I really enjoyed the book 'A Pattern Language' by Christopher Alexander. It looks at architecture from the level of the ordinary person and has some brilliant insight into what makes a building pleasant to live in. I applied some ideas from the book when I renovated my house and it has been a huge success.
I cycled around Iceland in may of last year. Slipping into a hotpool after a day of pedaling against the wind in barely above freezing temperature was simply amazing.
THats the thing. You don't 'need' all these things. Yes if you want to do some competitive baking you're gonna want all the specialized tools but to it's not a necessity.
Personally I try to think of my tools as investment, if I don't use it professionally I don't spend too much on it.
The line between tool and stuff is quite often blurred.
Lots of tools exist only to facilitate a very specific task and can be replaced by a less specialized one. Its not always as efficient but most of the time its enough. A knife can peel, mince, cut, etc. It can easily replace lots of 'stuff' in the kitchen.
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