Oliver James - Affluenza This is not the sort of book I normally read. When it comes to non-fiction, I like biography and American history, and I’m an artsy type so some cultural commentary doesn’t go amiss, but pop psychology generally makes for a braindead state. I don’t especially want to get a man who wants babies/get a man who isn’t emotionally unstable/get a man at all really, which counts me out of the audience for about 95% of these things, but Affluenza attracted me because my old debt problems probably still keep my parents up at night. The gist of the book is, duh, that money doesn’t make you happy, and James draws upon a whole host of cartoonish millionaires to prove just what a bunch of miserable cunts they are. So far, so predictable. But then it gets more interesting, especially when he starts to explore the personality traits that appear to ‘vaccinate’ people in English-speaking capitalist nations against Affluenza. He uses Tony Blair as an example of someone who shows sincerity (bad) rather than authenticity (good), and then there’s the fine line between vivacity and hyperactivity, with a great example that a hyperactive person might well be massively boring, but a vivacious person will engage totally with a subject. On the whole, reading Affluenza has made me a bit smug, because it’s helped me realise how little I do compare myself unfavourably with others. The chapters on academic pressure and motherhood were more thought-provoking though, because I’m a student who has to suppress, not disappointment exactly, but anger, whenever someone gets a better mark than me. It’s difficult to know how much of that pressure comes from external places, and how much from within, but it’s definitely there. And then James says repeatedly that motherhood is the most fulfilling thing that a woman will ever do, and that female emancipation has been hijacked by ‘selfish capitalism’ so that women feel their status can only come from earnings. Kids don’t really appear on my future plan, and it’s worrying that that decision might come back to bite me on the arse. This is about the time that I say all pop psychology books are bullshit, right? Oliver James - AffluenzaPublication date: 2007Published by: VermillionPrice then: £8.99Price now: £4.99Bought from: Oxfam, Oldham Street, Manchester From the synopsis: “In this eloquent account, James reveals how issues like consumerism, property fever and the battle of the sexes vary across societies with different values, beliefs and traditions. Ands leads us to an avoidable and potentially life changing conclusion: that to ensure our mental health we can and must pursue our needs rather than our wants.”

Oliver James - Affluenza

This is not the sort of book I normally read. When it comes to non-fiction, I like biography and American history, and I’m an artsy type so some cultural commentary doesn’t go amiss, but pop psychology generally makes for a braindead state. I don’t especially want to get a man who wants babies/get a man who isn’t emotionally unstable/get a man at all really, which counts me out of the audience for about 95% of these things, but Affluenza attracted me because my old debt problems probably still keep my parents up at night.

The gist of the book is, duh, that money doesn’t make you happy, and James draws upon a whole host of cartoonish millionaires to prove just what a bunch of miserable cunts they are. So far, so predictable. But then it gets more interesting, especially when he starts to explore the personality traits that appear to ‘vaccinate’ people in English-speaking capitalist nations against Affluenza. He uses Tony Blair as an example of someone who shows sincerity (bad) rather than authenticity (good), and then there’s the fine line between vivacity and hyperactivity, with a great example that a hyperactive person might well be massively boring, but a vivacious person will engage totally with a subject.

On the whole, reading Affluenza has made me a bit smug, because it’s helped me realise how little I do compare myself unfavourably with others. The chapters on academic pressure and motherhood were more thought-provoking though, because I’m a student who has to suppress, not disappointment exactly, but anger, whenever someone gets a better mark than me. It’s difficult to know how much of that pressure comes from external places, and how much from within, but it’s definitely there. And then James says repeatedly that motherhood is the most fulfilling thing that a woman will ever do, and that female emancipation has been hijacked by ‘selfish capitalism’ so that women feel their status can only come from earnings. Kids don’t really appear on my future plan, and it’s worrying that that decision might come back to bite me on the arse.

This is about the time that I say all pop psychology books are bullshit, right?

Oliver James - Affluenza
Publication date: 2007
Published by: Vermillion
Price then: £8.99
Price now: £4.99
Bought from: Oxfam, Oldham Street, Manchester

From the synopsis: “In this eloquent account, James reveals how issues like consumerism, property fever and the battle of the sexes vary across societies with different values, beliefs and traditions. Ands leads us to an avoidable and potentially life changing conclusion: that to ensure our mental health we can and must pursue our needs rather than our wants.”