Afflenza, are you infected? (Affluenza - Oliver James)

Member Name: wigglylittleworm

Product:	Affluenza - Oliver James
Date:	02/02/08 (208 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Makes you think

Disadvantages: Oliver James a bit smug at times

This is a review of the book Affluenza by Oliver James.

The paperback version is 548 pages long and published by Vermillion with an rrp of £8.99. It is available in all good bookshops as well as online bookstores such as Amazon.

In this book, Oliver James, a psychotherpist and writer, provides us the answer to why, when we are living in such wealthy times, there is an increase of mental health problems such as depression and eating disorders. The answer is that we are all infected with affluenza, that in our pursuit to achieve good grades, look good and buy more, we are making ourselves miserable.

The book starts with a self test to see if you are infected with the virus. I think all of us would answer yes to at least one of the questions such as do you admire people with a lot of money and do you follow fashion. There is then a test to see how distressed you are by your current lifestyle.

In the next section of the book, James visits various countries around the world to compare their lifestyles. We are introduced to Sam, a Wall Street Banker who lives in an expensive appartment yet is lonely and sex addicted. His fortunes are compared to Chet, the poor but happy taxi driver who is happy with his life.

We are told about Danish society, where men and women are far more equal, there is little advertising and there is a far more equitable society and a lot less depression.

James also visits other countries such as Singapore and Russia to compare their lifestyles there.

The next part of the book tells us how to vaccinate ourselves against the virus by replacing our current values with more intrinsic ones such as education for the love of learning, valuing beauty instead of attractiveness.

The final section of the book is James own view of how society should be made better. He attacks many New Labour political figures for being virus corrupted and has radical solutions such as slashing house prices.

The facts and figures used throughout the book are quoted at the end.

This book is well worth a read. I however sometimes found Oliver James a bit smug and simplistic in his comments and found his anecdotes about his own family a bit sickly and offputting. The message throughout the book seems to be that rich people are miserable and the poor are good and noble. It does however give us a chance to examine our own lives and see where our own values lie.

Summary: Worth A Read