Affluenza: When Too Much Is Never Enough

Registered by claudinec of North Melbourne, Victoria Australia on 11/19/2005
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6 journalers for this copy...
Journal Entry 1 by claudinec from North Melbourne, Victoria Australia on Saturday, November 19, 2005
Why are so many Australians (and Americans, and British...) so materially wealthy yet feel they haven't got enough stuff? The authors suggest that our society is in the grip of an Affluenza epidemic, and we have the means to cure ourselves.

Reviewed for The Melbourne Anglican. (Darn it, they rearranged the site and dropped my review!)

Journal Entry 2 by claudinec from North Melbourne, Victoria Australia on Wednesday, July 26, 2006
I'm making this available as a bookring (Australia only for the time being). PM me if you're interested.

Participants:


  • catsalive
  • BellaMack
  • -Bodhi-
  • ScarletRubies
  • amberC


Journal Entry 3 by claudinec from North Melbourne, Victoria Australia on Monday, July 31, 2006
Sent to catsalive yesterday.

Journal Entry 4 by catsalive from Rooty Hill, New South Wales Australia on Wednesday, August 2, 2006
Thanks, claudinec. I'll get to it soon-ish.

Journal Entry 5 by catsalive from Rooty Hill, New South Wales Australia on Friday, August 18, 2006
A very interesting book & well worth the read. I have considered downshifting a time or two myself but it is a really scary thought. On reading this book I have decided to give it some more serious thought as I know the depression I suffer is partly because of my job & I would like to be doing something I enjoy. The scary part is the great drop in salary.

There really is quite a lot of food for thought in here & I agree with a lot of it. It is time to stop running the country as a business & start putting money back into such things as Health, Education, Aged Care, Public Transport, etc. I do hate what has been happening to our "democracy" over the last decade or so.

Thanks, claudinec. I'll get this off to ScarletRubies ASAP.

Journal Entry 6 by catsalive from Rooty Hill, New South Wales Australia on Friday, August 18, 2006
Just to keep you up to date, I have just PMd BellaMack as ScarletRubies is about to go on hols. ScarletRubies will contact you, claudinec, to rearrange things.

Journal Entry 7 by catsalive from Rooty Hill, New South Wales Australia on Sunday, August 20, 2006
Posted to BellaMack today.

Journal Entry 8 by BellaMack from St Helens, Tasmania Australia on Thursday, August 24, 2006
Received today, will journal again when read

Journal Entry 9 by BellaMack from St Helens, Tasmania Australia on Wednesday, September 6, 2006
Thanks for the opportunity to read the book claudinec! I really enjoyed it, and as a downshifter myself, it pretty much reinforced for me that I have made the right decision :)

PMing -Bodhi- for her address

Journal Entry 10 by -Bodhi- from Jannali, New South Wales Australia on Friday, September 15, 2006
Arrived safely in the mail today. Thankyou BellaMack and claudinec :)

Journal Entry 11 by -Bodhi- from Jannali, New South Wales Australia on Friday, October 13, 2006
What a fantastic book!

I think that it should be compulsory reading for:
a) Every Secondary School student in Australia.
b) People who own $2700 Louis Vuitton yoga mats and buy sleeping bags for their ferrets
d) People who measure their self-worth and happiness by money
e) ... OK everybody should read it :)

As I was reading this I felt nauseous at just how wasteful and affluent our country has become at the expense of what truly matters. I never really ever entered the whole "rat race, keeping up with the Joneses" thing myself as I just had no interest in materialism(much to the bemusement and derision of some family members and the odd acquaintance) but recently our little family has been faced with some decisions brought about by the birth of our first child and drop to one income with a mortgage. Instead of entering the rat race to keep up we made a very easy decision to not even go there...so I guess that makes us down-downshifters - the whole slow lifestyle just makes sense to us and we wouldn't have it any other way :)

The closing paragraph describes a dystopian future where people keep blindly accumulating "stuff" until society is one big mess of waste, psychological disorders, fractured relationships and lives without meaning.I echo the hopes of the authors in the last sentence of this paragraph: "We believe the people of Australia will not accept such a future".

Will contact ScarletRubies to pass it on...

Journal Entry 12 by -Bodhi- from Jannali, New South Wales Australia on Monday, October 16, 2006
Popped in the post today.

Journal Entry 13 by ScarletRubies from Palmerston, Northern Territory Australia on Sunday, October 29, 2006
Sorry I didn't journal this right away; it arrived last week (Wednesday I think). I've enjoyed reading the blurb + contents, but haven't gone past the preface. It's close to the top of my TBRs. Thanks for the loan; I'll be back to journal when I've read it.

Journal Entry 14 by ScarletRubies from Palmerston, Northern Territory Australia on Thursday, January 25, 2007
I am so sorry to have had this book so long! I have dropped Amber a PM and will see it to her ASAP.

It's a good and important read; as Bodhi said, it's something that should be required reading for all students.

Like others, I found this book supported the convictions I already had. The challenge for me is knowledge and awareness. I have always wanted to be a thoughtful/conscious consumer, but find myself overwhelmed with lack of information, or conflicting information etc. Some things I find simple to modify, but others present more difficulty. I know I'm not unique in that!

I was frustrated by elements of the message. The closing sentences particularly bother me. They say:

"This dystopian future will be marked by an intensification of all the distress and damage caused by affluenza - unthinking consumerism, fractured relationships, psychological disorders and mountains of waste. And our children and grandchildren will be condemned to lives without meaning.We believe the people of Australia will not accept such a future."

I fear we will. I think my inner-cynic has the upper hand today!

Journal Entry 15 by amberC from Darwin, Northern Territory Australia on Friday, February 2, 2007
Collected at the meet-up. It was great to finally meet Ruby.

I have a couple of other rings before this.

Journal Entry 16 by amberC from Darwin, Northern Territory Australia on Friday, February 9, 2007
A very interesting read. We downshifted 14 years ago, and it was the best thing we ever did. Some friends and family couldn't understand our decision and it REALLY distressed my mother-in-law. It wasn't always easy but it was right for our family. Unfortunately we are not quite as 'downshifted' as we once were, but we have never got back to the rat-race we existed in before we downshifted.

Posting back to claudinec today.

Journal Entry 17 by claudinec from North Melbourne, Victoria Australia on Tuesday, February 20, 2007
This book has come home. Thanks everyone for participating in the ring!

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