Author: Robert H. Frank Publisher: Princeton University Press ISBN: 9780691070117 Category : Business & Economics Languages : en Pages : 340
Book Description
Noting that America is in the grip of a luxury-buying fever, the author offers the first comprehensive and accessible summary of scientific evidence suggesting America's spending choices are unhealthy, as people are working more and socializing less. Frank proposes ways to curb the excess.
Author: Robert H. Frank Publisher: ISBN: 9780691146935 Category : Business & Economics Languages : en Pages : 0
Book Description
The turn of the twenty-first century witnessed a spectacular rise in gross consumption. With the super-rich setting the pace, everyone spent furiously in a desperate attempt to keep up. As cars and houses grew larger and more expensive, the costs were enormous--not only monetarily but also socially. Consumers spent more time at work and less time with their family and friends; they saved less money and borrowed more. In this book, Robert Frank presents the first comprehensive and accessible account of these financial choices. Frank uses scientific evidence to demonstrate how these spending patterns have not made us happier or healthier. Luxury Fever offers an exit from the rat race, suggesting ways to curb the culture of excess and restore true value to our lives.
Author: Robert H. Frank Publisher: Simon and Schuster ISBN: 0743223403 Category : Social Science Languages : en Pages : 337
Book Description
A new luxury fever has America in its grip. Independent of stock prices, recessions, and inflation rates, the past two decades have witnessed a spectacular and uninterrupted rise in luxury consumption. Ordinary, functional goods are no longer acceptable. Our cars have gotten larger, heavier, and far more expensive. Mansions larger than 30,000 square feet no longer seem extravagant. Wristwatches for the super-rich cost tens of thousands of dollars. We are living in an era of excess. Consider: The average house built in the United States today is nearly twice as large as its counterpart from the 1950s. Even as houses have gotten more expensive and farther from the workplace, there has been a sharp increase in second-home ownership. The average price of an automobile sold in the United States now exceeds $22,000, up more than 75 percent from a decade ago. Total U.S. spending on luxury goods increased 21 percent between 1995 and 1996 (typical of recent years), while overall merchandise sales increased only 5 percent. Robert Frank caused a national debate in 1995 when he and co-author Philip Cook described the poisonous spread of "winner-take-all" markets. Now he takes a thought-provoking look at the flip side of spreading inequality: as the super-rich set the pace, everyone else spends furiously in a competitive echo of wastefulness. The costs are enormous: We spend more time at work, leaving less time for family and friends, less time for exercise. Most of us have been forced to save less and spend and borrow much more. The annual rate at which American families file for personal bankruptcy has grown to one in seventy. Budgetary pressures have reduced our willingness to fund even essential public services: Our food and water are increasingly contaminated. Potholes proliferate, and traffic delays double every ten years. Frank offers the first comprehensive and accessible summary of scientific evidence that our spending choices are not making us as happy and healthy as they could. Furthermore, he argues that human frailty is not at fault. The good news is that we can do something about it. We can make it harder for the super-rich to overspend, and capture our own competitive energy for the public good. Luxury Fever boldly offers a way to curb the excess and restore the true value of money.
Author: Deborah Moggach Publisher: Dial Press ISBN: 0307423417 Category : Fiction Languages : en Pages : 290
Book Description
A sensual tale of art, lust, and deception—now a major motion picture In 1630s Amsterdam, tulipomania has seized the populace. Everywhere men are seduced by the fantastic exotic flower. But for wealthy merchant Cornelis Sandvoort, it is his young and beautiful wife, Sophia, who stirs his soul. She is the prize he desires, the woman he hopes will bring him the joy that not even his considerable fortune can buy. Cornelis yearns for an heir, but so far he and Sophia have failed to produce one. In a bid for immortality, he commissions a portrait of them both by the talented young painter Jan van Loos. But as Van Loos begins to capture Sophia's likeness on canvas, a slow passion begins to burn between the beautiful young wife and the talented artist. As the portrait unfolds, so a slow dance is begun among the household’s inhabitants. Ambitions, desires, and dreams breed a grand deception—and as the lies multiply, events move toward a thrilling and tragic climax. In this richly imagined international bestseller, Deborah Moggach has created the rarest of novels—a lush, lyrical work of fiction that is also compulsively readable. Seldom has a novel so vividly evoked a time, a place, and a passion. Praise for Tulip Fever “Sumptuous prose . . . reads like a thriller.”—The New York Times Book Review “An artful novel in every sense of the word . . . deftly evokes seventeenth-century Amsterdam’s vibrant atmosphere.”—Los Angeles Times “Need a brief escape into a beautiful and faraway world? Deborah Moggach’s wonderful Tulip Fever can offer you that.”—New York Post “Taut with suspense and unexpected revelations.”—Entertainment Weekly “Elegantly absorbing.”—The Philadelphia Inquirer
Author: Barbara Hambly Publisher: Bantam ISBN: 0307785289 Category : Fiction Languages : en Pages : 417
Book Description
Benjamin January made his debut in bestselling author Barbara Hambly's A Free Man of Color, a haunting mélange of history and mystery. Now he returns in another novel of greed, madness, and murder amid the dark shadows and dazzling society of old New Orleans, named a Notable Book of the Year by the New York Times. The summer of 1833 has been one of brazen heat and brutal pestilence, as the city is stalked by Bronze John—the popular name for the deadly yellow fever epidemic that tests the healing skills of doctor and voodoo alike. Even as Benjamin January tends the dying at Charity Hospital during the steaming nights, he continues his work as a music teacher during the day. When he is asked to pass a message from a runaway slave to the servant of one of his students, January finds himself swept into a tempest of lies, greed, and murder that rivals the storms battering New Orleans. And to find the truth he must risk his freedom...and his very life.
Author: Karen Marie Moning Publisher: Dell ISBN: 0440246415 Category : Fiction Languages : en Pages : 514
Book Description
#1 New York Times bestselling author Karen Marie Moning picks up where Shadowfever leaves off with Iced, the sixth book in her blockbuster Fever series. The year is 1 AWC—After the Wall Crash. The Fae are free and hunting us. It’s a war zone out there, and no two days are alike. I’m Dani O’Malley, the chaos-filled streets of Dublin are my home, and there’s no place I’d rather be. Dani “Mega” O’Malley plays by her own set of rules—and in a world overrun by Dark Fae, her biggest rule is: Do what it takes to survive. Possessing rare talents and the all-powerful Sword of Light, Dani is more than equipped for the task. In fact, she’s one of the rare humans who can defend themselves against the Unseelie. But now, amid the pandemonium, her greatest gifts have turned into serious liabilities. Dani’s ex–best friend, MacKayla Lane, wants her dead, the terrifying Unseelie princes have put a price on her head, and Inspector Jayne, the head of the police force, is after her sword and will stop at nothing to get it. What’s more, people are being mysteriously frozen to death all over the city, encased on the spot in sub-zero, icy tableaux. When Dublin’s most seductive nightclub gets blanketed in hoarfrost, Dani finds herself at the mercy of Ryodan, the club’s ruthless, immortal owner. He needs her quick wit and exceptional skill to figure out what’s freezing Fae and humans dead in their tracks—and Ryodan will do anything to ensure her compliance. Dodging bullets, fangs, and fists, Dani must strike treacherous bargains and make desperate alliances to save her beloved Dublin—before everything and everyone in it gets iced. Look for all of Karen Marie Moning’s sensational Fever novels: DARKFEVER | BLOODFEVER | FAEFEVER | DREAMFEVER | SHADOWFEVER | ICED | BURNED | FEVERBORN | FEVERSONG Praise for Iced “Moning returns to the heady world of her Fever series, and the results are addictive and consistently surprising. . . . The best elements of Moning’s sensual, shadowy epic are still here, from the sensual and enigmatic Fae to the super-alpha heroes and the breathless pace of their escalating conflicts. At its heart is a heroine whose development is likely to become the stuff of legends as this unforgettable, haunting series continues to evolve.”—RT Book Reviews “This is one of my favorite 2012 reads . . . It’s engaging, hilarious, amazing and Dani is going to be one heck of a woman.”—USA Today “A gripping story that combines excellent storytelling with believable characters that are rendered both superhuman and superbly human, with emotional fragility and psychological vulnerability in an unstable world fraught with danger . . . Fast-paced, with nonstop action set in a fascinating urban fantasy world of Dublin under siege, this is a smart, bold and textured success.”─Kirkus Reviews “Moning is a master storyteller. I don’t know how she does it, but she begs me to get on my knees and pay worship to the woman who has brought me the best, most labyrinthine stories and characters I’ve ever had the privilege to get to know. She weaves brilliantly, unapologetically, and without exception, and she has threaded the needle into me and I’ve been pulled, over and over, into her tapestry, and I don’t think I’m ever getting out. Iced is no exception.”—The Bawdy Book Blog (five-starred review)
Author: Maya Banks Publisher: Penguin ISBN: 0425267067 Category : Fiction Languages : en Pages : 418
Book Description
In the second novel in the Breathless trilogy, a woman's undeniable allure takes a dominant man completely by surprise... Jace Crestwell, Ash McIntyre, and Gabe Hamilton have been best friends and successful business partners for years. They’re powerful, they’re imposing, they’re irresistibly sexy, and Jace and Ash share everything—including their women. When they meet Bethany, Jace begins to feel things he’s never experienced before: jealousy, and a powerful obsession that threatens him, overwhelms him—and excites him beyond control. Jace isn’t sharing Bethany—with anyone. He’s determined to be the only man in her life, and it’s jeopardizing a lifelong friendship with Ash. Bethany will be his and his alone. Even if it means turning his back on his best friend.
Author: Robert Frank Publisher: Univ of California Press ISBN: 0520957431 Category : Political Science Languages : en Pages : 177
Book Description
With a timely new foreword by Robert Frank, this groundbreaking book explores the very meaning of happiness and prosperity in America today. Although middle-income families don't earn much more than they did several decades ago, they are buying bigger cars, houses, and appliances. To pay for them, they spend more than they earn and carry record levels of debt. Robert Frank explains how increased concentrations of income and wealth at the top of the economic pyramid have set off "expenditure cascades" that raise the cost of achieving many basic goals for the middle class. Writing in lively prose for a general audience, Frank employs up-to-date economic data and examples drawn from everyday life to shed light on reigning models of consumer behavior. He also suggests reforms that could mitigate the costs of inequality. Falling Behind compels us to rethink how and why we live our economic lives the way we do.
Author: Robert Fortuine Publisher: ISBN: Category : History Languages : en Pages : 420
Book Description
Papers presented at the World Conference on Infancy as Prevention held in the summer of 1984, Athens, Greece. Thirty-seven contributions address prevention, intervention, parent-infant interaction, cognition and education, health and behavior, day care, the impaired child, adoption, and the family. Alk. paper. Dr. Fortuine, retired from the Indian Health Service and currently on the biomedical faculty of the U. of Alaska Anchorage, provides an insightful review of early Alaskan history from a unique perspective--the health of its people. In particular, he addresses the ways in which the European and American settlement of Alaska affected the health and daily lives of Alaska Natives. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR
Author: Karen Marie Moning Publisher: Delacorte Press ISBN: 0440337224 Category : Fiction Languages : en Pages : 248
Book Description
In the second book of the Fever series from #1 New York Times bestselling author Karen Marie Moning, MacKayla Lane plunges into a world of deadly sorcery and ancient secrets. “Delectably dark and sexy.”—Chicago Tribune In her fight to stay alive, Mac must find the Sinsar Dubh—a million-year-old book of the blackest magic imaginable that holds the key to power over both the worlds of the Fae and of Man. Pursued by Fae assassins and surrounded by mysterious figures she knows she cannot trust, Mac finds herself torn between two deadly and irresistible men: V’lane, the insatiable Fae who can turn sensual arousal into an obsession for any woman, and ever-inscrutable Jericho Barrons, a man as alluring as he is mysterious. For centuries the world of the Fae has existed with in the shadows of that of humans. Now the walls between the two are coming down, and Mac is the only thing that stands between them. Karen Marie Moning’s explosive Fever series continues DARKFEVER • BLOODFEVER • FAEFEVER • DREAMFEVER • SHADOWFEVER • ICED • BURNED • FEVERBORN • FEVERSONG • HIGH VOLTAGE • KINGDOM OF SHADOW AND LIGHT
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Author: Robert H. Frank
Author: Robert H. Frank
Author: Robert H. Frank
Author: Deborah Moggach
Author: Barbara Hambly
Author: Karen Marie Moning
Author: Maya Banks
Author: Robert Frank
Author: Robert Fortuine
Author: Karen Marie Moning