by David Wann
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Product Description
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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Average Customer Review:
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
 For a first time venture into Simplicity, 2008-11-19
Maybe the publishers do it - but this book echo's so many of other books* in the same genre. I think it must be the age group and class as Harold Roth (review below) alludes to as well. I think they are pandering after the burned-out exec rat race. The books in 70's about ecology had passion because it was a new idea that sprouted only in a small way. These ideas are throwbacks and I believe a new reckoning will come through the local, small and social entrepreneurship.
*(Voluntary Simplicity: Toward a Way of Life That Is Outwardly Simple Inwardly Rich)Duane Elgin, Choosing Simplicity: Real People Finding Peace and Fulfillment in a Complex World Janet Breen.)
Your Money or Your Life is the Classic of this genre. And I look forward to reading the updated version.
19 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
Yuppie stuff, 2008-08-03
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.
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
 A humbling perspective , 2008-05-24
I read Wann's Simple Prosperity for supplemental reading to one of my college classes. It was one of the best recommendations I've received in a long time, and I have thanked my professor for insisting that I read it.
Wann's book challenges the reader to step outside the daily onslaught of the modernist western world, one's own ego, and what we do habitually so we can grasp the things in life that truly matter: life, love, liberty, freedom to (and freedom from), community, and health. Wann, unlike most non-fiction writers, even has the courage to speak of his own personal journey and his battles with the relatives of life while trying to adhere to the absolutes of sustainability.
The most important message in this book is the hope Wann exhibits while facing the cold hard facts of his research and his experience. Instead of throwing in the towel Wann embraces the fluctuating shift in concisenesses and leaps into the evolutionary process of change.
Wann asks us to work together for the next step in conscious evolution: sustainability. He realizes the all encompassing nature of this and emulates the interdependence of all things in his writing style. Both humble and piercing, wet and dry, verbose and concise Wann speaks to the new human movement and has the audacity to envision the world that they WILL create.
17 of 34 people found the following review helpful:
 America Bashing Atheist, 2008-05-23
I purchased this book based upon the glowing reviews here on Amazon, and now after reading as much as I could stand, I see these reviews must be from the authors friends as most have not read the book. I took this book on vacation with me as I like to read just before i drift off to sleep, As I read I was blind sided so hard deep in the book that I could not even sleep. I expect to see many of them come on here and bash my honest observation of this book and find it "not helpful" just so you know. The thing turned into this political preaching diatribe about how we need to have more community by joining moveon.org for a better life (yes that is the same organization funded by george soros the jewish billionaire who worked for the nazi's in ww2 turning in his fellow jews in austria). As a democrat I find it offensive when things masquerade as what they are not in the name of good change or whatever. I prefer simple honesty.
Ok now another thing we need to be happy according to the author is to be more spiritual and stop believing in "an archaic deity" God. The book is loaded with huge contradictions such as this. He also states and quotes other authors who prove even more how disjointed this is.
Being married is the greatest while he is divorced. (wife left him, I wonder why)
God causes unhappiness while quoting from Frankel in his fabulous book Mans Search for Meaning, a deep God believer and spiritual book of strength. I dont like being made fun of because I believe in "the archaic deity" that is hurtful and unkind to readers and he should be more tolerant of others as we live in a diverse world.
And this one I kid you not; we all need to pay much higher taxes on everything so we can all be happy together while at the same time telling us to work and earn less.
Now when I went in I knew the author would have some far out ideas about how to live a more simple life which I will outline for you so you dont have to wade through the garbage to find a morsel of useful info, but I expected the author to at least have the respect for readers to do some due diligence on his references and facts which he did not do.
Now that being said I respect the opinion of all (that seems rare these days and we need more of it) even though I do not agree with his saying how europe is great and doing everything right and America is a country living in the past with bad ideas and morals who inflict suffering on others while europeans are wonderful and we should be more like a socialist society (yes that is communism). Author repeats his bashing of Americans for having a higher standard of living than other countries. I can understand he wishes us to slim down and lighten up but jeez man over and over and over helps no one. America will most likely always have a better standard of living and to knock us down to make all countries the same is counter productive when we should strive to lift others up. Destroy the super power so europe and third world can feel better is just stupid.
I did not want to read another book on socialism, I just wanted to find some ideas I could incorporate into my life that would make it better while not having to live like a citizen of a third world country, so in a nut shell the useful things:
Stuff wont make you happy so stop buying so much of it.
The more stuff you have the more time effort and money it takes to take care of your stuff until it sucks the life out of you.
Just live the life with what you need and stop concerning yourself with all the wants of life that really dont make anything any better.
Dont worry about the jonses.
Reduce your debt load.
Get rid of the gas hog.
Look into renewable energy (author made a home made air conditioner and explains how he did it even though I bet it looks like hell sitting there: your wife will love that one.
Hey I just saved you ten bucks. I am going to recycle my book.
We all have to much crap / stuff and I am doing my part to reduce and be a better global citizen.
There are much better books out there for sure.
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
Charming, Delightful and Practical Read!, 2008-05-13
I sat down and read Simple Prosperity for an hour and a half when I first got it and was thoroughly charmed and delighted. I love the way David Wann uses stories about his own and other peoples' experiences to illustrate the delights of Simple Prosperity. It is such a positive philosophy and so very earthwise. I didn't want to quit reading and go back to work. I think this book is the perfect antidote to the sense of malaise about the future that most of my friends and family have been expressing of late. The sensible, practical ideas for living a simplier, more responsible yet personally rewarding life are really appealing.
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