Then he got rid of his books so that's not an issue he has I guess...
Interesting that he does identify that you need more than one kitchen knife. Minimum for me is a decent general knife (say 7") and a bread knife.
But the kitchen is a lousy place to practice minimalism anyway.
I do tons of home repairs, automotive repairs, build things, take stuff apart and so on. I have enough tools to equip a small production woodshop, plus a growing collection of metalworking equipment. And even after all that I probably use a #2 phillips screwdriver on 99% of anything that has a phillips head screw.
For a "typical" person, a #2 phillips will probably serve all their reasonable needs.
The vast vast majority of people I know have never done any of those things, and probably never will. If their xbox is broken, they either send it off to get fixed or throw it out and get a new one. If they need drywall or heavy bookshelves put in, they call someone.
I would consider owning no tools and and getting other people to handle all your repair work to be a fine example of a certain type of minimalism.
Ah yes, good point, and I agree. I guess I was too fast in making a generalization on my own behavior re: the tasks for which one would use a screwdriver. I guess I own many tools because I'm frugal :)
"There is one Phillips screwdriver in my house."
Uh oh. Philips screwdrivers come in varying degrees of bluntness, with the very blunt ones for the very big screws and very pointy ones for small screws. Phillips screwdrivers are not the right area to avoid redundancy. (buying one with variable bits that fit on it would be a better option).