. While it is much easier to default to addition, I will personally try to apply this framework of subtraction in my own day to day.

Personally, I enjoyed all of the examples that Leidy provides. It shows how ubiquitous subtraction is in problem solving and allows the reader to see subtraction through a multitude of different lenses and contexts. Whether it's a challenge as simple as connecting two Lego structures in the least cumbersome way possible, or redesigning a bike such as the strider bike, to much larger challenges such as climate change, subtraction can--and arguably should--play a vital role in the solution.

Leidy is incredibly brilliant, and his work on subtraction is novel and has the potential to be transformative in the way people attack the grand challenges of our time. I highly recommend others give this book or any of his other published works a read.
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9 people found this helpful
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Reviewed in the United States on September 16, 2022
We're always trying to improve or solve issues by doing more. There are reasons for doing less. The book makes a good case, but doesn't fully explain how to switch mindsets.
3 people found this helpful
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Reviewed in the United States on May 6, 2021
Klotz's accessible exploration of centuries of philosophy and decades of research focused on lessening our loads (mentally, culturally, personally, economically, email in-box-ally) is revelatory and beautifully synthesizes seemingly unsynthesizable disparate ideas and stories (Aristotle and Springsteen, apartheid and dump trucks, Dr. Seuss and Keynes, toilet handles and space mirrors) with writing that is clear, crisp, humane, humorous, propulsive and sometimes novelistic. This is as much a call to action to simplify and focus in one's life and work (with a checklist -- or, "lesslist" -- easy to remember and adapt) and as inspirational of new thought as anything I've read in years. How lucky are Dr. Klotz's students -- the creativity, humanity, warmth, and intellect emanate from every page.
31 people found this helpful
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Reviewed in the United States on May 22, 2022
Our brains evolved to reward aquisition.
The author notes that addition is perhaps humanity’s oldest cultural heritage. First came addition, then came civilization.

Then came Keynesian economics.
In 1949, President Harry Truman addressed a nation of post-depression war-torn Americans. In his speech, Truman expounded that the way to world peace is if America would take up the mantle of ensuring that people in every country had more food, more clothing, and more access to the goods and services of a rich life. So,

Based on the recommendations , the citizens of the free world would be encouraged to add like they’d never added before.

The reasoning of economist John Maynard Keynes was this: If everyone bought more products, then companies would expand in number & size , which provides more jobs, so that people could afford more goods and services. Truman extended this to declare that the key to world peace is economic growth. Truman’s speech gave rise to modern consumer capitalism. & so, ever since, we incessantly buy more & more to add to our lives in the name of peace & prosperity for all.

Now the avg American home has over 250,000 unnecessary items.

However , The author makes the irrefutable point that no matter how many hours you work, you can not earn more time; that time is forever spent.

We now live in a culture of busyness; where some even brag of living on little sleep. Or wear working 60-80 hours a week as a badge of honor. All this is obviously stress & anxiety producing. The author offers for contrast that a person living in the Middle Ages had more leisure time than any of us do.

So evolution had our brains motivate us & reward us for "more" beacause food was scarce. And in the modern world we are locked in a culture of acquisition. So the thought of subtraction is often over-looked.

Verified In a very simple experiments, such as: There are 2 towers made by simply stacking blocks & a bucket of more blocks. The towers are not the same height & subjects are asked to make the towers the same height. 95% of subjects added a block to the shorter tower. Only 5% thought to take one block away from the taller tower.
In the real world, construction costs are less if you use less blocks. There are many stories in the book showing the suprising power of subtraction. One such story was a lady who determined that cinderblocks are only load-bearing on the outside, so she made hollow blocks which saved a fortune. The blocks are just as strong, but much lighter & much cheaper.
Computer scientist Cal Newport preaches digital minimalism; chef Jamie Oliver distills recipes down to five ingredients; and the tidying savant Marie Kondo declutters homes. Each of these gurus guides us to specific ways we can subtract to improve. And their counterintuitive advice brings joy.
Da Vinci defined perfection as when there is nothing left to take away; seven centuries since William of Ockham noted that it is “in vain to do with more what can be done with less,” and two and a half millennia since Lao Tzu advised: “To attain knowledge, add things every day. To attain wisdom, subtract things every day.”

When confronted with a problem, Consider what you might Subtract, before spend the effort lookibg for what you can add.
13 people found this helpful
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Reviewed in the United States on August 10, 2023
This is from the life side, unlike Kondo's way which focuses on physical possession. Both are very good approaches, both will bring joy to your life.
Reviewed in the United States on August 16, 2022
While I was intrigued by the idea of subtraction, the author (and editors) could have pared this book down by half to make it better. So much repetition, fluff, filler and blather. What I wanted to read is a deeper examination of why subtraction is so difficult and how we could relearn this skill and apply it in our own lives. What I read obscured this central motif with bloat, endless examples of the author’s 4 yo (charming as he is), and explorations of ideas far away from the center of his thesis. An intriguing idea, and so useful for us today. Good for the author for identifying this. I hope he someday writes that book!
13 people found this helpful
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Reviewed in the United States on October 25, 2021
I buy the author’s general argument that there people have a default tendency to make things more complex, to assume more complexity is better. However, the author sometimes argues for subtraction filled by addition. I certainly think that there are nuances that need to be explored with this concept, but the does not give a lot of guidance to help a reader know when increased complexity or when subtraction and simplification would provide better outcomes.
One person found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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Francis Shaw
3.0 out of 5 stars Just ok for me
Reviewed in Germany on December 10, 2022
Although I agree with the main concept of the book it starts well, gets bogged down in the middle, and fizzles out in the end. A common problem for books that probably shouldn't be books, but articles. The book references the simplicity of it's own book cover, but the cover is awful. Looks like it's thrown together in five minutes. You can have simple covers that don't have to look so amateur.
lucas
1.0 out of 5 stars Long... sans réel tips
Reviewed in France on February 14, 2022
A lire si vous voulez vous convaincre que moins est mieux. Par contre on reste vraiment sur notre faim de savoir comment faire moins avec brio...
Dennis Tröger
2.0 out of 5 stars Less would be more
Reviewed in Germany on September 2, 2021
My curiosity das born when I read about the book in a newsletter - but the book is too long and the idea too simple : subtraction is not as intuitive as adding and there are plenty of examples showing where this is the case.

I would recommend a book with a narrow topic , like minimalism if want to get rid of stuff.
Brotkopf
2.0 out of 5 stars Less would have been so much more
Reviewed in Germany on June 20, 2021
The book in one sentence: Consider the option of removing X before defaulting to adding, where X is physical stuff, parts, thoughts, etc...
Too much repetition, too many words, too many tangents... This book is in urgent need of subtraction and a good editor. Not worth the time to read it.
4 people found this helpful
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d l murley
1.0 out of 5 stars Ranty leftist drivel
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 27, 2024
This book was mainly a deranged leftist rant about apartheid and climate change. Also he keeps using the phrase 'Legos' as in 'we build a bridge from Legos' rather the Lego, or Lego blocks, which I found intensely irritating. I had to return the book, which is extremely unusual for me.
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