Voluntary Simplicity

Responding to Consumer Culture

By: Daniel Doherty (Editor), David Brooks, Duane Elgin, Richard B. Gregg, Robert Frank

Write A Review

eText | 22 November 2003 | Edition Number 1

At a Glance

Format
ePUB

eText

$76.48

or 4 interest-free payments of $19.12 with

Instant online reading in your Booktopia eTextbook Library *

Why choose an eTextbook?

Instant Access *

Purchase and read your book immediately

Read Aloud

Listen and follow along as Bookshelf reads to you

Study Tools

Built-in study tools like highlights and more

* eTextbooks are not downloadable to your eReader or an app and can be accessed via web browsers only. You must be connected to the internet and have no technical issues with your device or browser that could prevent the eTextbook from operating.

A simpler life. In a shadow cast by the jarring beginning of the new millennium, simplicity has an undeniable appeal. Global conflicts, domestic security concerns, and a stalling economy can make keeping up with the Joneses feel like, at best, a misguided luxury. Now is not a time for excess; it is a time, it would seem, to focus on "what really matters." Thus the appeal of voluntary simplicity, a notion that combines the freedom of modernity with certain comforts and virtues of the past.

The authors in this volume speak to the what, why, and how of voluntary simplicity (and even to some extent the where, when, and who). Those included range from contemporary academics to thinkers from the turn of the last century, from ardent supporters to staunch critics. They approach the subject from a variety of perspectives-economic, psychological, sociological, historical, and theological. Each either implicitly or explicitly helps us explore the desirability and feasibility of voluntary simplicity.

Industry Reviews

In summary the book presents a coherent and well-organised account of the philosophy and values associated with voluntary simplicity. It is thought provoking and insightful and made me re-question the value of materialism and our general way of life in the West. Anyone reading this will probably give thought to their own behavior with regards to work, quality of life and the ever-growing consumerism.