John de GraafRecensioni

This documentary film captures the inspiring story of former Interior Secretary Stewart L. Udall (1920-2010) and his legacy as an advocate of social and environmental justice, international cooperation, art, poetry and music, and most of all, the protection of national parks and our shared environment and magnificent natural beauty. The film highlights the bi-partisan nature of Udall's efforts, with interviews from many who knew him and worked with him on both sides of the political aisle. In addition to the informative interviews, the film includes beautiful nature footage of many of the places that Udall helped to protect as national parks, national seashores, wilderness, and other parklands. All who appreciate the natural world and especially our national parks will enjoy this film.

I don't have affluenza; do you? (See pages 168-169.)

affluenza, n. a painful, contagious, socially transmitted condition of overload, debt, anxiety, and waste resulting from the dogged pursuit of more.

We tried to warn you! The 2008 economic collapse proved how resilient and dangerous affluenza can be. Now in its third edition, this book can safely be called prophetic in showing how problems ranging from loneliness, endless working hours, and family conflict to rising debt, environmental pollution, and rampant commercialism are all symptoms of this global plague.

The new edition traces the role overconsumption played in the Great Recession, discusses new ways to measure social health and success (such as the Gross Domestic Happiness index), and offers policy recommendations to make our society more simplicity-friendly. The underlying message isn't to stop buying--it's to remember, always, that the best things in life aren't things.

It’s more than a book … it’s a disease. Affluenza is a largely modern disease when people are consumed with the idea of consuming. Does this sound like anyone you know?

The book was written around November 2000 and is still very true today. Fun, witty, and filled with illustrations from Pulitzer Prize Winner, David Horsey, this book takes aim at our growing culture of consumerism. Nowadays, we just have so much stuff … or is it junk?

The book divides into three parts: symptoms, causes, and treatments. In short, the symptoms include things like emptiness, stress, and feeling like not having enough time. Feeling bloated and sluggish are also prevalent symptoms. There is little test in the book to take to see how much affluenza you have.

Jokingly, the authors blame Adam and Eve’s Original Sin as the root of affluenza. There are anecdotes of a company like Kellogg that at one point had a standard six hour workday (do any of you know anyone who works only six hours a day?) and the beginnings of the credit card industry. It’s strange in light of all the advances in technology that we were supposed to save us time; we collectively have even less time.

So is there a cure? Yes, one can choose to downshift to a smaller household or just have a smaller environmental footprint. The things most important to us can probably not be bought at your local mall. Goodness knows we have all tried.

This could have been a good book, it is a topic we should all care about. Unfortunately, the premise was weak, there was no hook, they just kept smacking around that poor dead horse. I wanted this book to be revelatory, instead it was somnambulatory.

This work is an analysis of primarily mainstream American consumption, and is recommended reading for anyone who is interested in sustainable communities. The book advocates a variety of strategies for lessening the materialistic drive to fill the spiritual hole, which so many people and communities appear to have. The work is critical of both possessions and experiences, the latter contributing to global warming through air travel, too many people in pristine areas, and proliferation of "experiential" equipment. Reasonable and achievable community and individual suggestions are offered, with assurances that the U.S. econonmy won't collapse if everyone controls their acquisitive natures. Some legislation, however, must occur before some changes can be made - which did not happen in 2005 and is unlikely for 2015 politics. Being ten years old, the work draws from data that is old, and older, which was frustrating and not useful for some of my purposes. Although consumption has changed minimally, current stats might show an even greater need for humans to employ that most difficult of actions: self-restraint.

I would give the work 4 stars if it were current; as it reads, it is a historical snapshot of what should have motivated simpler lifestyles in Americans, becoming a sad reminder that for most, it did not. Still, I recommend this work to those who want to elevate living a simple life to a communal level. There really are many great possibilities expressed.

This could have been a good book, it is a topic we should all care about. Unfortunately, the premise was weak, there was no hook, they just kept smacking around that poor dead horse. I wanted this book to be revelatory, instead it was somnambulatory.

I checked this book out because it was on a list that appeared, I think, in the Food and Drink issue of the New York Times Magazine. (You'll see many others in my current or recent reading list.) I saw the television documentary on which it was based several years ago, and I have to say that this is one case where the film made its point much better than the book did. This is quite often the case with PBS-type documentaries, but usually the books based on such films at least have a number of nice photographs that the reader can gaze on at leisure. Affluenza is illustrated primarily with cartoons, and not very good ones at that. To be fair, since the film was made and the book published, the same ground has been gone over and over in countless articles and books, so that it's all rather old hat even though the problems described persist. The fact that the boom times during which the book was written have ended brings some 20-20 hindsight, but I must confess that I skimmed the last several chapters extremely quickly. Perhaps one good thing to come out of the recession will be that books like this will become curiosities of a bygone age, describing a condition that no longer exists. In the meantime, most people can skip this book.

The first book on economics that I've encountered that starts with the premise that an economy's most important job is to provide food, shelter and clothing for the people participating in it! The authors clearly understand that an economy is a shared idea about how we can collectively get things done and that the idea we currently share in the United States isn't working very well.

Throughout the book the authors point to other high-functioning economies (mostly in Europe) that have made different collective decisions about what they want their economies to do. It is clear that:
- the economy will not collapse if we provide health insurance for everyone
- employment will go up if we all get more time off (because more people will be needed to get the same amount of work done)
- having less stuff and more time will not only be better for us as individuals (more time means more exercise for one thing). It's also better for the environment

My only complaint about the book is that it gets a tad redundant. I don't know how many times the point about time off is better for your health was repeated. I got it the first time.

However, I highly recommend this book to anyone who thinks we can't change things in the US because the economy will collapse. It's not the economy, stupid, it's what we want from the economy that's the problem.

Though the film is pretty old, this documentary is still pertinent. It's a very short healthy attitude check. Sadly, it's not easily available now. The distributor, Bullfrog Films, continues to produce excellent sociologic issue films.

I found the first few chapters of the book to be the most interesting. After that, the tone changed to one of strident ideology, and too one-sided. Many of the solutions proposed by the authors seemed too impractical with not enough consideration given to things that could go wrong with their suggested approaches (e.g., how many jobs would be lost if three weeks paid vacation were to be mandated?). Overall, the book provoked some thought.

The main assertion made is simple: Americans work more than needed and much more than most of the rest of the world does. In return, we tend to live more stressful, less happy lives. This book explores ways that business men and women can fight off the cultural norm of overworking, and what that additional time can be used for when many people derive significant meaning and value from what they do.

What an eye opener. Everyone needs to read this. Speaks volumes about the state of our beings.

Originally a one hour special on PBS about overconsumption in the 1990s, the book Affluenza expands on what the show had to say on the subject. The first two sections section of the book covers how American society shifted over to a consumer society from a more frugal and saving society. The shift came from post-World War II prosperity, the growth of suburbia, continued influence of advertising, and other factors, leading to now, with people having very large houses, storage units, working longer and longer hours with less vacations, and continuing declines in reported quality of life. Part three covers ways to shift one's life from this high focus on stuff back to focusing on community and family and the world around us. Given the recent economic collapses, I think more Americans would benefit from reading and applying the techniques in this book.

I do have one disagreement with a statement in the book. One of the suggestions made for less consumption of meat, because of cattle using up so much grain and water in their raising. First, when cows are fed properly on the food they are designed to eat (grass, NOT grain, cows get sick on grain), they actually enhance overall quality of both the meat produced and the land on which they graze. Secondly, the implication in this statement that people can eat the grain is questionable, since there are so many people with gluten issues as is, and that a heavily grain based diet is potentially one of the big causes for so much chronic illness in Americans.
I do think Americans eat too much food, period. Not simply meat. Among our collective affluenza, "we" are obsessed with the idea of getting the highest volume of food for the least amount of cost. Never mind the quality of the food, or how the animals are treated, or how much fertilizer needs to be dumped on fallow land because it's being overtaxes by monocultures.

Otherwise, I highly recommend the book. In fact I think it's close to necessary reading.

I’m not sure why I enjoyed this (slightly) more than The Paradox of Choice that I also recently finished. They both deal with essentially the same issue – we gringos are surrounded by, and thus seduced into acquiring too much junk and the resulting depression from debt and/or the process of wading through endless options harshes our buzz. Perhaps Affluenza’s cartoon illustration inclusions are better? Maybe it’s the goofy “As seen on PBS” cover graphic? At the very least, my favorite/most dismal baseball team finally won a game so my mood is slightly elevated recently.

Here the authors interview and grab quotes, studies, and anecdotes from a wide ranging cast of characters to illuminate how the typical US citizen’s priorities have become most skewed within a society that is increasingly defined by the GDP metric. Tidbits from economists, suburbanites, New Agers, the “Good Book,” and marketing experts cast illumination on the dreadful plague we (or at least some) experience as the forty hour work week and easily procured credit. Written ten years back, it’s simultaneously dated in certain aspects (access to network TV used to be free?) yet even more relevant in others. I didn’t necessarily find it a “page-turner” but it’s short enough to quickly get through and the diversity of topical areas prevent staleness.

Ooh, I figured out why I prefer this one to Schwartz’s effort. On the final page they mention architecture – something about how we should build for a thousand years instead erecting disposable trash such as the ubiquitous eight year Wal-Mart. Of the many dozens of NOT-architecture-specific, non-fiction books I’ve recently encountered, this is the only one that even acknowledges the existence of my chosen profession; something of an unexpected shout-out to a mostly forgotten profession on life-support. Good read!

It's good to know that I'm doing at least some things right, though I know I could do more. Reading this book only reaffirmed my beliefs about the state of over-consumption in America and increasingly, in the world. Written tongue-in-cheek as an exposé of the disease of affluenza, the authors discuss the disorder's symptoms, causes, and treatments.

I always seem to read these types of books after the predictions have come true. For example, take the credit crash of fall 2008. For anyone in government or business who said the state of credit in America was fine and were surprised by the catastrophe, this book is but one exhibit in a litany of books, articles, and documentaries that surmised a crash would be the inevitable conclusion. It makes me wonder what the authors of Affluenza would have written had they had the chance to see what happened under the Bush administration. I imagine it would have gone from concerned and distressed to appalled and disgusted.

For me the highlight was part two: causes of affluenza. It was wonderful to hear Marx again and incongruous that as a society we still fail to heed his advice. Again and again throughout history we are shown the errors of our ways yet still make the same mistakes. And now with the rest of the world watching and imitating us, we're taking everyone down the primrose path. Hopefully this time, we will have learned some lessons. It's not just the economy that is at stake if we don't - it's our environment, our health, our families, and our self-worth.

A very insightful book about our out of control consumer culture. Though it is about 6 or 7 years old, it is very prophetic about our current economic situation. It basically says that unbridled greed and consumption will lead to a massive economic downturn. Sound familiar?

Although I agree with the overall premise of the book, that we should all consider how we spend our earnings and evaluate our wants versus our needs, I found this book to be very repetitive and preachy.

Great book. And one that really makes you think about all the things we have and buy and think we need.
If you like this, I recommend www.thestoryofstuff.com as well =)

Affluenza: The All-Consuming Epidemic tackles — in excruciating detail — the “painful, contagious, socially transmitted condition of overload, debt, anxiety, and waste resulting from the dogged pursuit of more.” In other words, the authors take on the American way of life; their metaphor-based argument — constructed largely from news clippings, sound bytes and anecdotal evidence — is that the all-consuming pursuit of material things in this country leads to everything from, at best, stress, bankruptcy, divorce, gridlock and chronic dissatisfaction, to, at worst, poor city planning (sprawl), the breakdown of families and communities, resource-exhaustion and environmental devastation. Love the book or hate it, much of it will ring true. — Jeanie Straub

Given all the plaudits Affluenza has received, I found it to be a surprisingly bad book.

I suppose its authorial team is to be given credit for 'consciousness raising' -- but they're awful writers. We get plenty o' platitudes -- plus bromides! Shrill, hectoring denunciations of American lifestyles plus the biggest selection of 'noble savage' references you'll find outside Rousseau. Did you know that people in every country, in every time in history, except maybe for some dead white guy countries sometimes, have understood the secret to life and happiness -- except Americans?

Look, I'm all for confronting affluenza. I agree with the book's ultimate premise, i.e. that buying things doesn't lead to guaranteed happiness or give life ultimate meaning. But the treatment here is so stupifyingly shallow and inane reading it made we want to go out and burn down some redwoods. Tell me you can read passages like this one and not feel the same way:

"Simple things to save the Earth? Sure, let's do as many as we can, because they reduce impacts, stimulate better design, and save money . . . . But while we're at it, let's not forget a few other details that need to be taken care of by the week after next: redesigning the American economy and many of its products, and recycling the American mindset." (p. 202)

Have you ever read more inappropriately breezy, vapid prose? And don't think there's any depth behind these sweeping pronouncements: the best you'll get is lots of calls for government regulations and cheesy environmentalist claptrap. The authors suggest that we confront the anomie of postmodern consumerist culture by advocating, over and over and yet over again, that it's nice to 'get back in touch with nature'.

Affluenza is a serious topic, but this is not a serious book.½

#20, 2005

READ THIS BOOK. It's really eye-opening, likening our society's rampant consumerism to a deadly disease. It really did change the way I think about certain things, and I think it's an important and interesting book. Seriously, read this book.½

I have a real compulsion about these types of books that suggest that my state of overtiredness and my consumer spending habits are a result of "the system" rather than me -- but that also give me suggestions on how to combat these problems. Ask me about "Not Buying It" by Judith Levine. Or Oprah's Debt Diet. Or anything about voluntary simplicity.

I enjoyed this, and it was a good collection of essays (particularly the work of Juliet Schor, who wrote "The Overworked American" and "The Overspent American", two excellent books). It didn't tell me anything I haven't read elsewhere, though. And opposed to Levine's book, which I found myself compulsively reading over and over--as if it were scripture, for god's sake--I found that I wasn't that excited about anything here. Maybe, much like other types of self-help literature, writing on the "simpler life," doesn't lend itself to breaking new ground, but rather repeating common sense.

Everyone in America should read this book.

The authors compare our level of consumption to a disease, hence the title. At first I thought it was just a gimmick, but now I believe our over-consumption truly is a disease that we need to treat and eventually cure.

Bankruptcies and foreclosures are happening at a higher rate than ever before. Our expectations for the size of our houses and cars grow and grow and grow with no signs of slowing down. Just about every moderate- to large-sized city in the country has traffic problems. And too many of the vehicles on the road are disgustingly fuel-inefficient. We work too much and spend too little time with our families and friends. Our kids go to school and are bombarded by ads in the halls, in their classrooms, and in their textbooks. (Not to mention the advertising and marketing that bombards them outside of school.) More and more, cities throughout America are starting to look eerily identical because big chains are replacing locally owned, unique businesses. We use too much paper, too much oil, too much of everything. I could go on and on.

Before I read this book, I would find myself in despair about the state of our country and all these issues, not knowing how to go about trying to fix them. But this book showed me how all these problems are related in a fundamental way and that they are all symptoms of our over-consumption.

The book has a quiz you can take to determine your level of infection, and it has suggestions for both individual and community changes we can make to combat this disturbing disease.

Here's just one of the many parts of the book that opened my eyes:

"Normal is getting dressed in clothes that you buy for work, driving through traffic in a car that you are still paying for, in order to get to the job that you need so you can pay for the clothes, car and the house that you leave empty all day in order to afford to live in it."