Affluence Without Abundance

Author: James Suzman
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 1632865742
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 377

Book Description
“Insightful and well-written . . . [Suzman chronicles] how much humankind can still learn from the disappearing way of life of the most marginalized communities on earth.” -Yuval Noah Harari, author of SAPIENS: A BRIEF HISTORY OF HUMAN KIND and HOMO DEUS: A BRIEF HISTORY OF TOMORROW WASHINGTON POST'S 50 NOTABLE WORKS OF NONFICTION IN 2017 AN NPR BEST BOOK OF 2017 A vibrant portrait of the “original affluent society”-the Bushmen of southern Africa-by the anthropologist who has spent much of the last twenty-five years documenting their encounter with modernity. If the success of a civilization is measured by its endurance over time, then the Bushmen of the Kalahari are by far the most successful in human history. A hunting and gathering people who made a good living by working only as much as needed to exist in harmony with their hostile desert environment, the Bushmen have lived in southern Africa since the evolution of our species nearly two hundred thousand years ago. In Affluence Without Abundance, anthropologist James Suzman vividly brings to life a proud and private people, introducing unforgettable members of their tribe, and telling the story of the collision between the modern global economy and the oldest hunting and gathering society on earth. In rendering an intimate picture of a people coping with radical change, it asks profound questions about how we now think about matters such as work, wealth, equality, contentment, and even time. Not since Elizabeth Marshall Thomas's The Harmless People in 1959 has anyone provided a more intimate or insightful account of the Bushmen or of what we might learn about ourselves from our shared history as hunter-gatherers.

Work

Author: James Suzman
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 0525561773
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 465

Book Description
"This book is a tour de force." --Adam Grant, New York Times bestselling author of Give and Take A revolutionary new history of humankind through the prism of work by leading anthropologist James Suzman Work defines who we are. It determines our status, and dictates how, where, and with whom we spend most of our time. It mediates our self-worth and molds our values. But are we hard-wired to work as hard as we do? Did our Stone Age ancestors also live to work and work to live? And what might a world where work plays a far less important role look like? To answer these questions, James Suzman charts a grand history of "work" from the origins of life on Earth to our ever more automated present, challenging some of our deepest assumptions about who we are. Drawing insights from anthropology, archaeology, evolutionary biology, zoology, physics, and economics, he shows that while we have evolved to find joy, meaning and purpose in work, for most of human history our ancestors worked far less and thought very differently about work than we do now. He demonstrates how our contemporary culture of work has its roots in the agricultural revolution ten thousand years ago. Our sense of what it is to be human was transformed by the transition from foraging to food production, and, later, our migration to cities. Since then, our relationships with one another and with our environments, and even our sense of the passage of time, have not been the same. Arguing that we are in the midst of a similarly transformative point in history, Suzman shows how automation might revolutionize our relationship with work and in doing so usher in a more sustainable and equitable future for our world and ourselves.

The Old Way

Author: Elizabeth Marshall Thomas
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 9780374225520
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 370

Book Description
Publisher description

Work

Author: James Suzman
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1526605023
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 465

Book Description
The work we do brings us meaning, moulds our values, determines our social status and dictates how we spend most of our time. But this wasn't always the case: for 95% of our species' history, work held a radically different importance. How, then, did work become the central organisational principle of our societies? How did it transform our bodies, our environments, our views on equality and our sense of time? And why, in a time of material abundance, are we working more than ever before?

Affluence and Freedom

Author: Pierre Charbonnier
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1509543732
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 328

Book Description
In this pathbreaking book, Pierre Charbonnier opens up a new intellectual terrain: an environmental history of political ideas. His aim is not to locate the seeds of ecological thought in the history of political ideas as others have done, but rather to show that all political ideas, whether or not they endorse ecological ideals, are informed by a certain conception of our relationship to the Earth and to our environment. The fundamental political categories of modernity were founded on the idea that we could improve on nature, that we could exert a decisive victory over its excesses and claim unlimited access to earthly resources. In this way, modern thinkers imagined a political society of free individuals, equal and prosperous, alongside the development of industry geared towards progress and liberated from the Earth’s shackles. Yet this pact between democracy and growth has now been called into question by climate change and the environmental crisis. It is therefore our duty today to rethink political emancipation, bearing in mind that this can no longer draw on the prospect of infinite growth promised by industrial capitalism. Ecology must draw on the power harnessed by nineteenth-century socialism to respond to the massive impact of industrialization, but it must also rethink the imperative to offer protection to society by taking account of the solidarity of social groups and their conditions in a world transformed by climate change. This timely and original work of social and political theory will be of interest to a wide readership in politics, sociology, environmental studies and the social sciences and humanities generally.

Creating Affluence

Author: Deepak Chopra
Publisher: Amber-Allen Publishing
ISBN: 1934408115
Category : Self-Help
Languages : en
Pages : 83

Book Description
In this remarkable book lies the secret to fulfillment on all levels of our lives... With clear and simple wisdom, Deepak Chopra explores the full meaning of wealth consciousness and presents a step-by-step plan for creating affluence. According to Chopra, affluence is our natural state, and the entire physical universe with all its abundance is the offspring of an unbounded, limitless field of all possibilities. Through a series of A-to-Z steps and everyday actions, we can learn to tap into this field and create anything we desire. From becoming Aware of all possibilities to experiencing Zest and joy in life, these uncommon insights gently foster the wealth consciousness needed to create wealth effortlessly and joyfully.

Abundance

Author: Deepak Chopra, M.D.
Publisher: Harmony
ISBN: 0593233808
Category : Self-Help
Languages : en
Pages : 198

Book Description
An enlightening guide to success, fulfillment, wholeness, and plenty, offering practical advice on how to cultivate a sense of abundance in times of fear and insecurity, from New York Times bestselling author Deepak Chopra “To attain wealth of the lasting kind, the kind that gives your life meaning, value, and sustenance, base your daily existence on the generosity of spirit.”—Deepak Chopra Many of us live and operate from a mindset of lack, scarcity, and limitation. We focus on what we don’t have—financial security, confidence, an intimate relationship—which keeps us feeling insecure and inadequate. We think “if only I could have those things, I could be happy.” But measuring wealth by money or material possessions leaves us feeling drained and spiritually empty. Constantly striving for more often means our ego is driving our thoughts, actions, and reactions, which prevents us from reaching something greater: a true sense of inner peace, acceptance, and fulfillment. Yet, there is an inner path to prosperity and wealth that, once charted and explored, provides access to the great riches of the universe and life’s unbounded possibilities. In Abundance, international bestselling author Deepak Chopra illuminates this road to success and wholeness, helping readers tap into a deeper sense of awareness to become agents of change in their own lives. Mixing ancient teachings and spiritual practices with the wisdom he’s garnered over four decades as the leading figure in mind-body medicine, Deepak demonstrates how to transcend self-generated feelings of limitation and fear in order to experience true abundance in all aspects of life. To do so, he offers a seven-step plan along with meditations and mindfulness techniques to help you focus and direct your attention, energy, and intuition so you can experience stability, affluence, insight, creativity, love, and true power.

The Abundance Book

Author: John Randolph Price
Publisher:
ISBN: 1401945368
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 113

Book Description
This classic book introduces readers to a 40-day prosperity plan which points out to readers what "money" really is and teaches a six-step program which shows them how to free their minds from limiting beliefs.

How Much Is Enough?

Author: Arthur Simon
Publisher: Baker Books
ISBN: 1441210016
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 192

Book Description
In a world filled with both prosperity and poverty, how can Christians handle their finances in a way that honors God? In How Much Is Enough?, Arthur Simon takes an uncompromising look at America's wealth, reflecting what dominates the hearts and motivations of its people. He diagnoses Western civilization as sick with "affluenza," or runaway materialism, and shows readers how to reject the disease and set new priorities. Churches, social ministry groups, and thoughtful readers will be enlightened by Simon's grasp of Western affluence against the backdrop of a world where 800 million people are chronically starving. Readers will gain a clearer understanding of how money becomes an object of worship when passion for material things is stronger than compassion for the poor. Simon's life-changing book also reveals how affluenza takes control of people's lives and goals. Without discounting prosperity as a blessing, How Much Is Enough? proposes new pathways to living as disciples of Jesus. It suggests a myriad of solutions for taming materialism and sheds light on the profound reality that possessions may capture our hearts, but they are unable to nourish our souls.

Superabundance

Author: Marian L. Tupy
Publisher: Cato Institute
ISBN: 1952223407
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 575

Book Description
Generations of people have been taught that population growth makes resources scarcer. In 2021, for example, one widely publicized report argued that “The world's rapidly growing population is consuming the planet's natural resources at an alarming rate . . . the world currently needs 1.6 Earths to satisfy the demand for natural resources ... [a figure that] could rise to 2 planets by 2030.” But is that true? After analyzing the prices of hundreds of commodities, goods, and services spanning two centuries, Marian Tupy and Gale Pooley found that resources became more abundant as the population grew. That was especially true when they looked at “time prices,” which represent the length of time that people must work to buy something. To their surprise, the authors also found that resource abundance increased faster than the population―a relationship that they call superabundance. On average, every additional human being created more value than he or she consumed. This relationship between population growth and abundance is deeply counterintuitive, yet it is true. Why? More people produce more ideas, which lead to more inventions. People then test those inventions in the marketplace to separate the useful from the useless. At the end of that process of discovery, people are left with innovations that overcome shortages, spur economic growth, and raise standards of living. But large populations are not enough to sustain superabundance―just think of the poverty in China and India before their respective economic reforms. To innovate, people must be allowed to think, speak, publish, associate, and disagree. They must be allowed to save, invest, trade, and profit. In a word, they must be free.