You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
A review by merryspinster
Affluenza: The All-Consuming Epidemic by John De Graaf
My favorite quote from this book is from T.S. Eliot: "We are the hollow men. We are the stuffed men" (page 72). This hollowness or emptiness of modern American life, the breaking up of families and communities, the pollution in the environment, according to the authors, is all in large part due to affluenza, "a painful, contagious, socially transmitted condition of overload, debt, anxiety, and waste resulting from the dogged pursuit of more." (pg.2)
I love the ideas in this book and I liked how it made me search myself for materialism and excess. I think a yearly checkup would be a great idea. But while I thought this book was a good introduction to these ideas, I wonder if I would've preferred the documentary upon which this is based because the writing style DROVE ME CRAZY! The first 170 pages are setting the stage, painting a portrait of American culture with almost randomly selected statistics and anecdotes; every paragraph of every section in every chapter could begin with the word "meanwhile." For example, part of the chapter "Chronic Congestion" could be summarized as "Airlines are congested with stuff. Meanwhile, in California, a woman was almost hit by a falling piece of airplane. Meanwhile, Jim in British Columbia collects space junk. Meanwhile, University of Arizona "garbologists" (garbage anthropologists) are studying Tucson landfills." Wha? I had to force myself to keep reading. Then, when strategies to combat affluenza were finally presented, I found those strategies to not be, well, not especially helpful (i.e. "lobby the government to reduce annual working hours" - seriously? I can see lobbying your employer, or choosing a career that is less demanding, but federal mandates? Another suggestion: "consider co-housing" - uh, maybe not).
I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in these issues (and maybe even some who are not!). But maybe "Your Money or Your Life" or "Simple Prosperity" would be better books for me, I don't know (haven't read them).
I love the ideas in this book and I liked how it made me search myself for materialism and excess. I think a yearly checkup would be a great idea. But while I thought this book was a good introduction to these ideas, I wonder if I would've preferred the documentary upon which this is based because the writing style DROVE ME CRAZY! The first 170 pages are setting the stage, painting a portrait of American culture with almost randomly selected statistics and anecdotes; every paragraph of every section in every chapter could begin with the word "meanwhile." For example, part of the chapter "Chronic Congestion" could be summarized as "Airlines are congested with stuff. Meanwhile, in California, a woman was almost hit by a falling piece of airplane. Meanwhile, Jim in British Columbia collects space junk. Meanwhile, University of Arizona "garbologists" (garbage anthropologists) are studying Tucson landfills." Wha? I had to force myself to keep reading. Then, when strategies to combat affluenza were finally presented, I found those strategies to not be, well, not especially helpful (i.e. "lobby the government to reduce annual working hours" - seriously? I can see lobbying your employer, or choosing a career that is less demanding, but federal mandates? Another suggestion: "consider co-housing" - uh, maybe not).
I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in these issues (and maybe even some who are not!). But maybe "Your Money or Your Life" or "Simple Prosperity" would be better books for me, I don't know (haven't read them).