At the moment I am mesmerized by a book by James A. Roberts. The hard core facts presented in this well-written book have me stunned by how much we really consume in our society. Quite sobering… I am questioning more than ever why as humans we use so much of our time, energy, and resources trying to surround ourselves with far more “stuff” than we truly need!
I highly recommend following Roberts’ blog and reading his latest book, Shiny Objects: Why We Spend Money We Don’t Have in Search of Happiness We Can’t Buy. If you need help putting your priorities in order and learning practical and helpful strategies for simplifying your life, this book has so much to offer! This is a timely professional and well-researched collection of tips we could all use to make our lives healthier. I plan to share this one with my daughters and friends! Would make a very nice gift, too, to yourself and those you care about.
In Shiny Objects: Why We Spend Money We Don’t Have in Search of Happiness We Can’t Buy, James A. Roberts, a leading researcher and expert on consumer behavior, exposes the hidden motivations and erroneous assumptions behind our spending habits. He also reveals the key to reversing the devastating and ever-increasing effects of materialism in modern culture, showing readers how we can actually increase our well-being by scaling back.
A primary focus of Dr. Roberts’s work over the last 15 years has been the psychology of consumer behavior. He is somewhat of an anomaly among marketing scholars, in that his research is largely focused on the “Dark Side” of consumerism and marketing. Current research efforts focus on the topics of materialism, compulsive buying, credit card abuse, and self-control. His book, Shiny Objects, takes a careful and amusing look at how our love of material possessions impacts our happiness and what we can do to find true happiness in a culture awash in material possession love. Dr. Roberts is a nationally recognized expert on consumer behavior and he has been quoted extensively in the media.
More information about Dr. James A. Roberts can be found on his website at
http://business.baylor.edu/Jim_Roberts/bio.html
References:
TLC Book Tours Website
http://www.harpercollins.com/authors/36325/James_A_Roberts/index.aspx