The High Price of Materialism

If you believe, as many do--including psychologist Tim Kasser, that materialism is one of the "religions" of the twenty-first century, you will want to read this book.He calls materialism "affluenza" and defines it as an infectious disease in which one becomes addicted to having. The vaccine for this disease, he proposes, is mindfulness.He presents findings from his research and that of others on the materialistic lifestyle. The findings are sobering. People who strongly value the pursuit of wealth and possessions:1. Report lower psychological well-being2. Report insecurity3. Seek materials as a coping strategy in an attempt to satisfy needs4. Report fragile self-esteem5. Report shorter, less positive and more negative relationships6. Tend to treat others with less generosity, less empathy, and more manipulation7. Experience less personal freedom and authenticityI recommend this book.

Before reading this book, I read "The Paradox of Choice : Why More Is Less" by Barry Schwartz. I thought this book would take things to another level over that book. I ended up very disappointed.This book discusses studies that Kasser has been involved in. While some of the studies were interesting, I felt like I was reading a scientific journal rather than the unique way that Schwartz presented his material. This book would have better been titled "Why Materialism will not make you happy".The Schwartz book is a very interesting and thought provoking read. This book is more like a dry term paper, 3 stars was stretching it for me.

Good information and needed knowledge.

I am still reading this book, but I am so enjoying it. This book explains the reasons that we as a country and a culture are becoming more and more discontent and unhappy. Our materialistic ideas and concepts, largely due to the media, TV, movies, commercialism are so polluted and distorted by the idealogy that we need more and more "stuff" and things to be happy......this of course never works!! Highly recommend this book....to anyone who will listen!!

This books shies away from advice. Instead it provides first-hand scientific research that’s presented without jargon. It’s understandable and allows you to decide: is the cost of materialism worth it?

The most beautiful thing is that it has amazing sentences with different types and different characters

The High Price of Materialism is an accurate representation of reality, if you are a normal person like you and me who likes to read an interesting book, or is looking for an educational reading for school, THIS IS IT! I love the reading style this author apprehends, and I read it faster then expected and I barely read.

Interesting & thought provoking. Good commentary on correlation between happiness & money. Of course Jesus already explained it perfectly 2000 years ago and it goes along perfectly with all the research.

Not impressed with this unfortunately - it appears to be a never-ending summary of research rather than providing practical solutions to living a life that is less materialistic.There are also conclusions drawn by the research which lack critical analysis and do not really appear to have been given much thought. For example, the author talks about a woman who lost her partner in an accident and how she now feels that she couldn't date anyone. It focuses on how she is highly materialistic and this is most likely one of the reasons for her avoiding intimacy which, to me, makes no sense at all. Her reaction is surely due to the psychological impact of losing her partner rather than her need to buy designer handbags. Oh well. I tried it at least.

Good product

I used this book as the basis for my dissertation- I was studying Materialism and it's affects on our mental health. Surprisingly this is actually a book that if you're interested in the topic, you can read every page. I read the whole thing without skimming or getting bored.

Life changing but wish he hadn’t used the American psychiatrist diagnostic manual to compare problems... that book has been totally exposed as worthless by the likes of Dorothy Rowe

Better than what I expected. Very good articulation of information, good mix of psychology, modern-day life and challenges. Good eye-opener read.