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Book Review of Not Buying It: My Year Without Shopping

Not Buying It: My Year Without Shopping
esjro avatar reviewed on + 950 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 10


I was disappointed in this book. The premise is an interesting one and in fairness it was probably difficult to get a book's length worth of material from the experiment. Not Buying It is told in diary format, but many of the entries are mini essays on consumer culture, globalization, etc. I enjoyed the sections when she met with individuals living off the grid and it was interesting to read about groups concerned about consumerism. Ultimately however I found many sections of the books boring - the author spent a lot of time rambling about problems that are so big that, by her own admission, an individual checking out of shopping for a year will have no impact on solving. That reality is so depressing that I was left wondering why she bothered in the first place with this experiment, and why I bought this book.