About this title: Based on the much heralded PBS show, AFFLUENZA blends humor and social commentary to warn about the dangers of being overconsumers. The wit aside, the book also provides new ways of looking at and structuring family and community infrastructures to better keep ourselves in check, less we consume ourselves out of house and home.
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Description: Good. Shows some signs of wear, and may have some markings on the inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Description: Good. No dust jacket as issued. Moderate corner wear & about ten pages have underlining or highlighting. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 288 p. Contains: Illustrations. Audience: General/trade. read more
Description: Very good. No dust jacket as issued. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 288 p. Contains: Illustrations. Audience: General/trade. 56 minute DVD included with book read more
Binding: Softcover
Publisher: Berrett-Koehler Pub
Date Published: 2005-09-09
ISBN-13:9781576753576ISBN:1576753573
Description: NEW. Softcover. From an inventory that is 100% brand-new, 100% direct from the publishers' distribution channel. We carry NO pre-owned, NO remaindered. We pack in CARDBOARD to ensure the pristine quality is maintained. (Bubble-wrap alone is NOT sufficient to protect from USPS equipment. ) Guaranteed brand-NEW, protected with CARDBOARD, your satisfaction is guaranteed. BKLUVID: 9781576753576. read more
Description: Very good. No dust jacket as issued. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 288 p. Contains: Illustrations. Audience: General/trade. read more
Edition: First Edition {Eighth Printing}
Binding: Pictorial Softcover
Publisher: Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc., San Francisco, California, U.S.A.
Date Published: 2002
ISBN-13:9781576751992ISBN:1576751996
Description: David Horsey {Illustrator} Fine. 8vo-over 7¾"-9¾" tall. "Based on two highly acclaimed PBS documentaries, AFFLUENZA uses the metaphor of a disease to tackle a very serious subject: the damage done-to our health, our families, our communities, and our enviornment-by the obsessive quest for material gain. The authors show that problems like loneliness, rising debt, longer working hours, enviornmental pollution, family conflict and rampant commercialism are actually symptoms caused by the same ... read more
Description: Fine. Excellent condition. Appears unread. No marks/underlines/highlights. Pages are clean and nice. Minor wear on tips. Free deliver confirmation! Satisfaction guaranteed! read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: McGraw-Hill Education(Berrett-Koehler)
Date Published: 2005
ISBN-13:9781576753576ISBN:1576753573
Description: BRAND NEW PAPERBACK. 9.299 by 6.701 inches. (300 pages) affluenza should make us all realise that material possessions are never enough to satisfy spiritual hunger. the authors of affluenza challenge us to think beyond the superficiality of individual economic demand to the deeper meaning of life. —bill bradley, former united states senator and presidential candidate the first edition was a bestseller (more than 75, 000 copies sold) that inspired a movement, now heavily revised, the second ... read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Berrett-Koehler Publishers
Date Published: 2002-08-09
ISBN-13:9781576751992ISBN:1576751996
Description: New. Book is Brand New, Gift condition. Free tracking # included! International buyers are welcome. We ship every business day. 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed! read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Berrett-Koehler Publishers
Date Published: 2002
ISBN-13:9781576751992ISBN:1576751996
Description: Very Good. Clean inside and cover Goodwillnyonline carries a wide range of quality new and used items at competitive prices. Goodwillnyonline is operated by Goodwill Industries of Greater New York & Northern New Jersey. A major provider of services for people with disabilities and other barriers to employment. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Berrett-Koehler Publishers
Date Published: 2005
ISBN-13:9781576753576ISBN:1576753573
Description: Acceptable. Moderate marking Heavy Underlining General Reading Copy, All pages and text intact, May contain highlighting/marking or other serious defects. Major defects may exist which may or may not be noted Customer Service isn't just a motto for us, its a way of life. read more
Description: Paperback Book is in Very Good condition: clean cover, clean pages (no text markings), clean page edges (no remainder mark). Ships with bar coded label for faster delivery! read more
"Affluenza is a discursive smorgasbord. It has some interesting and useful descriptions and prescriptions (e.g., the 30 hour workweek as implemented by the Kellogg Company from the '30s to the '80s; tax policies that target big spenders on luxury items). But there's too much explored and explained too little.
They're a bit extreme about the causes and effects of the affluenza epidemic. It's the anti-panacea: it causes practically every ill.
I agree with a lot of the general principles around the book; it's easy because they're so nebulously presented and there are so many of them. (Maybe it would be better suited to group discussion than solo read?) The presentation (which involves a lot of emotional statistics) suggests to me it's targeting an audience who will be willing to take up the cause of 'voluntary simplicity' from their gut rather than their brain, and be satisfied by topical changes. Maybe that's not all bad, and the authors do mention that we need to be sure that our attempts have a high functional load, so we're not worrying ourselves sick over things that don't actually help much. But overall, that message gets lost.
I do wish the authors had been more clear about their political biases. I kept getting distracted by their name-dropping and finger-pointing."
"This book is all about the over-consumption that characterizes (chiefly American) society, and about the havoc this is reaping not only with the environment, but also with our own happiness. The first half of the book is a bit overstated, in that it tries to prove that overconsumption is a problem and links a lot of the economic ills of the last few decades to over-production and consumption using a number of facts that are not necessarily as cut-and-dry as they first seem. I'm not sure that having extra features and gadgets that make life easier is necessarily a bad thing, if technology manages to make more for less. The problem is when technology just makes more for more. The second half, I think, was the more effective bit, where they talk about the hidden costs of the average American life, and about how we might bring these costs down. As something of a pro-environment nut, I certainly think about the costs of cars and transportation, but found myself looking at many other things in a somewhat different light. Somehow,I had never managed to consider how costly the materials that go into making a home are, or how much other things I take for granted degrade the environment. The appeal of a societal shift away from goods and toward community ties and a close-knit social fabric seems like a good, though distant, solution."
"Excellent book. Or, at least the parts that I liked were excellent. The parts I didnt like, though, were AWFUL. In fact, it was so painful that I skipped about 100 pages, right in the middle of the book.
The book starts with Symptoms of Affluenza. I was going right along with them, nodding in agreement and shouting, "Right on!" every 10 pages. But then some of the comments were weird and frustrating to me. There was very little scholarship in this book, so there would be stats that didn't necessarily mean what the authors said they meant, and I wanted to be like, "Yeah, but, what about...?"
And then the chapter about how Vietnam protesters were more idealistic than college kids today. Less caught up in the Affluenza. ... And that chapter made me mad. For too many angry reasons to go into right now. Just know that most of the reasons start with me saying something like, "Oh, don't even START with me!"
So I skipped the last half of Symptoms. Didn't read a word of the Causes section, and started up again with Treatments. Most of which I was all for: More communing with nature. Less TV. No 80 hour work weeks. Smaller houses. Less "needs".
But I can't wholeheartedly jump on the Affluenza bandwagon. A little too preachy. A few too many opinions-badly-disguised-as-scholarship. A little too much hype and hysteria and conspiracy. A LOT too fanatical (you also should learn to live off $8,000 a year!).
Having said that, I'll re-read it in a few years. But I'll skip right to the Treatments section."
"In all drinking water (including bottled): antidepressants, birth control pills, codeine, hormones from animal feed lots, pain relievers, etc. 30% of Americans buy Christmas gifts for their pets; 11% buy them for their neighbors. 70% of Americans attend malls every week, more than attend houses of worship. Kellog's original 30-hour week increased worker productivity. When the company finally went to a 40-hour week crime rates went up, volunteering down. Also: what happened to the living wage?
This book is written like a 285-page pamphlet, but it's a sound and startling pamphlet."
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