The Joy of Not Working Has Kept Me Going for Years

It is now 17 years since I wrote The Joy of Not Working: A Book for the Retired, Unemployed, and Overworked.

I consider this book The World's Second Best Retirement Book (after my How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free) although retirement coach and seminar presenter George Fulmore in California considers it the best.

For the record The Joy of Not Working has now sold over 225,000 copies; it has been published in 17 languages. This book has kept me going in more ways than one, including financially and psychologically.

Indonesian Edition of The Joy of Not Working

I have received several letters from people in Japan who have read the Japanese edition of The Joy of Not Working - the cover of the Japanese edition is below.

Here is one of them from Ayumi Nakabayashi in Osaka, Japan written in the first half of 2008:

Dear Ernie:

I have just read you The Joy of Not Working and I'm writing to thank you.

I'm a single working mother with twin daughters. What this means is I'm a poor miserable woman in Japanese society, so I am always worried about money for the future more than necessary and never enjoying my present life.

This book gave me a different view of my life, which I should pay attention to. I don't earn much money but enough to live, and have free time to enjoy. I feel excited about thinking how to spend my free time now. I'm making an "Idea Tree" [Get-a-Life Tree] after writing this letter. To read The Joy of Not Working in English is on the top of the list! I have forgotten that I have a lot of things I want to do.

This book gave me a chance to think over the relationship with boring people, too.

I'm sorry I don't have enough words to explain how I feel now in English, but I really appreciate you.

Sincerely,

Ayumi Nakabayashi

Here are the covers of some of the Foreign Editions of The Joy of Not Working:

French Edition

Spanish Edition

Japanese Edition

Czech Edition

Greek Edition

German Edition

Turkish Edition

French Edition - Canada

Dutch Edition

Korean Edition

Italian Edition

Chinese Edition - Traditional Characters

Chinese Edition - Simplified Characters

Portuguese Edition

Polish Edition