I want that! by Thomas Hine.

Midway through another of my 'anti-consumerism' books...

I want that! : how we all became shoppers   by Thomas Hine

it is an excellent history of shopping, the influences, insecurities, the reasons we shop - the hunt for a bargain, better yet 'a steal', how quickly we become dissatisfied with our purchase, sometimes before we even get it home.

Unfortunately... it is due back at the library today and I can't renew it. :( 

so... here are a few quotes that I marked in the text and I'll just have to finish reading it when I can order it back in for myself.

pg 78 "Time, previously defined by a single clock at the center of a town or village became a personal or at least a household possession.  ....
In contemporary households, of course, the trend has gone completely haywire: there are clocks everywhere.  What was once a great luxury has become a minor nuisance.

pg-90-91  The author is talking about an invitation he had received to a going out of business sale on Wedgewood...
"I had never been particularly interested in the company's wares, but I had certainly heard of them, and so has everyone else. My everyday dishes were beginning to look both dated and immature.  I realized I was feeling insecure both because my plates were out of fashion and because they might communicate that I was not making the sort of progress I should be making in life.  Buying Wedgewood could assuage this insecurity bothe because it purports to be timeless and because the pottery is inarguably a grown-up possession.  Middle age is a serious time that calls for serious dishes."

ha!

102-103 why some people drive SUV's

106 - how  ebay  fosters our competitive nature in the shopping quest