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Stuffocation
Stuffocation: Why We've Had Enough of Stuff and Need Experience More Than Ever | James Wallman
13 posts | 15 read | 14 to read
Stuffocation is a movement manifesto for experiential living, a call to arms to stop accumulating stuff and start accumulating experiences, and a road map for a new way forward with the potential to transform our lives. Reject materialism. Embrace experientialism. Live more with less. Stuffocation is one of the most pressing problems of the twenty-first century. We have more stuff than we could ever need, and it isnt making us happier. Its bad for the planet. Its cluttering up our homes. Its making us stressedand it might even be killing us. A rising number of us are already turning our backs on all-you-can-get consumption. We are choosing access over ownership, and taking our business to companies like Zipcar, Spotify, and Netflix. Fed up with materialism, we are ready for a new way forward. Trend forecaster James Wallman traces our obsession with stuff back to the original Mad Men, who first created desire through advertising. He interviews anthropologists studying the clutter crisis, economists searching for new ways of measuring progress, and psychologists who link stuffocation to declining well-being. And he introduces us to the innovators who are already living more consciously and with more meaning by choosing experience over stuff. Experientialism does not mean giving up all of our possessions. It is a solution that is less extreme but equally fundamental. Its about transforming what we value. Stuffocation is a paradigm-shifting look at our habits and an inspiring call for living more with less. Its the one important book you wont be able to live without. Praise for Stuffocation The revelations come fast and furious as he asserts that acquiring stuff is often just an easy way to ignore the tougher questions of life, dodging why am I here? and how should I live? for will that go with the top I bought last week? Tart and often funny . . . [Stuffocation] will be an eye-opener for those long ago persuaded that more is better. A scintillating read that will provoke conversation (or at least closet cleaning).Booklist James Wallman deftly hits upon a major insight for our times: that acquiring stuff and things is not nearly as meaningful as collecting experiences. Some of the happiest days of my life were when I had nothing and lived on a houseboat. Without stuff to tie me down, I felt completely free.Blake Mycoskie, founder of TOMS and author of the New York Times bestseller Start Something That Matters A must-read . . . We think that more stuff will make us happier, but as the book nicely shows, were just plain wrong. A great mix of stories and science, Stuffocation reveals the downside of more, and what we can do about it.Jonah Berger, author of the New York Times bestseller Contagious Wallman offers a deeply important message by weaving contemporary social science into very engaging stories. Reading the book is such a pleasure that you hardly recognize youre being told that you should change how you live your life.Barry Schwartz, author of The Paradox of Choice With a sociologists eye and a storytellers ear, Wallman takes us on a tour of todays experience economy from the perspective not of businesses, nor even of consumers per se, but of everyday people.B. Joseph Pine II and James H. Gilmore, authors of The Experience Economy From the Hardcover edition.
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review
LibraryCin
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Mehso-so

This was interesting. I think that I am already at a “medium chill” stage (pretty much happy with the status quo), and some people are like that, but it‘s not something that the author feels will really take off with most people. The author initially talks about how Western society became so materialistic... cont in comments...

LibraryCin describes different ways of changing this and whether or not these ways will take off (including the medium chill), then talks more about experientialism, as he feels this is the most likely that people will move to. 12mo
10 likes1 comment
review
Jen2
Pickpick

Just OK, some good ideas.

review
Supersteph
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Pickpick

Listened to the audiobook version.
I am giving this a pick, because it offers a lot of ideas to break the consumption habit (I‘m not a kindle fan though, I will always have lots of physical books!). It‘s not preachy like a lot of other books of a similar vein, and doesn‘t just denounce all forms of capitalism. Although, I did find the narrator kind of annoying, and when quoting his accents were not great.

39 likes1 stack add
blurb
dariazeoli
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I go back & forth between packrat & wannabe minimalist. I‘d pared down my possessions pretty well when I had my own apartment. Now I have constant anxiety about other people‘s possessions I‘m going to have to do something with someday when Mom is gone & I‘m left with generations of Stuff. Capital S. Including Dad‘s ginormous fish tank, empty since the year after he died, & my grandmother‘s elephant collection.

I should KonMari it all to the curb!

AmandaL KonMari lost me when she suggested throwing out books (although I recently started donating some of the ones I've been holding on to for years and it didn't feel as bad as I thought it would). (edited) 7y
dariazeoli @AmandaL I‘ve acquired way more books over the past year than I‘ve had in ages. I don‘t keep anything I don‘t think I‘ll reread so she didn‘t rub me the wrong way like I know she did with many 😉 7y
claffy_reads @dariazeoli @AmandaL I am able to get rid of books that I have read, but have a harder time getting rid of ones that I haven't read, that I maybe never will read. I think that's the next sort I'm going to have to do. 7y
See All 7 Comments
Notafraidofwords Oh lord. Stuff gives me so much anxiety. I keep my owner books down to a limited number because it gives me anxiety. 7y
Ubookquitous We downsized and had to destuffify 7y
Ddzmini Books and pops 😝 need a bigger house 🤣 7y
AmandaL @callielafleur Yeah, I'm the same way, though if I no longer find the book interesting, it helps. 😊 7y
44 likes7 comments
review
Zelma
Bailedbailed

And now I remembered why I bailed on this in 2016. The subtitle should just be “Stuff sucks, experiences rule.” Too much hyperbole and grandiose claims. The use of manifesto in a book about clutter. 🙄 and I finally couldn‘t take anymore when the author seriously refers to an apartment fire (17 hospitalizations, no casualties) as Toronto‘s Katrina. 🤯🤬

Zelma @LittlePixels figured this might amuse or at least not surprise you. 😂 7y
LittlePixels Hahaha! Maybe it‘s time for you to divest yourself of some stuff...like this book. 😂 7y
Zelma @LittlePixels absolutely! Thankfully it‘s a library book and it‘s heading back tomorrow. 7y
36 likes3 comments
blurb
Zelma
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Started a new book tonight and the very first sentence references one of my favorite media people (one half of The Minimalists). This is a very promising start! 👏

ETA: except that my Goodreads status says I abandoned it in 2016. Huh, I don‘t remember that at all. Not a promising start! 😳

LittlePixels 😂 BTDT 7y
Zelma @LittlePixels I decided to keep reading until I probably abandon it again. 😂 this time I‘ll write down my reason. 7y
57 likes1 stack add2 comments
review
vandeblogger
Mehso-so

Eh. Interesting in places, but much of it was stuff I've already read/heard. I skimmed a lot of it.

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dariazeoli

Started reading this some time last year at B&N. The book disappeared from their shelves.

Today I bought a non-resident library card with the Brooklyn Public Library. Lo and behold, this book was available!

Do you have an out-of-state library card?

MrBook Yep! In 3 states 😁👏🏻. 8y
dariazeoli @MrBook Nice! Maybe I'll catch up one day! 😁 8y
MrBook 😂👏🏻🙌🏻 8y
2 likes3 comments
blurb
wellitworkedlasttime
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Just read Stuffocation. Great read. I tended to move towards not having a lot of stuff (unless you count my books) anyway. It certainly gave insight to a culture I've been tip toeing around for years. I did find he sometimes repeated himself a little but his style of writing is certainly easy to read. If you are suffering from too much stuff then this is one for you. Now onto a classic "The Bell Jar".

1 like2 stack adds
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beagle.mama
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Pickpick

Been plugging along at this book. Reading it on weekend mornings with my coffee as I water the garden. I have to say, I think this is a book everyone should read. I lean more toward a minimalist by nature, and prefer experiences to 'stuff', so it rang very true for me. But it goes into details about how and why consumer culture was created, how the world needed it at the time, and why we don't now. Some parts are fascinating, others inspiring.

LauraBeth This sounds good 😀 I'm with you - I'm not much of one who likes to accumulate stuff 8y
rubyslippersreads @LauraBeth Unless that stuff is books. 😄 8y
LauraBeth Oh well - of course - books are an exception 😀 8y
13 likes4 stack adds3 comments