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The paperback edition of the "Sunday Times" bestseller. It examines the epidemic of 'affluenza', an obsessive keeping up with the Joneses, which has resulted in huge increases in depression and anxiety among millions. Travelling round the world to investigate this phenomenon, James asks why so many people want what they haven't got and to be someone they're not, despite being richer and freer than ever before? From the author of "They F**k You Up", which sold over 70,000 copies. There will be a huge marketing campaign, in all major newspapers. 'Should be mandatory reading for everyone' Will Self
Synopsis
There is an epidemic of 'affluenza' throughout the world - an obsessive, envious - that has resulted in huge increases in depression and anxiety among millions. This book aims to uncover the answer to how to reconnect with what really matters and learn to value what you've already got. It shows how to be successful and stay sane.
Book Details
Publisher:
Vermilion
Publication Date:
27-Dec-2007
ISBN:
9780091900113
Guardian review
Affluenza by Oliver James
Sue Arnold the guardian Fri 07 August 2009
Do you want to be rich, famous and admired, with all the material trappings that go with it? Are you anxious and depressed? Say no to both and you won't need to read James's latest pop psychology manual because you obviously haven't contracted the affluenza virus, which originated, he claims, in New York and is sweeping through the first world. On the other hand, you may want to hear how awful it is to be Sam, a 35-year-old Wall Street stockbroker who earns $20m a year, bought the top five storeys of a Manhattan residential block and had a designer convert it into a one-bedroom flat with no interior walls, just a great big void in the middle. Heartlessness, says James, turns out to be Sam's most conspicuous trait. How very wise. Seven countries and scores of interviews later, punctuated with observations such as "Consume what you need, not what advertisers want you to want", James concludes that capitalism has eroded our values, Danes are better adjusted than Russians, career women in Shanghai are a pain and we should all opt for the simple life. I might have liked it better with another reader. Why the polemic? Of course I'd rather be hard up and happy than mega-rich and miserable, but what's wrong with reasonably well-off and moody?
