Affluenza by John de Graaf, David Wann, and Thomas H. Naylor (Audiobook) 📚
This book is about the dominance of consumer culture in America, and its drawbacks for individuals and families.
Cultural commentary tends to be very specifically dated. If this book were written today, it would probably be remixed and repackaged a little bit to be about climate change. And Amazon. But, given that all we talk about today is climate change and Amazon, it was kind of nice to listen to these authors viewpoints on how the constant buying of stuff affects our mental health and erodes our sense of meaning.
There are some tough moments, but in general it was a fun and playful listen; the sort of non-fiction I can put on in the background to help guide my own thinking on a topic. I ended up referencing it in my essay on what AI means for online content consumption (which you can find here).
Fair warning, though, that the audiobook narrator is not for everyone.