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The Story of Stuff: How Our Obsession with Stuff is Trashing the Planet, Our Communities, and our Health—and a Vision for Change

Annie Leonard

4.07 · Rating details · 3,410 ratings · 466 reviews

A classic exposé in company with An Inconvenient Truth and Silent Spring, The Story of Stuff expands on the celebrated documentary exploring the threat of overconsumption on the environment, economy, and our health. Leonard examines the “stuff” we use everyday, offering a galvanizing critique and steps for a changed planet.

The Story of Stuff was received with widespread en ...more

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Hardcover, 352 pages

Published March 9th 2010 by Free Press (first published January 1st 2010)

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Jan 19, 2012 Jim rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Recommends it for: Everyone

Recommended to Jim by: High ratings by several reviewers

Shelves: kindle-books, favorites, ecosystems-and-sustainability, nonfiction

I think this is a really important book. There is a lot of bad news, and it is not what we want to hear, but we certainly need to. There is also good news - a long list of positive suggestions, with links, that point the way out of the trash and into a sustainable future.

I read dystopian novels, in part, to get a sense of what horrors the future may hold, and how people can or cannot adapt to them. The fact that many of those books are ripping good reads is also a big attraction. There is also ( ...more

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Mar 25, 2011 Trevor rated it it was amazing

Shelves: behavioural-economics, social-theory, economics

I haven’t seen this film – I will probably need to track it down now. This brings together a lot of things I have been thinking about lately in ways I have also been coming to slowly. However, it was just about the last place I expected to find some of these ideas. What I was expecting was a kind of sermon on the death of the planet (which it almost was in part) – in the modern world it is environmentalists who are cast as the ‘hell-fire and brimstone’ preachers (“I’ve seen the light – I will do ...more

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Jul 16, 2012 Mikhaela rated it it was amazing

Shelves: how-to, nonfiction, environment

Ah, yes--THIS is the book I've been waiting to read forever--I wish this had been around when I had taken Juliet Schor's "Shop Til You Drop: Gender and Class in Consumer Culture" course back in college. A smart, clear activist breakdown of our toxic materials economy and the massive and devastating environmental impact of consumption on the health of workers, the planet, consumers, communities, animals, etc... and what we can do about it.

Instead of the obnoxious and ineffective "personal green ...more

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Jul 31, 2013 Jonathan Lu rated it did not like it

at first i couldn't wait to pick this up... finally a book on the environmental impact of consumerism written by an environmental scientist! very quickly you realize that there is zero science beneath these pages.

I give this book 1 star solely because of the introductory chapter which does offer an appropriate representation of the current state of affairs in the US with just a slightly alarmist hint... which then gradually (and substantially) evolves to use of statistics and numbers for fear-mo at first i couldn't wait to pick this up... finally a book on the environmental impact of consumerism written by an environmental scientist! very quickly you realize that there is zero science beneath these pages.

I give this book 1 star solely because of the introductory chapter which does offer an appropriate representation of the current state of affairs in the US with just a slightly alarmist hint... which then gradually (and substantially) evolves to use of statistics and numbers for fear-mongering and extraordinarily partisan diatribes. Nothing Miss Leonard reports is fabricated, just highly 1-sided (and overwhelmingly elitist) with zero touch of realism.

Yes there may be many downsides to use of PVC or polysilicates... but to present from a perspective of "anyone who makes PVC-containing products is evil" or "Dow Chemical and Union Carbide are worse than Hitler" without providing any context as to why some chemicals are used today (yes there are actually very good reasons) or why people/companies make the decisions that they do (no, greed is not the only reason) is inappropriate and irresponsible. The "solutions" that Leonard offer are just as out of touch - we need to slow production lines down in order to decrease pollution (umm, yes that idea has no downside or impact to adverse impact on peoples' lives?), we need to ban PVC altogether (and... those who cannot afford alternative materials, sorry your kids don't deserve to have a backpack?), we need to decrease water consumption, decrease pollution, and increase recycling (brilliant! no thoughts on the "how", just a rigid "what"?).

This book is a great example of how it's not just those on the far right who see the world in black & white, but those on the far left are equally as bad. If written from the perspective of understanding, real-world practicality, and focus on solutions rather than unilateral griping, perhaps we could get somewhere. This book simply argues rather than presents an argument, has almost no ground in reality as takes no consideration into trade-offs. No capitalism is not perfect, but to consider it as purely terrible is just as wrong as considering socialism as purely terrible. I guess that we Americans just have to feel bad that our culture is wrong then and her way of life is the only one that can work... I do hope that at least Miss Leonard can find a way to marry Europe since she loves it so much. ...more

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Sep 17, 2014 Colleen rated it it was ok

Shelves: obvious-and-done-before, nonfiction

If you’re thinking that you might need to read this, that’s probably a good indication that you don’t. Are you for the environment? For human rights protections? Concerned with consumerist culture and overconsumption? Concerned about the steady increase in garbage and where it all goes? Are you for progress and against war? For time spent with other humans rather than with stuff? If so, you don’t need to read this. The point is to explain to people why they should think about these things. If yo ...more

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Sep 28, 2020 Melinda rated it it was amazing

I have to DNF this, cause otherwise I will not stop crying.
EVERYONE should read this (as long as You can, I have to stop cause I’m getting very anxious and emotional, maybe it’s not the best period to listen to this audiobook for me).
I’m already practicing minimalism and low waste for years, but I will try to be better and better. PLEASE READ THIS BOOK!

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Jan 08, 2013 Jenny rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: subject-matter

I assigned The Story of Stuff to my college level writing class because they were focusing on environmental policy in their freshmen cluster classes. This book prompted a lot of good discussions about buying practices and our consumerist society and it did make some of my students question their habits but it also resulted in some of them feeling frustrated and overwhelmed with the wealth of problems out there. By the end, I had a few of them facetiously say, “I’m tired of the environment!”

The t I assigned The Story of Stuff to my college level writing class because they were focusing on environmental policy in their freshmen cluster classes. This book prompted a lot of good discussions about buying practices and our consumerist society and it did make some of my students question their habits but it also resulted in some of them feeling frustrated and overwhelmed with the wealth of problems out there. By the end, I had a few of them facetiously say, “I’m tired of the environment!”

The thesis of this book is Americans have too much stuff and we need to stop producing and buying so much stuff. Annie Leonard includes the expected descriptions of unfair labor practices, environmental pollution and degradation, horror stories of children working in mines, and workers toiling in dangerous clothing factories. We should never forget that workers and communities that work in and live near factories are almost always poor and minorities. She makes a very powerful argument and while reading this book I found myself declaring, “I will not buy any gold! I will only buy used clothes! I will not waste water!” I also appreciated her discussion of the insidiousness of planned obsolescence. You know how you can’t replace that iPod battery when it wears out so you have to buy a new one? Or how it’s cheaper to buy a new television than to fix your old one? Yeah, that’s planned obsolescence and companies do it on purpose. The origins of this “designed for the dump” concept are pretty fascinating. I also liked that she asks us to question cultural expectations like for example the diamond engagement ring. If your fiancé doesn’t buy you a diamond are you or your friends going to think they are a cheap shmuck? It’s almost impossible to source non-conflict diamonds and I liked that she never says, “Don’t get a diamond!” she says instead, “Buy a used one.” She understands people still expect things like a diamond but she asks that we be mindful of our choices.

I chose this book because it was engaging, relevant, and very accessible. Leonard is not just telling the reader that we are running out of resources but also showing us how we take so much for granted. She interjects much of the information and data in the book with her new found appreciation for her stuff and the steps she’s taken to reduce the amount of stuff she buys with. She gives us doable suggestion like avoiding PVCs and pressuring manufacturers to make changes and some that are not doable like giving up coffee and installing a pit toilet. While it isn’t exactly a handbook, it does contain a lot of useful information and I appreciated that she is totally optimistic in her outlook and her voice is that of an encouraging life coach.

I learned if you liked it then you shoulda put a ring on it but there better not be a diamond on that ring. ...more

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Feb 06, 2011 Leslie rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction, social-science

Americans live in a consumer society. We are constantly bombarded by advertising and encouraged to buy more and more. Purchasing something new is supposed to make us happy. We are even told it’s patriotic to shop, spend money, get the economy moving. But how many of us ever think about what it takes to produce all this stuff and ship it to stores or our homes and then haul it off to the dump to dispose of it when we are done with it. After reading The Story of Stuff, it’s difficult to look at ‘s Americans live in a consumer society. We are constantly bombarded by advertising and encouraged to buy more and more. Purchasing something new is supposed to make us happy. We are even told it’s patriotic to shop, spend money, get the economy moving. But how many of us ever think about what it takes to produce all this stuff and ship it to stores or our homes and then haul it off to the dump to dispose of it when we are done with it. After reading The Story of Stuff, it’s difficult to look at ‘stuff’ the same way again.

I consider myself a green person. I reduce, reuse, recycle, conserve energy, grow my own veggies, compost everything I can and generally try to be a good citizen of the planet. After reading this book I have learned there is much more to the life cycle of a product than most of us ever realize. The author takes us through the five stages with a chapter on each: Extraction, Production, Distribution, Consumption and Disposal. Each stage consumes resources and creates pollution, and not just here in the US but around the world.

An eye-opener for me was learning that while recycling is good it’s not the solution. We are consuming resources faster than the planet can replenish them. The problem is excessive consumption. The author found that when she asked, “Are we consuming too much?”, it was not a very popular question. Our economy now depends on consumption at an ever accelerating rate.

As consumers we’ve become resigned to the fact that our stuff is disposable. It wasn’t always this way. Things used to last years and years. Now they are designed with planned obsolescence and fall apart quickly and cannot be repaired. That particularly resonated with me. A few months ago my printer stopped working. This was a perfectly good printer that I really liked and I wanted to get it repaired. Seems simple enough, right? Wrong. The cost to fix it was almost as much as buying a new one. I did some research and in the end I opted to fix it anyway because the ink cartridges it uses are half the cost of the newer models plus this kept my printer out of the landfill. All too often it doesn’t work out this way and the item ends up in the dump.

The Story of Stuff is a wealth of information and knowledge on the hidden costs of consumerism and what we can do to make it better. The author presents the facts without being preachy and writes in a humorous and engaging style. Ultimately we have to ask ourselves, does buying more and more stuff make us happier? ...more

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Jan 02, 2012 JC rated it really liked it

Shelves: my-firsttime, kindle, 2011

This book has made me rethink my choices daily. I am one of those people that plays consumer regularly, doesn't think about what I am throwing away and what effects my actions have on the environment. This book has opened my eyes to the fact that I need to understand the choices and how they are impacting the future of the earth. This book goes through how stuff is created and used from the very beginning of when forests are cut down or water is used all the way through to when you throw it out ...more

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Jul 12, 2019 Emma rated it it was amazing

Wow! What an amazing and eye-opening book! I definitely should have read this years ago!

In this book, Annie Leonard gives a lot of in-depth information but at the same time keeps it easy to read and digest. For example, she shows you what goes on behind the scenes when making your favorite products such as cotton t-shirts, cosmetics and electronics. It is crazy and a bit frightening to read about all the toxins involved in for example bleaching paper or making furniture flame-retardant.

This is t ...more

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Feb 21, 2011 Brenda rated it really liked it · review of another edition

"The Story Of Stuff" is a thought provoking book, but also a bit depressing if you really think about it. Before picking up this book I thought I was doing my part to keep the planet green, I use freecycle regularly to get rid of my unwanted stuff, I also donate to Goodwill, and try to recycle as much as I can, but heck I learned that many of the things that I recycle have toxic material in them, so instead of recycling more I need to try and waste less.

The author does a great job of showing us ...more

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Sep 02, 2010 Susan rated it did not like it

Shelves: did-not-finish

I wish the Goodreads rating system had a way to mark "I just couldn't finish it," because I didn't get past the middle of the first chapter with this one.

I had heard an interview with the author on NPR and it was great, so I was very excited and waited for ages to rise to the top of this list and get this from the library. But (a) it turns out to be topics and information that I personally have read, heard, lived and worked for years. It might be a great book for people who don't already link co ...more

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Sep 21, 2020 Dylan rated it really liked it

Recommended to Dylan by: Brooke

This was a great (albeit depressing) read on the impacts of overconsumption. And considering the fact that this book is ten years old, I shudder to think of how much worse the statistics would look now. I read a physical copy of the book so I don’t have highlights to post, but I’m adding my notes/thoughts to this review for future reference.

-Our mindset regarding economic growth needs to be updated. Instead of using GDP as a measure of success, we should be focused on fundamental goals such as This was a great (albeit depressing) read on the impacts of overconsumption. And considering the fact that this book is ten years old, I shudder to think of how much worse the statistics would look now. I read a physical copy of the book so I don’t have highlights to post, but I’m adding my notes/thoughts to this review for future reference.

-Our mindset regarding economic growth needs to be updated. Instead of using GDP as a measure of success, we should be focused on fundamental goals such as making sure basic needs are satisfied, creating healthier communities, greater equality, cleaner energy, etc. The GDP doesn’t distinguish between economic activities that make life better and those that make it worse. This was also tied into the fact that greater economic growth country-wide historically does not equal happier citizens. Increased unhappiness results from our deteriorating social relationship. Yet we are working more than ever to afford and maintain all this ~stuff~ and spending more time alone and less time with family and friends and our community.
-Even though I am familiar with water scarcity as a concept, I have not been taking it as seriously as it should be. Unfortunately, it’s been one of those ‘out of sight, out of mind’ things that I take for granted. After reading the section on water scarcity and thinking about how unethical corporations may take advantage of that, I started looking up companies that are focused on sourcing water globally. And wow, water stocks are growing so fast as the issue becomes worse. Michael Burry (the first person to recognize and profit from the mortgage crisis) is now focusing on investing in water. It is crazy and disturbing that people are profiting from this tragedy.
-A lot of this just made me feel guilty. Like the section on the amount of paper that goes into making books. :( And the process of mining and creating jewelry. :( And the horrible working conditions and environmental impact of making just one simple t-shirt. :( And Disney in general. :( I am trying not to regret every single thing I have ever bought, but instead attempting to get motivated to really examine future purchases, and look into how and where the product is made, and by whom, and using what materials.
-Based on a mention in the book, I joined my neighborhood’s Buy Nothing group. And it is active and awesome! I am looking forward to meeting people and getting more involved with the community.
-I wrote down this quote, mostly just due to some Oberlin hometown pride: “As Oberlin College professor David Orr writes, ‘The emergence of the consumer society was neither inevitable nor accidental. Rather, it resulted from the convergence of four forces: a body of ideas saying that the earth is ours for the taking; the rise of modern capitalism; technological cleverness; and the extraordinary bounty of North America, where the model of mass consumption first took root. More directly, our consumptive behavior is the result of seductive advertising, entrapment by easy credit, ignorance about the hazardous content of much of what we consume, the breakdown of community, a disregard for the future, political corruption and the atrophy of alternative means by which we might provision ourselves.’”
-It is so hard to get away from the toxins in, well, everything. The fact that so many toxins are being found even in breast milk now is so disturbing. Also, PVC is the worst and the US really needs to hop on board with other countries in restricting its use. This is another one that I googled, thinking that maybe in the last ten years things have changed, but nope.
-In general, thinking about overconsumption as more than just a personal lifestyle choice stood out to me as being so important. It is a health threat, and causes human rights violations, and poverty, and other injustices. It seems almost impossible to fight without some major policy changes. But I did enjoy the short appendices to provide slight optimism at the end. The first appendix notes promising policies on the areas mentioned in the book (extraction, production, distribution, consumption, and disposal.) And the second appendix offers ideas for individual action. So while the majority of this book may read like a dystopian novel, it is also encouraging to try and stretch my citizen muscle for once and work towards a better future. 4.5 ...more

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Nov 23, 2020 Justė V. rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction

I wanted to read this book so much that I did not mind reading it in Spanish, the only available version at my local library.
I am glad that I did.
Although zero waste and minimalism have been in my life for several years already and I am constantly updating myself on new tips, statistics, and initiatives in these fields, I have never come across such a powerful source of information summing up the mess behind consumerism.
In the book, Annie Leonard walks the reader through different stages of the ...more

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Dec 23, 2020 Samantha Zee rated it really liked it

While a little dry at times, Leonard does a good job of really helping us look at the big picture by evaluating our everyday actions (and the consequences) on a smaller scale and relating the two. Also I work in transportation, so I found all the supply chain aspects so interesting.

The info can just be a bit chunky at times, but Leonard never comes across as condescending and manages to leave the reader with a bit of hope that there's still time to make a difference and help the environment. ...more

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Feb 07, 2013 Liaken rated it it was ok

Shelves: nature-theme, partial-reads, health, declutter, simple-life

So, I've just read the opening pages of the book, and I thought she was doing really well at setting up how our pursuit of stuff will ruin us. However, even after making an excellent point that all human systems are subsystems of the earth's systems, she still makes the error that I think sabotages environmentalists everywhere. She claims that we are killing the planet. I don't think we have the capacity to kill the planet. I think the earth will easily outlast us, whatever we do. The thing we A So, I've just read the opening pages of the book, and I thought she was doing really well at setting up how our pursuit of stuff will ruin us. However, even after making an excellent point that all human systems are subsystems of the earth's systems, she still makes the error that I think sabotages environmentalists everywhere. She claims that we are killing the planet. I don't think we have the capacity to kill the planet. I think the earth will easily outlast us, whatever we do. The thing we ARE doing is making the planet uninhabitable for US. That's what we're doing. I think this is a message that more people would respond to, since many people are numb to damages caused to the earth and its species. Anyway ... I'll keep reading, but it was disappointing to see her swap her systems right after getting them in order. The earth has outlasted many disasters. It can outlast us. Life may be different then, but it will still evolve and adapt.

UPDATE: Okay, so I read further in the book and I found that the author has a bad habit. When she is presenting her information, she will often tell it in such a way that it makes her point "stronger," but when the point is actually looked at, well, it falls apart.

For Example: She does an example of how it takes 98 tons of material to produce 1 ton of paper. Then she goes on about how wasteful that is. Okay, so let me give a counter example. Let's say I want to make a little pouch to keep things in. In order to do that, I need to acquire some fabric, thread, a sewing machine, a table to put the sewing machine on, a chair to sit on while I run it, a pair of sheers to cut the fabric, some little scissors to snip the threads with, some pins to hold the fabric together, and a piece of ribbon or something to thread through the top to close the pouch (or a zipper or clasp or whatever). So ... to get myself a little pouch, I need sooooooooo much more stuff than the little pouch by itself. Isn't that wasteful?

But here's the thing: I'm going to use that table, chair, thread, sewing machine, scissors, pins, etc., again and again and again as I make more things. The same holds true with MUCH of that 98 tons of material to produce 1 ton of paper. So, why doesn't she tell us how much of those 98 tons are only used once? Because then her point wouldn't be so overblown.

And that, I think, is the downfall of the book. She doesn't trust her information enough, so she gets a little frantic about it and ends up not quite telling the truth in enough instances that the alert reader begins to grow wary and wonder if sources need to be checked. This shouldn't have to the be the case. Especially when someone who already believes that we should consume so much less and change how we govern things in the world (me) feels skeptical while reading about this very topic.

Now, before I finish off, I want to say that she DOES say some very good things in this book. I liked how she showed that big companies like Nike don't make shoes, they *brand* shoes. They *market* shoes. Apple does the same thing. They don't *make* electronics. They brand them and market them. It's a good revelation of how the systems all work (or don't work). So, yes, she says good things, but I found that I couldn't relax and trust her, so I gave up on the book. Alas. ...more

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Jul 10, 2010 Keith Akers rated it really liked it

This is an excellent book. Parts of it are a bit hard to get through; it drags, and the five section headings are perhaps deliberately chosen to be not-exciting: "Extraction," "Production," "Distribution," "Consumption," and "Disposal." I read probably 80%-90% of the whole thing. However, I noticed that it picked up in the last section ("Disposal"), which is evidently Leonard's special expertise and passion. The story about how toxic stuff winds up in Haiti and Bangladesh, and various people's r This is an excellent book. Parts of it are a bit hard to get through; it drags, and the five section headings are perhaps deliberately chosen to be not-exciting: "Extraction," "Production," "Distribution," "Consumption," and "Disposal." I read probably 80%-90% of the whole thing. However, I noticed that it picked up in the last section ("Disposal"), which is evidently Leonard's special expertise and passion. The story about how toxic stuff winds up in Haiti and Bangladesh, and various people's reactions to this, was quite illuminating.

The thing I liked most about the book is that the author understands that there is a connection between our material standard of living and the environment. This seems like an obvious point, but 99% of the population and virtually 100% of our national political leaders don't understand this. We're being promised "green growth" -- we'll still have stuff, but it will somehow be produced without harming the environment. She understands that this is a mirage.

A lot of our materials extraction (not to mention production, distribution, consumption, and disposal) is dependent on energy supplies, and thus as energy supplies decline or become more expensive, our materials will also decline or become more expensive. I think she understands this point -- she discusses it on pages 29-34 -- but then tends to separate the two issues, saying that solar and wind can pick up the slack.

So let me get this straight: does this mean that we will be able to extract the same amount of materials using clean energy, but shouldn't do so because it would still trash the planet? Or does she think that the whole system of producing stuff will decline as energy supplies decline? It's not clear. If I had written this book, I would have given "peak oil" and "peak coal" a bit more play than they got; and this might have lent a structural theme to what is driving this whole process.

She explicitly excluded food from this process. For me, this is a logical way to proceed; she wants to limit her book to those areas in which she is clearly an expert.

But I look forward to a future book on "The Story of Food." In fact, food is part of our whole extraction, production, distribution, consumption, and disposal process. We extract materials to power our industrialized agriculture, then we produce the food, distribute and consume it (making some people fat, and leaving others without enough to eat), and then dispose of the waste products, which include methane in the atmosphere and water pollution from livestock manure.

One final thing: while I saw the video "The Story of Stuff" before I read this book, what really attracted my attention was "The Story of Cap and Trade." This short video (in the same style as "The Story of Stuff") was quite a bit more controversial within the environmental community, but Leonard was exactly right, of course, and it's this kind of sharp commentary which really shows that this is someone we can respect and admire in the environmental community. ...more

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Jul 30, 2010 Tammy rated it really liked it

This book goes way beyond exhorting readers to recycle (in fact, author Annie Leonard actually speaks the heresy that recycling carries some negative implications). This book follows our Stuff from extraction to production to distribution to consumption to disposal.

The result is a horror story. It is a story in which I’m completely implicated – to my great discomfort, because I like my Stuff.

I found reading the book uncomfortable – like watching a documentary about things that are horrible and b ...more

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Jan 04, 2011 Sylvia rated it it was ok

Shelves: dc-ecowomen-book-club

Overall, this is a pretty useful and interesting read, but her dismissive tone (why would anyone want to watch TV when they could instead have a nice conversation with friends!?!) and failure to acknowledge her privilege really turned me off. I found some of her critiques really unpersuasive, especially with regard to online services/retailers and why and how people engage in fashion.

Also, Annie Leonard/her editors do not know the difference between rein vs. reign and positive vs. negative feedb ...more

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Nov 15, 2020 Femke rated it really liked it

Shelves: minimalism

The information in this book is a bit outdated since it’s been written in 2010. Unfortunately it should have been way more outdated than it is. The problems described in this book are still ongoing ten years later. We still produce too much, too fast, too unsustainable and too wasteful. And even though this book focuses mostly on the US (and uses the Netherlands a few times as an example of how it could be done better :) it kinda scares me that the author, at the end of the book, writes an image ...more

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Jan 03, 2021 Haley Fortune rated it really liked it

It’s a bit old so i wonder how much of these stats have changed, not only how we have improved in some areas but also how we have maybe gotten worse when it comes to environmental protections and consumerism. Still, soooo interesting and is a call to action for reducing consumption, or at the very least making us more aware so we can be more intentional about what we are buying and how we are disposing of it. Such a great book to read to set the tone for the new year :) I took away one star beca ...more

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Jan 19, 2021 Jessica rated it liked it

I am very glad that Annie Leonard is raising awareness in so many ways. She talks about small changes we can make in our own homes and lifestyles, but she also details how awful the living conditions are for so many humans on our planet because of environmental impacts of factories near them. She also realistically acknowledges that large-scale changes are the only thing that's going to save our planet at this point (changes of policy, laws, development techniques, etc.).

I didn't like the chapte ...more

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Oct 07, 2018 Tabitha rated it liked it

Shelves: nonfiction-thinking-politics, tone-feminist, themes-politics, format-audiobook-radioplay, tag-woman-authors

I wasn't expecting the "story" part of this title to be quite so literal. At least in the audiobook version, there were few to no actual references provided. Instead, Leonard recounts the findings of researchers and organizations along with histories of her own experiences and those of people she's met. It reads very much like a book written by a journalist in that way (lots of personal asides, value judgments, and name dropping) and much less like the kind of rigorously scientific book on the p ...more

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Feb 19, 2020 Katy Koivastik rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction, psychology-and-conspiracy, self-help, science

A well-researched, compelling and comprehensive treatise in support of “voluntary simplicity” and against the mostly American propensity for over-consumption. Though published more than 10 years ago, “The Story of Stuff” unfortunately remains relevant today.

The book is engagingly read by the author herself. Bravo for both writing a book so broad in scope with detailed facts and figures, as well as giving strategies to those readers who want to dial back their consumption, and for reading it pas ...more

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Jun 26, 2020 Luismabou rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

The TRUTH hurts.

Our relationship with stuff must change. Our current economic system is in need of change.
By reading this book, you can understand how the things that you buy affect the planet. From the extraction to disposal.

I hope that by people becoming aware of such TRUTH we can create communities that are based on love, happiness, sustainability, and equity; An economic system that can provide for the needs of our generation without compromising the needs future generations.

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Jun 24, 2019 Annie Rice rated it really liked it

Essential reading for understanding how the extraction, production, distribution, consumption, and disposal of everything we buy affects our planet and health. Makes me want to live more simply and an excellent reminder to buy less, make do, and repair belongings. 4/5 because I didn't always loooove her tone. ...more

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May 10, 2020 Katie rated it it was amazing

Shelves: climate-crisis

An incredible, genuinely life-changing book. I cannot recommend it highly enough - in fact, it should be required reading right now, and, hopefully in the future, an artifact to remind us how far we’ve come and to illustrate the appalling systems we’ve left behind.

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Jul 19, 2017 นรินทร์ โอฬารกิจอนันต์ rated it it was ok

so biased and data-misrepresenting.

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Jan 24, 2018 Blair Emsick rated it liked it

Lots of fascinating facts and info but Leonard comes us as real, Realll snooty at times.. and her overall message that we should work less and buy less is just not possible for us minimum wagers

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Oct 21, 2019 Bibliovoracious rated it it was amazing

It's long, and it's awesome! And and it's an absolutely excellent author-narrated audiobook! ...more

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About Annie Leonard

Annie Leonard

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Annie Leonard is the author and host of our very own The Story of Stuff. She is author of The Story of Stuff, the book, published by Free Press of Simon and Schuster on March 9, 2010.

Annie has spent nearly two decades investigating and organizing on environmental health and justice issues. She has traveled to 40 countries, visiting literally hundreds of factories where our stuff is made and dumps ...more

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“We depend on this planet to eat, drink, breathe, and live. Figuring out how to keep our life support system running needs to be our number-one priority. Nothing is more important than finding a way to live together - justly, respectfully, sustainably, joyfully - on the only planet we can call home.” — 9 likes

“Why sit and stare at a box beaming messages indoctrinating us into consumer culture for hours a day when there are so many more enjoyable alternatives available?” — 6 likes

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