- Hardcover: 400 pages
- Publisher: Random House; 1st edition (Nov 25 2003)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0679463038
- ISBN-13: 978-0679463030
- Product Dimensions: 20.6 x 14.2 x 3.3 cm
- Shipping Weight: 476 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (40 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #440,866 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
Easterbrook sees a widespread case of cognitive dissonance in the West: according to Easterbrook, though the typical American's real income has doubled in the past 50 years, the percentage of Americans who describe themselves as "happy" remains where it was half a century ago (oddly, Easterbrook doesn't tell us what that percentage is). Why do so many of us remain discontented, he asks? Is it because now that even the middle classes can afford nearly every conceivable luxury, we have nothing left to look forward to? Easterbrook, a senior editor at the New Republic and contributing editor to the Atlantic, believes so. He also castigates modern psychology and the media for dwelling on minor problems without celebrating the broader, more upbeat context in which they exist. But his endless nagging about how Americans and Western Europeans should be more grateful for their standard of living leads him to overcompensate: for instance, he minimizes the harm done to Wal-Mart employees who were forced to work "off the clock" hours without pay because, after all, they're still living better than their ancestors, since stores like Wal-Mart sell necessities at such affordable prices. The book does confront some serious problems, like the health-care crisis, but suggests that they can be licked as effectively as we've fixed environmental, racial and other seemingly intractable problems. Sarcastic patter and a flair for catchphrases like "abundance denial" and "wealth porn," however, barely disguise a padded thesis and one easily argued against with an alternative set of statistics.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
Here's a conundrum: how is it that the quality of life in the U.S. has been improving for about a century, but opinion polls show that many people believe their parents had it better, and their children will have it worse? Why don't people see how good things are? The average life span has nearly doubled since the beginning of the twentieth century; many once-fatal diseases have been eradicated or conquered. Technology has replaced a lot of backbreaking physical labor. So why has the percentage of people who describe themselves as "happy" not risen since the 1950s? The author offers a number of suggestions. He proposes something called "abundance denial," whereby millions of people "construct elaborate mental rationales for considering themselves materially deprived," and he isolates something else called "auto-grumbling," a kind of perpetual complaining process in which people, no matter how good things are, still grouse that they could be better. This is an important, timely, and well-reasoned book that is sure to have people talking. (But could it have been even better?) David Pitt
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
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First Sentence
Though the airfield does not appear on many charts, its existence is whispered of among pilots. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index
Though the airfield does not appear on many charts, its existence is whispered of among pilots. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index
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Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent book...should be required reading,
By
This review is from: The Progress Paradox: How Life Gets Better While People Feel Worse (Hardcover)
As other reviewers have mentioned, this book is well researched and it's hard to argue with the resulting conclusions.I've read it several times. I especially enjoy the part about how life is getting better in the developing world. I send money to charities and sometimes I wonder if it's all in vain, but when I read this book I feel that, somehow, out there, somewhere, there are people who are living better lives because some of my money got to them.
4.0 out of 5 stars
By every measure, life is better than ever!,
By
This review is from: The Progress Paradox: How Life Gets Better While People Feel Worse (Hardcover)
Greg Easterbrook informs readers that our perceptions of life today are wrong. By every objective measure such as life span, overall health, income levels, housing, luxuries, leisure time, etc., life is better today than it ever has been. So why aren't we happier than ever?The first few chapters explain how life is better than ever, which left me feeling quite inspired and grateful to have been born now vs. in the past. No matter how much we romanticize the past, life is just better today! Small personal note here, I think that I may disagree with him a little bit. I believe my parent's generation did do a little better than us. Almost everyone my age were kids when their parents were my age, and we remember our houses when we were kids being bigger, and generally having better vacations, cars, etc., then we can afford now that we are that age. But that may be peculiar to just my social circle. The following chapters discusses new problems brought about by improved living conditions, such as traffic, noise, feeling rushed, too many choices to make, etc. All are better to deal with than the old problems that had existed before. They also deal with why people, who are living better than 99% of the people who have ever existed, aren't happier than they are. Lack of spirituality, lots of spare time to be depressed, and a constant barrage of negative news seem to be the answer. This is one of the reasons I find it difficult to watch the news any more. It's 24 hours a day of terrorism, war, crime, death, global warming, and predictions of bad things that will come. The last couple of chapters is where Mr. Easterbrook misses the mark. He points out we still have serious problems like lack of universal health care and poverty. He is alluding that government should step in and solve these problems, not realizing he is contradicting almost everything prior in the book. Our lives have improved largely due to freedom and the marketplace allowing us to create and grow richer. Why does he believe gov't is the solution to these other problems? Why not turn the marketplace loose on these problems instead so people can find ways to enrich themselves by helping others? I also believe he doesn't explain what poverty is in the US today. If your family of four lives in a two bedroom apartment, with power, heat, tv and no one starving, does that sound like being poor? Well, that's how many poor families in the US live today. That lifestyle would be considered well off in much of the rest undeveloped world, and living very well considering the lives of people of generations past. Overall, I enjoyed the book and have become more appreciative of just how lucky we are today.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fascinating Reading, an Upbeat Message,
By A Customer
This review is from: The Progress Paradox: How Life Gets Better While People Feel Worse (Hardcover)
This is an excellent, well-researched and uplifting book. Easterbrook has an amazing command of his material, and a fresh, positive perspective that I found to be a nice change from the daily litany of woe one hears from the media. The book is well-written and easy to read. P.S. I also enjoy Gregg's football column on NFL.com.
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