'Subtract: The Untapped Science of Less'

 We humans want more. We strive for more. To get more — money and possessions, mainly — we work more.

And so we have “time famines” among software engineers. The War College discovered that the Army had ordered its officers to complete 297 days of activities in 256 days. There are always more tasks, never less.

Leidy Klotz, a professor at the University of Virginia, has made a study of this rush for more. His research shows humans “systematically opt for more,” even when subtracting provides a better solution.

Part of this is culture, and part is biology. Kangaroo rats are famous hoarders. They are not abstract thinkers. They acquire and store things, including calories, on instinct. We humans seem to have the same instincts.

I’m interested for at least a couple of reasons.

I worked for corporations. I was puzzled at the constant demands to do additional tasks, even when doing them hurt our productivity and our products. I agree with Klotz’s view that subtraction is a neglected tool.

But also I’m a writer, and good writing is largely about subtraction. If you give people a writing sample and ask them to improve it, most will add length. But people who habitually write are likely to cut it. They subtract words, delete sentences. They edit.

Klotz’s book suggests a lot of things — corporate work routines and economics that drive climate change — could benefit from people who think about less, rather than more, about subtraction, rather than addition.

Personally, I have a new list: Things to Stop Doing.

• Source: Leidy Klotz, Subtract: The Untapped Science of Less; New York: Flatiron Books, 2021.