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How Much Is Enough?: Money And The Good Life (2012)

by Robert Skidelsky(Favorite Author)

3.54 of 5 Votes: 4

ISBN

1590515072 (ISBN13: 9781590515075)

languge

English

genre

History & Biography

publisher

Other Press

review 1: Pretty uneven, and not particularly useful. It offered an interesting history of the evolution of thought behind the accumulation of wealth, or, why we collectively decided to continue to pursue more and more money and stuff instead of choosing leisure as an alternative. But what was missing (for me, anyway) was any semblance of explanation of how to get to the life they propose. If we decide to collectively exchange wealth for more leisure, what would the economy look like? Would it still be capable of supporting the number of people it does today? It didn't say.Plus, sticking out like a sore thumb in the middle of the book was an awkward diatribe against Climate Change Alarmists. Not that the authors deny anthropomorphic climate change; they just think that it'... mores obvious that we'll fix it with an (unidentified) technological solution when the problem becomes more severe. Because that's always what we've done in the past when faced with impending global catastrophe.
review 2: I read this book at the beginning of the holiday season and it was a very good way to put the buy-buy-buy mania into perspective. Written by a father and son team, they summarize that the basics of a good life include: health, security ("...Those who cannot find work locally are urged to relocate, those whose talents have become redundant to 'retool'. This is to get things precisely backwards. It is not human beings who need adapting to the market; it is the market that needs adapting to human beings..." p. 158), respect ("One must look to the effects of inequality on the moral fabric of society, and on the political system in particular. Where the rich behave with lawless arrogance, the poor with impotent resentment and politicians with obeisance to money, inequality has exceeded the mark." p. 160), personality (i.e. "...the ability to frame and execute a plan of life reflective of one's tastes, temperament and conception of the good. This is what Kantians call autonomy and Aristotelians practical reason....Private property is an essential safeguard of personality, for it allows individuals to live according to their own tastes and ideals, free from the tyranny of patronage and public opinion..." p.160-161), harmony with nature, friendship, and leisure ("Leisure in our sense is distinguished not by lack of seriousness or strenuousness but by absence of external compulsion." p.165). They say, "Our focus, then, should not be on goods but on capabilities--concrete powers of thought and action.The question should not be 'how much in the way of resources is so-and-so able to command?' but 'what is so-and-so able to do and be?'" (p. 148).This is a book to ponder. It is not difficult to read but it will certainly make you think. less

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