- Hardcover: 176 pages
- Publisher: Portobello Books Ltd (30 Nov 2009)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 1846272173
- ISBN-13: 978-1846272172
- Product Dimensions: 20.6 x 13.6 x 3 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 138,916 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
The Value of Nothing
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More About the Author
Product Description
Review
`A penetrating and admirably concise guide to the follies of market fundamentalism' - John Gray, Observer --Review
'Patel reveals the distorted prices and compromised values at the heart of contemporary society' - GQ --Review
`Patel combines sociology and neuroeconomics to ask the most fundamental question of the season: why do things cost what they do?' - Prospect
--Review
'Patel reveals the distorted prices and compromised values at the heart of contemporary society' - GQ --Review
`Patel combines sociology and neuroeconomics to ask the most fundamental question of the season: why do things cost what they do?' - Prospect
--Review
Product Description
Credit has crunched, debt has turned toxic, the gears of the world economy have ground to a halt. It's now clear that the market doesn't only get it wrong about sub-prime mortgages, it gets it wrong about everything. We need to ask again one of the most fundamental questions a society ever addresses, and one to which very few people know or understand the answer: Why do things cost what they do? Radical, original, nimbly argued, "The Value of Nothing" uses some fundamental but forgotten economics and some cutting-edge neuroeconomics to show how the price we pay for everything from food, to handbags, to fridges, to entertainment, is systematically distorted. After reading this book, the question 'How much?' should never just be about the price on the sticker.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
20 of 20 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I don't normally write reviews, but I bought this book after reading the book-of-the-week review in The Observer, and after reading it in one sitting, felt I had to write.
I thought I knew a lot about why the financial crisis happened, but Patel manages to sum it up quickly, entertainingly and cleverly. There were lots of bits where I found myself giggling, or saying 'wow' - like the bit about Antons Blindness, where people believe they can see but actually can't, or the discussion of how nuts 'carbon trading' is. He's got lots of great insights into why we got here, but what that this book has that others don't is what we can do to fix things.
Patel talks about 'the commons' - the idea that won the nobel economics prize this year - and he shows how we can't really carry on with the way things are at the moment. There are loads of inspirational stories from around the world, and although it doesn't seem like shackdwellers in South Africa have much in common with us, I reckon we're much closer than people think.
Definitely recommend this book. It doesn't have all the solutions to today's economic collapse, but it has all the right questions.
I thought I knew a lot about why the financial crisis happened, but Patel manages to sum it up quickly, entertainingly and cleverly. There were lots of bits where I found myself giggling, or saying 'wow' - like the bit about Antons Blindness, where people believe they can see but actually can't, or the discussion of how nuts 'carbon trading' is. He's got lots of great insights into why we got here, but what that this book has that others don't is what we can do to fix things.
Patel talks about 'the commons' - the idea that won the nobel economics prize this year - and he shows how we can't really carry on with the way things are at the moment. There are loads of inspirational stories from around the world, and although it doesn't seem like shackdwellers in South Africa have much in common with us, I reckon we're much closer than people think.
Definitely recommend this book. It doesn't have all the solutions to today's economic collapse, but it has all the right questions.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This book is a whirlwind text on how to roll back the power of markets, use them for the good of society and redefine what we mean by democracy. I'd like to think of it as a very good anarchist manifesto without explicitly calling itself that. It has some great ideas on deliberative politics, very realistic ideas, and highlights some inspirational movements from around the globe. Read it. Now.
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This gives a very entertaining survey of how we have all been caught up in this "faith in the market" and its unrealistic and fatally inappropriate values
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