I'm honestly not sure where to start with this review. It feels a bit embarrassing to admit that I even spent time reading this book. There’s a cliché in it that you should "spend money and time on things that maximize your experience," and let’s just say reading this book did not hit that mark. But here we are—I’m a sucker for bestsellers, especially self-help ones.

The main takeaway from the book is this:

"For every additional day you spend working, you sacrifice an equivalent amount of free time, and during that time your health gradually declines."

The author pushes the idea of maximizing your life by spending all your money before you die—and timing it so you can actually enjoy what you buy. He defines 'life experience' as everything you do—daily, weekly, monthly, and those once-in-a-lifetime events—summing up to who you are.

He suggests that most of us would prefer doing anything but work if money wasn’t a worry—which probably rings true for many. But, ingrained work ethics from capitalism teach us to save and invest for a comfy retirement. The author views any money left unspent at death as a wasted life, pointing out all the missed opportunities for buying things or traveling the world. Instead, you end up too old to enjoy them or, dead.

This perspective makes me question, do I really have the privilege to think like this? Why should I let a well-off American dictate how I should live? This guy knows how to enjoy his life so well that he didn’t even write his own book—he hired someone, living out his preachings, to avoid the drudgery of work.

Despite how much I disliked this book, it ended with an unexpected twist of social commentary:

"Our culture's focus on work is like a seductive drug. It takes all your yearning for discovery and wonder and experiences, promising to give you the means (money) to get all those things—but the focus on the work and money becomes so single-minded and automatic that you forget what you were yearning for in the first place. The poison becomes the medicine—that’s nuts!"

Turns out, this book falls into the same category as "We Have Never Been Middle Class."

I'll concede that the book had some intriguing ideas, but they were presented in the wrong way, with a questionable tone, and felt too shallow. The ideas themselves aren't the problem—it’s fine to want to spend your money to maximize life experiences. The real issue is the numerous flaws in our capitalist society, which leaves us alone to face the consequences of our spending. Perhaps a truly supportive society would ensure that we can all aim to die with zero.