The Story of Stuff – Annie Leonard – Free Press (US) 2010 ISBN 978 1 4391 2566 3 – I have been using ‘Story of Stuff’ stuff from their website in presentations for years, but only recently found this book. It is set up similar to her presentations, giving considerable details on how raw materials are extracted, turned into stuff, distributed to retail outlets, consumed by us ‘consumers’ and then disposed of. It is an absolutely fascinating work and has three indexes containing examples of promising policies, reforms and laws, actions which we can take as individuals and a sample letter to PVC retailers, manufacturers and lobbyists. No photos, some line drawings. The website can be accessed here.
The Secret Life of Stuff – Julie Hill – Vintage Books (UK) 2011 – ISBN 978 0 099 54658 0 – This book starts out looking at how we got here, in terms of consumption and the types of raw materials needed to keep things going, how they are extracted and the environmental costs of doing so. She then covers why all this matters and how we interface with our stuff, then finally where we need to go and how we get there. A comprehensive read at almost 300 pages. No photos or drawings.
A Life Less Throw Away – Tara Button – Thorsons/Harper Collins (UK) 2018 ISBN 978 0 00 821771 6 – This book is written by the CEO of BuyMeOnce, and in parts can (ironically enough) come across as an advert for BuyMeOnce (UK). She is ex-advertising ‘industry’ and provides a lot of info on how they trick us into buying, and how those tricks may be defeated. She also introduces the concept of ‘mindful curation’ where you only buy (and look after well) products that are long lived and you really love. The BuyMeOnce buying guide (Chapter 13) is worth a look but will become dated with time. An interesting read, no illustrations.
Minimalism – Joshua Fields Milburn & Ryan Nicodemus – Hachette Australia (AUS) 2016 ISBN 978 0 7336 3908 1 – This written by two guys who, after living the modern life in its consumptive glory, realised they weren’t happy and tried to find a better way. The book describes their 21 day kickstarter plan to help you focus on what is important. The cover five essential values – health, relationships, passions, growth and contribution to others and the world. This enables you to take stock of your life, then plan to improve it. No illustrations.
What’s Mine is Yours – Rachel Botsman and Roo Rogers – Harper Collins (US) 2010 ISBN 978 0 06 204645 1 – This book is about (buzzword ALERT!) collaborative consumption is ‘sharing’. One way to reduce our consumption is to share resources, with our friends, family and even (via the medium of the internet) strangers. Tis book covers why we should be sharing more (part 1 – Context), how old forms of sharing are being revived and new ones developed (Part 2 – Groundswell) and how we can design and implement collaborative consumption (Part 3 Implications). The book as come fascinating ideas! No Illustrations.
Simple Prosperity – David Wann – St Martin’s Griffin (US) 2007 ISBN 978 0 312 36141 9 – David Wann is the co-Author of the American version of ‘Affluenza’ and ‘Superbia!’.The book is broken up into 2 sections, the first is Personal Assets, wich talks about the things which make life worth living from a personal standpoint such as personal growth, social capital, time to do what we want to do, wellness, nature and the value of work and play and how you can maximise them to live a more satisfying and sustainable life. The second section covers Public and Cultural Assets which talks about our neighbourhoods, energy savings, right-sizing our homes and gardens, eating more sustainably and the food system and getting the right information when you need it to live more sustainably. There are a few B&W photos.
Voluntary Simplicity – Duane Elgin – Quill (US) 1993 (Revised Edition) ISBN 978 0 688 12119 5 – Originally published in1981, this is one of the first books pointing out that our consumptive habits were not only not satisfying us, but would get us into big trouble in the long run. The book talks about living a simpler more ecological life, including interviews and quotes from people who are doing it. The meat of the book is covered in the centre section – The Philosophy of Simplicity and its 3 chapters: appreciating life; living more voluntarily; living more voluntarily. It is not about living an impoverished life, but iving a richer life through consuming less. No illustrations.
Just Enough – Azby Brown – Tuttle Publishing (US/JAP) 2012 ISBN 978 4 8053 1254 4 – I LOVE this book! It talks about Japan in the Edo period (1603 – 1688) and how the culture developed to make the optimum use of the resources available to a small island nation. A lot of the thing things we know about the original Japanese culture make so much sense when thinking about living a sustainable lifestyle. The book is fascinating and there are lots of wonderful line drawings which illustrate the concepts being described. It is not all beer and skittles and some things are a bit off putting. Like the use of infanticide to control population levels, but they could be easily sorted out today. A wonderful read!
The Ethical Consumer – Rob Harrison, Terry Newholm and Deidre Shaw – Sage Publications (UK) 2005 ISBN 1 4129 0352 1 – This is essentially a university text describing the ethical consumer and how they can be reached to sell stuff! Interesting. The book explores ethical consumer behaviours and motivations, the context within which the ethical consumers operate, the responsibilities of businesses and the effectiveness of ethical consumer actions. Chapter 14 on how businesses Can access the ‘ethical market’ is interesting. Long and somewhat techo, but interesting if you have the will (and time) to trawl through it. Some tables and stuff, but no illustrations.
Share or Die – Neal Harris and Neal Gorenflo (Ed.) – New Society Publishers (CAN) 2012 ISBN 978 0 86571 710 7 – This book is a series of articles about such things as creative options for creating your own job or housing, collaborative consumption, DIY higher education and rejecting the corporate ladder and embracing a ‘lattice lifestyle’. It is aimed at those who have just completed ‘college’ but can provide ideas for anyone looking to live at the edges or outside of the mainstream economy. Fun to dip in and out of rather than a cover-to-cover read. Some line drawings and even a couple of comics.
The New Green Consumer Guide – Julia Hailes – Simon and Schuster (UK) 2007 ISBN 978 0 7432 9630 7 – Rather than being a general book on how to reduce your consumption, this book lists ‘greener’ alternatives to main stream goods and services. As such it may be a bit dated, but still has some good info. It covers the ‘why’ in chapter one, home and garden, food and drink, transport and personal matters in chapters 2 to 5 and then do’s and don’ts and making a difference in the conclusion – the way forward. Lots of photos, lists, tables etc.
Affluenza – Clive Hamilton and Richard Denniss – Allen and Unwin (AUS) 2005 ISBN 978 1 74114 671 2 – There are actually two other books by this name (By James, 2007 and by De Graaf, Wann & Naylor 2014) but this is the original. The book starts off with what affluenza is and how it got to be such a problem, then goes on to describe the effects of it (debt, overwork and wasteful consumption) then moves on to what we can do about it such as downshifting. No illustrations.
How to Give up Shopping (or at least cut down) – Neradine Tisaj – Hardie Grant Books (AUS) 2009 ISBN 978 1 74066 735 7 – This is a small book (5” x 7” 120 pages) has lots of tips and tricks about keeping your money in your pocket, starting out with the authors personal journey with shopping, why she shopped and working out how she broke her shopping habits. She talks about running a shopping detox, how sales are not your friend and that credit cards are the devils’ work. She then details the road back to conscious spending. A great little book and the ‘tips to remember’ at the end of each chapter make it easy to use. There are some line drawings.
Spoiler Alert: On almost the last page of her book, Neradine confides in her readers that she has just been diagnosed with breast cancer. I read this about 11:00pm one night and, realising the book was published 10 years ago, the answer would be out there somewhere. She survived and is still alive as far as I know!
