The Overspent American (book review) I am becoming sensitive to the word "American" in titles of books. The overconsumption problem is bigger than America and a global focus might be more useful. Still, authors write about where they live and this book is about America. What this book does well is document attitudes on spending with statistics and give a factual presentation. It points out that the perception of "necessities" is expanding and things like phones and Televisions are now considered necessary. As our definition of what is a "necessity" grows our optimism about having a good life shrinks. I think this is important. The more we expand our definition of necessity the less happy we will be. The book goes on showing how saving is a good indicator of overall satisfaction and the number of hours spent watching TV directly impacts saving levels. Putting all this together says: Advertising expands our definition of what's an essential and this makes us dissatisfied. To be happy and wealthy turn off the TV and advertising. The book looks at this from different viewpoints and keeps coming up with the same conclusion. In the back of the book is a list of references and a few addresses: TV-Free http://www.essential.orgorgs/tvfa Co-op http://www.coopamerica.org Media Foundation http://www.adbusters.org I think most of these orginizations now have web pages but did not look them up. Here are email addresses: Unplug [EMAIL PROTECTED] Consume study [EMAIL PROTECTED] American dream [EMAIL PROTECTED] New Road Map [EMAIL PROTECTED] ---------- Jeff Owens ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) Zone 7, http://www.teleport.com/~kowens Underground house, solar energy, reduced consumption, no TV
