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Affluenza
 
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Affluenza (Paperback)

by Oliver James (Author)
2.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (68 customer reviews)
RRP: £8.99
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Affluenza + They F*** You Up: How to Survive Family Life + The Selfish Capitalist: Origins of Affluenza
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Product details

  • Paperback: 592 pages
  • Publisher: Vermilion (27 Dec 2007)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0091900115
  • ISBN-13: 978-0091900113
  • Product Dimensions: 19.6 x 12.6 x 4.2 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 2.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (68 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 11,284 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Product Description

Review

"A wonderfully clear and cogent thesis." -"Guardian"
"Should be mandatory reading for everyone." -Will Self


The Guardian, Nick Lezard

"as Oliver James's very important book demonstrates...he has thought about the problem a lot and he approaches it in a very winning fashion...he is consistently engaging in both his apercus and his occasionally eccentric asides"

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Customer Reviews

68 Reviews
5 star:
 (15)
4 star:
 (5)
3 star:
 (13)
2 star:
 (9)
1 star:
 (26)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
2.6 out of 5 stars (68 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
208 of 240 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars A book to be sneezed at, 13 Feb 2007
This review is from: Affluenza (Hardcover)
In the first chapter it becomes clear that the author set out with an answer, and didn't need to ask the questions. For me he lost credibility by using a conversation with a Nigerian driving a Taxi in New York to 'demonstrate' that Nigeria is a happier place than NY. So what was 'Chet' doing in Big Apple? Having been to Nigeria I know the answer. The author asked 'Chet', this very nice,decent man, if he had ever cheated on his wife. Did he really expect a truthful answer?

I found the writing lightweight, and the 'research' banal. Sorry, but I prefer Fromm undiluted.
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25 of 28 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars Boring and tedious, 2 Mar 2009
This book occupies 570 pages, but the essence of what the author is saying could be condensed into about 5 pages. It is possible to understand the concept of affluenza from the book jacket and by skim-reading the first few pages. The rest of the book is just padding, and does not add any further useful information.

I got bored before the end of the first chapter but persisted as someone had bought me the book as a present and I felt under some obligation to read it. I hope that the book would get better the further I got into it, but that did not prove to be the case. When I reached the end I felt I had wasted my time.
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69 of 79 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars Facile, patronising drivel., 29 Aug 2008
By Ghostguessed (Birmingham, UK) - See all my reviews
What a ghastly book this is. For the best part of five hundred pages, the author presents a paper-thin thesis supported by conjecture, selective reading of evidence and, if all else fails, mind reading. He does so in a dreadful matey style, and the whole is shot through with sexism, snobbery and unthinking anti-Americanism, topped with a hefty dollop of cultural cringe. Whether it's showing us the jolly, happy Nigerian taxi driver who just loves life despite being beaten up and ripped off, or the stunningly gorgeous Russian girls with their tiny bodies and huge boobs who adore to wear short skirts and tight tops for their own fulfilment rather than to attract men like Western slappers do, or the miffed ex-employee whose account of his former employers' ways somehow finds its place among so-called evidence of the misery of the affluent, the whole thing is so astonishingly bad it's hard to believe it's not an extended parody of the worst kind of intellectually bankrupt handwringing Sunday-supplement trash fluff.

Do you, gentle reader, know what 'utilities' are? Mr James assumes you don't, and kindly gives you a definition. Do you slavishly follow fashion and do the bidding of advertisers? Mr James thinks you probably do. Will you burst with frustration if your car is not new and shiny? Is your life one big lurch between your des-res house, your sparkly motor, Starbucks (witches! devils! burn them!) and your high-pressured, seventy-hours-a-week job as a corporate drone, with nary a thought for your inner soul until you divorce, burn out and get made redundant at thirty-five then spend ten years wondering where the real you went? What? No? What's that you say - you're a complicated human being, not a stereotype? Fret not: it's unlikely you'll ever be interviewed by Mr James.

It's dreadful stuff, it really is. Avoid it. If you want to learn anything about the human condition rather than be hectored by a strange man with a dull agenda and some bizarre notions about how people live, read a good novel instead. Actually, read any novel - you're likely to get more enlightenment from the most trite story than you are from Oliver James's myopic ramblings.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

1.0 out of 5 stars Patronising, verbose anecdotal observations
The book jacket says that there's an epidemic of 'affluenza' sweeping through the English-speaking world, an obsessive, keeping-up-the-the-Joneses feeling that makes us twice as... Read more
Published 6 days ago by Stephen T.

4.0 out of 5 stars Affluenza
I'm only a 1/4 of the way through this book... but it makes me feel good about myself!

:)
Published 23 days ago by Ms. J. Richards

1.0 out of 5 stars Superficial and full of confirmation bias
Awful, awful book. I thought Freud had been comprehensively removed from modern psychiatric practice, and yet Oliver James, claiming to be a practising psychiatrist, continually... Read more
Published 1 month ago by Robert J. Kerr

2.0 out of 5 stars A long rant by James
The opening chapter puts forward the premise that society and our mental health is being damaged by overspending. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Barry

1.0 out of 5 stars A bad read
I bought this book as I thought it sounded interesting and relevant to current times. If I'm honest, the glowing quote from Jeremy Vine tipped my decision in favour of making the... Read more
Published 2 months ago by Benny

5.0 out of 5 stars Ignore the negative reviews - I think they're on someone's payroll!
I seriously think that some of the reviews on here are written by people on the payroll of some of the companies which would lose out if everyone were to read Affluenza... Read more
Published 2 months ago by C. Mahoney

4.0 out of 5 stars Uncomfortable but essential
Affluenza

The central contention of Affluenza is that those of us who are already susceptible to emotional distress are inevitably damaged by adherence to the values... Read more
Published 3 months ago by M. Hind

1.0 out of 5 stars Promising cover - but downhill from there
I bought the book because the book had a positive review from Jeremy Vine on the front cover. Did Jeremy not read the book before putting his name to it? Read more
Published 4 months ago by Penny

5.0 out of 5 stars Thought provoking and inspiring
Well written with an abundance of research and anecdotes which make it very palatable reading. I enjoy the way the author makes his opinions very clear and is not all doom and... Read more
Published 6 months ago by L. Hall

5.0 out of 5 stars Fabuenza
A fantastic treat for all - well crafted, researched and thoughtfully delivered. A must read for everyone - all the ill-fated, materialistic, desperate, greedy people need to know... Read more
Published 7 months ago by M. Terry

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