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My Year Without Shopping
Free Press
March 2006
288 pages
ISBN: 0743269357
Hardcover
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Non-Fiction | Self-Help
"The idea occurs to me, as so many desperate resolutions do,
during the holiday season. I have maxed out the Visa, moved
on to the Citibank debit card, and am tapping the ATM like
an Iraqi guerrilla pulling crude from the pipeline.
Convinced I am picking up no more than the occasional
trinket...this atheist Grinch has managed to scatter $1,001
across New York City and the World Wide Web." And so, disgusted with the commerce in everything from pet
cloning to patriotism, panicked over the fate of her
finances and that of the trash-strewn earth, Judith Levine
enlists her partner, Paul, in a radical experiment: to forgo
all but the most necessary purchases for an entire year. Without consumer goods and experiences, Judith and Paul
pursue their careers, nurture relationships, and try to keep
their sanity, their identities, and their sense of humor
intact. Tracking their progress -- and inevitable lapses --
Levine contemplates need and desire, scarcity and security,
consumerism and citizenship. She asks the Big Questions: Can
the economy survive without shopping? Are Q-tips necessary? Not Buying It is no primer on the simple life and how to
live it. It's the confessions of a woman any reader can
identify with: someone who can't live without French roast
coffee or SmartWool socks but who has had it up to here with
overconsumption and its effects on the earth and everyone
who dwells there. The book will have readers discussing how and why they, too,
might survive without shopping. For the humor and
intelligence of its insights, the refreshment of its
skepticism, and the surprises of its conclusions, Not Buying
It is sure to be on anyone's list of Necessities.
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