Simple Prosperity: Finding Real Wealth in a Sustainable Lifestyle

Simple Prosperity: Finding Real Wealth in a Sustainable Lifestyle
by David Wann

Simple Prosperity: Finding Real Wealth in a Sustainable Lifestyle
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Book Summary Information

Author: David Wann
Edition: Paperback
Published: 2007-12-26
ISBN: 0312361416
Number of pages: 304
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin

Book Reviews of Simple Prosperity: Finding Real Wealth in a Sustainable Lifestyle

Book Review: Yuppie stuff
Summary: 2 Stars

I've been gardening organically for 25 years, but only in the past ten or so have I done anything about trying to simplify my life so that I am not being such a resource hog. I've looked at all sorts of info about how to do this. I thought this book would be a good source. It isn't, though, unless you are a yuppie.

For instance, the author described how he decided to put his money where his mouth was in terms of sustainability by quitting his job at the EPA and going freelance to write full time about the subject. A very laudable endeavor, to my mind, and being self-employed, I certainly have an understanding of just how scary it is to risk all on a dream. But when I read that the author one year made very little money, and that "very little money" was $30,000, well, I just had to laugh out loud. Mr. Wann, in the US, $34,000 is the average income.

Then I read about how we can all conserve by cutting down on the size of our house. Another laudable idea. But did you know that many people would not consider a 1700 square foot house adequate? He described such a home he had visited (as one might a museum) as being built like a sailboat, with everything in its place, all squared away and tucked up. The implication was that it was a lot to ask a family to live in such a "tiny" house. He should take a trip to my city, where the vast majority of houses are actually smaller than 1700 square feet, and most of them are occupied by at least one family.

The author described how he presently makes do living in 1000 square feet. Yes. He lives alone. Well, I am here to tell you that I live in 550 square foot house, and that also houses my business, with its entire inventory, and my five wide-bodied cats. And if I did not have my business in this house, I would consider it too large. Really. When I first moved in, it seemed small after the 1000 square feet I was living and working in and storing my inventory in. Now, I see how big 550 square feet really is. So hearing someone kind of brag about 1000 square feet for one person, all I can think is that this person is running in very very different circles than I am.

The author repeatedly stated that gardening was free. In all my years of gardening, it has never been free. There are seeds to buy, inputs to get, tools to acquire, books to learn from, and most of all, time to work in the garden and study and learn about it. Time is not free. I firmly believe in encouraging people to garden. It is part of my business, in fact. I guess if you think of $30,000 a year as a serious hardship, then gardening is in fact relatively free. But again, for an average person, it would not be free at all.

This book also needed a good editor to deal with the repetition. Some facts were repeated three times. There weren't many facts referenced, either. Some things were a little unbelievable, like all the people who did NOT participate in a cancer survivors support group died. I smell mendacity in the air.

If you are a yuppie, and you are very concerned with the Earth and are considering sacrificing your bloated McMansion for something really really small, like 3,000 square feet, and maybe trading in the landwhale for a Prius, then this is the book you need to read so you can feel righteous about your great self-sacrifices. And you could really deepen your knowledge of yuppie deprivation/sacrifice by buying it together with "Righsizing Your Life," which describes how it is possible to exist with only three complete sets of china instead of four (seriously). But if you are an average American who is looking for practical ways to increase the sustainability in your life, to simplify it, you will just feel a little bit disgusted by this. I encourage you to find other books on sustainability that are written by people who are a little less wealthy or who at least have some consciousness of what an average American earns and how we live.

Summary of Simple Prosperity: Finding Real Wealth in a Sustainable Lifestyle

In his bestseller Affluenza, David Wann and his co-authors diagnosed the debilitating disease of over-consumption. In Simple Prosperity he shows readers how we can overcome this disease by investing in a variety of real wealth sources. To recapture a more abundant and sustainable lifestyle, try:

- Creating a richer life story through personal growth incentives
- Forming higher-yield friendships and stronger bonds through social capital
- Taking preventive healthcare measures to build up wellness reserves
- Balancing the biological budget through “greener” currency
- Caring for people, not just cars, to improve your neighborhood wealth index
- Resolving that pesky carbon conundrum through energy savings
- Celebrating instead of desecrating! Cultural prosperity futures value the earth as a sacred place

In our age of hedge fund hysteria, Simple Prosperity is a new way of investing that will save our sanity and the planet.

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