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Shopomania: Our Obsession with Possession
A thought-provoking and provocative challenge to consumerism (with plenty of name-dropping and celebrity antics).
Sassy and satirical, Shopomania is an economic, environmental and social study. This light-hearted, dark-souled dictionary of coined words, or “shoponyms,” takes readers on a roller-coaster ride of avaricious antics and outrageous profligacy.
Shopping in one form or another has existed for millennia but, aside from a few slumps, each generation has outdone the previous one. In the past fifty years, shopping—and its associated carbon footprint—has grown exponentially.
Berton argues that if we invented today’s consumer culture, then we can invent something to replace it. We can do a better job of making the cycle of stuff truly circular rather than linear. We can be more environmentally, socially and politically conscious of what we buy and how it comes to us—and where it will go after we are finished with it. A species that has made shopping ubiquitous can figure all these things out with little more than co-operation and creativity, and by asking if it is really necessary to “own it now” as we have been told—endlessly—since childhood. Must we possess a thing to enjoy it? Do we really need all that stuff?
Sassy and satirical, Shopomania is an economic, environmental and social study. This light-hearted, dark-souled dictionary of coined words, or “shoponyms,” takes readers on a roller-coaster ride of avaricious antics and outrageous profligacy.
Shopping in one form or another has existed for millennia but, aside from a few slumps, each generation has outdone the previous one. In the past fifty years, shopping—and its associated carbon footprint—has grown exponentially.
Berton argues that if we invented today’s consumer culture, then we can invent something to replace it. We can do a better job of making the cycle of stuff truly circular rather than linear. We can be more environmentally, socially and politically conscious of what we buy and how it comes to us—and where it will go after we are finished with it. A species that has made shopping ubiquitous can figure all these things out with little more than co-operation and creativity, and by asking if it is really necessary to “own it now” as we have been told—endlessly—since childhood. Must we possess a thing to enjoy it? Do we really need all that stuff?
- GenresNonfiction
319 pages, Kindle Edition
Published October 15, 2022
8 people are currently reading
88 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
January 13, 2023
3.5 rounded up.
In an effort to curb my mindless spending, I started putting any books on hold that I thought would help me in this quest. During the pandemic and the sudden loss of my father, I used mindless shopping as a comfort, as something to look forward to. I knew I wasn't doing it for the right reasons, that I was using it as a Bandaid for bigger feelings but I couldn't seem to stop. "Shopomania" was not what I expected but it sure did teach me a lot about the history of consumerism and shopping. It did succeed in it's purpose of making me want to shop less, by really putting facts of overconsumption in my face. Berton succeeds in making it some like you are a real loser if you are spending money willy nilly. I hope I can keep that lesson with me or at least be more mindful about what I am buying.
"We shop to stay busy, we shop because we are bored......... we do it automatically and without an agenda, not to amuse ourselves or feed ourselves but simply because it is there."
In an effort to curb my mindless spending, I started putting any books on hold that I thought would help me in this quest. During the pandemic and the sudden loss of my father, I used mindless shopping as a comfort, as something to look forward to. I knew I wasn't doing it for the right reasons, that I was using it as a Bandaid for bigger feelings but I couldn't seem to stop. "Shopomania" was not what I expected but it sure did teach me a lot about the history of consumerism and shopping. It did succeed in it's purpose of making me want to shop less, by really putting facts of overconsumption in my face. Berton succeeds in making it some like you are a real loser if you are spending money willy nilly. I hope I can keep that lesson with me or at least be more mindful about what I am buying.
"We shop to stay busy, we shop because we are bored......... we do it automatically and without an agenda, not to amuse ourselves or feed ourselves but simply because it is there."
October 4, 2022
Full review soon!
Thank you to the publisher for a gifted review copy!
Thank you to the publisher for a gifted review copy!
September 9, 2023
A combination of entertaining (downright funny) and thought-provoking. The kind of book the person reading something else next to you resents because you interrupt their reading to blurt out facts and anecdotes too good not to share.
February 16, 2023
This was a fun read, in between big emotional reads so a nice break and a good chance to see what type of shopper I am.
I'm absolutely a deshopping proxyshopper (for my children) who loves to cybershop, reshop and who is not afraid to unshop. I love to predeshop books, engage in online deshopareshopathons (buy nothing groups!), and I plan to necrodeshop as I age!
I think this book missed the necrodeshop, the contestshoppers, the thriftshoppers and the sidesteppingshoppers (libraries, free items, etc).
I'm absolutely a deshopping proxyshopper (for my children) who loves to cybershop, reshop and who is not afraid to unshop. I love to predeshop books, engage in online deshopareshopathons (buy nothing groups!), and I plan to necrodeshop as I age!
I think this book missed the necrodeshop, the contestshoppers, the thriftshoppers and the sidesteppingshoppers (libraries, free items, etc).
January 14, 2024
Meh.
While the descriptions of celebrities are pretty tart and funny (“Bizarrely plasticized man-child Michael Jackson.”) it’s clear that the author thinks his writing is much cooler than it is. It gets pretty repetitive after a while.
While the descriptions of celebrities are pretty tart and funny (“Bizarrely plasticized man-child Michael Jackson.”) it’s clear that the author thinks his writing is much cooler than it is. It gets pretty repetitive after a while.
Read
February 18, 2023No comment. No score. Hard pass on this one if you are expecting any kind of well argued critique of consumerism.
DNF
DNF
Read
March 1, 2023Very thought provoking. Definitely has me re-thinking how I shop, when I shop, where I shop and why I shop.
Read
January 12, 2023How often have we heard the comment, “I’ll shop ‘til I drop!” In today’s consumer-oriented world, more people than ever are shopping like never before. Paul Berton, son of the late great author Pierre Berton, tackles that obsession like it has never been analyzed before. He looks at shopping from inside and out, presenting a most entertaining read.
Berton says the idea for the book has been percolating for quite some time, and it seemed the right moment to get the topic in his crosshairs and go to town with it. He says in the introduction, “Shoppers have been at it since the invention of the arrowhead. But how long actually have we had a name for shopping?” He goes on to note, “The foundation was built in the late thirteenth century, the term ‘shop’ first recorded on paper in 1297, but only a noun to describe a place where goods are bought and sold.” The actual term “to shop” didn’t come for another six centuries.
Berton says that people always like to have possessions, and that at times has resulted in excess. He cites those who are akin to hoarders especially two brothers who lived in a residence that was filled to capacity with possessions and junk. One of the brothers was blind, and the other brother who was taking care of him was afraid of robbers, booby trapping the house. It seems that brother had died under an avalanche of his own junk, and the blind brother unable to fend for himself starved to death.
Berton talks about excess, especially among the rich and famous such as Jay Leno and his over one hundred automobiles. Tom Hanks owns more than the same amount of typewriters. Women buy hundreds of pairs of shoes even if they wear them once, sometimes not wearing some of the pairs ever.
The examples that he gives are sobering, and speak of our need to own things sometimes to excess. Shopping frenzy in stores especially at Christmas, has resulted in fist fights and assaults between customers for the last Cabbage Patch Kid or other toys that are the flavour of the day. Berton mentions a Walmart employee trampled to death when they opened the doors first thing in the morning, killed by the stampede of customers coming in limited quantities of big ticket items.
The book talks about a massive amount of consumers and uses terms like, “Shopitis, Undershop, Overshop, Misshop, Teleshop, Cybershop, Shopopolis, Shopeteria, Pseudoshop, Shopalooza, Necroshop, and many others. It definitely will strike a chord in readers who exhibit some of the characteristics noted in the book, and I have been guilty of overbuying certain things, like having thirty-four jar of peanut butter in my cupboard that I bought on sale.
The way he looks at the psychological and personal implications of shopping, is most accurate and most engrossing reading. We see how shopping may be therapeutic for some, but a bane of existence of others. And you can take that to shopping mall!
Berton says the idea for the book has been percolating for quite some time, and it seemed the right moment to get the topic in his crosshairs and go to town with it. He says in the introduction, “Shoppers have been at it since the invention of the arrowhead. But how long actually have we had a name for shopping?” He goes on to note, “The foundation was built in the late thirteenth century, the term ‘shop’ first recorded on paper in 1297, but only a noun to describe a place where goods are bought and sold.” The actual term “to shop” didn’t come for another six centuries.
Berton says that people always like to have possessions, and that at times has resulted in excess. He cites those who are akin to hoarders especially two brothers who lived in a residence that was filled to capacity with possessions and junk. One of the brothers was blind, and the other brother who was taking care of him was afraid of robbers, booby trapping the house. It seems that brother had died under an avalanche of his own junk, and the blind brother unable to fend for himself starved to death.
Berton talks about excess, especially among the rich and famous such as Jay Leno and his over one hundred automobiles. Tom Hanks owns more than the same amount of typewriters. Women buy hundreds of pairs of shoes even if they wear them once, sometimes not wearing some of the pairs ever.
The examples that he gives are sobering, and speak of our need to own things sometimes to excess. Shopping frenzy in stores especially at Christmas, has resulted in fist fights and assaults between customers for the last Cabbage Patch Kid or other toys that are the flavour of the day. Berton mentions a Walmart employee trampled to death when they opened the doors first thing in the morning, killed by the stampede of customers coming in limited quantities of big ticket items.
The book talks about a massive amount of consumers and uses terms like, “Shopitis, Undershop, Overshop, Misshop, Teleshop, Cybershop, Shopopolis, Shopeteria, Pseudoshop, Shopalooza, Necroshop, and many others. It definitely will strike a chord in readers who exhibit some of the characteristics noted in the book, and I have been guilty of overbuying certain things, like having thirty-four jar of peanut butter in my cupboard that I bought on sale.
The way he looks at the psychological and personal implications of shopping, is most accurate and most engrossing reading. We see how shopping may be therapeutic for some, but a bane of existence of others. And you can take that to shopping mall!
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews