Book review of Spent. Read it and vote on Amazon.
Spent is a fun read, if a bit repetitive. The author is an evolutionary psychologist with a great sense of humor who accesses considerable research in the writing of this book. The chapter headings are even entertaining:1. Darwin Goes to the Mall 2. The Genius of Marketing 3. Why Marketing is Central to Culture 4. This Is Your Brain on Money 5. The Fundamental Consumerist Delusion 6. Flaunting Fitness 7. Conspicuous Waste, Precision and Reputation 8. Self-Branding Bodies, Self-Marketing Minds 9. The Central Six 10. Traits That Consumers Flaunt and Marketers Ignore 11. General Intelligence 12. Openness 13. Conscientiousness 14. Agreeableness 15. The Centrifugal Soul 16. The Will to Display 17. Legalizing Freedom Exercises for the Reader Further Reading and View I enjoyed the theory in the book of the six central traits the consumers flaunt, the traits that influence what and how we buy. The second half of the book explores these traits in great depth. The author compares his system to many other personality tests. I found the first part of the book insightful and entertaining. There is a great deal of rich information about the evolution of human personality and desire. We are still connected to that past in which having a good mate is important. Our brains developed as we walked across savannahs, searching for food and trying to attract a mate. Our brains still respond to this need to collect and have as a sign of our desirability.