taken from Goodreads:
"In his bestseller Affluenza, David Wann and his co-authors diagnosed the debilitating disease of over-consumption. In Simple Prosperity
he shows readers how we can overcome this disease by investing in a
variety of real wealth sources. To recapture a more abundant and
sustainable lifestyle, try:
- Creating a richer life story through personal growth incentives
- Forming higher-yield friendships and stronger bonds through social capital
- Taking preventive healthcare measures to build up wellness reserves
- Balancing the biological budget through “greener” currency
- Caring for people, not just cars, to improve your neighborhood wealth index
- Resolving that pesky carbon conundrum through energy savings
- Celebrating instead of desecrating! Cultural prosperity futures value the earth as a sacred place
In our age of hedge fund hysteria, Simple Prosperity is a new way of investing that will save our sanity and the planet."
David Wann's title is pretty misleading -- or maybe I just made some assumptions again, that I shouldn't have made. I thought this book would be more about what you can do to live a more sustainable life -- actual steps you can take. Instead, the majority of the book is spent on all the research behind these issues, with perhaps a third of it devoted to how you can apply this information to your own lifestyle. The biggest issue I have with the book, though, is that -- much like every other book about sustainable living and going green -- it makes the assumption that readers have certain resources available to them. For example, Wann encourages using public transportation and alternative energy sources, such as wind energy. But you know what? Not everyone lives in a an area where public transportation exists. And wind energy -- not an option here either. I wish, just once, that an author would take into consideration the portion of the population who live in small towns or rural areas, who have to work a little harder to make these changes, and offer support and advice for them. Then again, maybe I'm looking at the situation with blinders on, and I should be more open to the information given, take what I can use, and pass on the rest.
The other thing that really annoyed me about Wann is that I felt like he was condescending at times, and that he never hesitated to talk about his previous book and all the great things he's done. Of course, sometimes it's a matter of the excitement and passion that he obviously feels for this topic -- so that comes through as being a little too gung-ho. But other times, there was a real sense of "better than you" in his words.
I'm still waiting to find the right "green living" book for me -- one with the perfect blend of ideas and action that applies to my own situation and lifestyle. Here's a previous post about some of the other green books I've read, plus a great link to The Blogging Bookworm, whose focus is green reads.
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EDITED: 6/21/09
During the past week, I've had a nice little email exchange with author Dave Wann ( you can read the first part of it in the comments section of my Book Review page). It boils down to him being disappointed in the review I gave his book, and he brought up several things that I felt the need to address. So here goes.
I'm not retracting my original review. I still firmly believe that, for my own personal purposes, this book rates 2 out of 5 stars. And that phrase is the key -- FOR MY OWN PERSONAL PURPOSES. I feel like I should almost put up a disclaimer, since I've started posting these book reviews on my blog. Reading makes up such a big part of my life, and I wanted to devote a little more time and attention to the books I read, rather than just giving them a couple of sentences over in the sidebar. Even though I post links to my reviews on Goodreads, these reviews still depend heavily on my own personal opinion. I'm not being paid by a newspaper or magazine or other entity to offer up my opinion of what I read; I've worked for online magazines before, and I know how slanted those reviews can be. Essentially, even if the reviewer didn't much care for the book, they still write a nice review -- not glowing, by any means, but still positive -- because that's what they are being paid to do. At least, that's been my personal experience.
But these reviews -- well, they allow me to approach a book from where I am right now; with nonfiction, then, I judge the book based on how useful it's information is to me and my current life. And that's where I felt Wann's book was lacking. The entire premise of his book was to examine the need for (and the early stirrings of) a culture change -- one that is sorely needed if we plan to make a difference in the plight of the planet. The information in his book, then, tackles how to suuport this transition to a "moderate sustainable society." I fully agree that this is necessary, and I think the bulleted list "Lifestyles of the Culturally Creative" is probably the most useful part of the book, along with the final chapter. But here's my issue: he's preaching to the choir, because this concept -- this idea that life can be simple and less about stuff and more about experiences -- has been behind many of the changes I've been making in my life over the past couple of years. He's preaching to the choir.
So obviously, I'm not the target audience here. As a result, much of the information he's presenting here is targeted to someone who'se just coming to the realization that the average American lifestyle is maybe not all it's cracked up to be. Much of the info presented here is information that I'm aware of, and have been aware of, for some time. That's what I meant when I said I'd hoped for more "here's how to do more" information. What it comes down to, then, is that while I think there's a lot of useful information here, it's personally not all that useful to me. Hence the rating.
Wann addressed the general sense of negativity that accompanies the reviews of his books on Goodreads, and the majority of them all focus on what is perceived to be a sense of superiority that comes through in Wann's writing, as though he's bragging about all the changes he's made. I salute him for taking such steps, but again, I have to agree that there is almost a smugness to his tone that makes me feel as though what I've done isn't as worthwhile. In fact, Mr. Wann and I went back and forth over this issue quite a bit in our emails; my feelings were that his tone seemed dismissive of the fact that not everyone is able to make the same types of sacrifices or changes that he has made. I think that the general reaction on Goodreads to this percieved tone comes out of a general elitism that has accompanied the environmental movement over the years.
For me, again, it comes down to the fact that so many of these "green revolution" books and blogs make so many assumptions about their audience. Not everyone can make huge changes in their community regarding housing or transportation or energy; what I'd like to see is more recognition of the fact that people are willing to make changes, and that all change should be celebrated and supported, no matter how big or small. The thing I'm most afraid of is how much the green movement alienates the poor. For example, Mr. Wann talks about the sacrifice he has made in choosing to live on a salary (roughly $30,000) that puts him below the poverty line in many states. Reality check: A lot of the people I know support a family of 4 on $30,000 OR LESS a year. I don't see that as being a big sacrifice, for one person to live on a salary like that. But I guess it's a matter of coming at the situation from a completely different perspective.
As I said previously, I'm not changing my mind or retracting my previous review. I did, however, think that these issues and this book deserved a little more explanation on my part; I try to make sure that my reviews are well thought-out and thorough, and I feel that this book may have been shorted in that case.
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