About Shiny Objects
• Hardcover: 368 pages
• Publisher: HarperOne (November 8, 2011)
In Shiny Objects: Why We Spend Money We Don’t Have in Search of Happiness We Can’t Buy, James A. Roberts, a leading researcher and expert on consumer behavior, exposes the hidden motivations and erroneous assumptions behind our spending habits. He also reveals the key to reversing the devastating and ever-increasing effects of materialism in modern culture, showing readers how we can actually increase our well-being by scaling back.
In addition, Roberts poses important questions like:
- Do you have an emergency fund of at least $2500 for that proverbial rainy day?
- Do you have at least six months’ worth of living expenses in the bank in case you lose your job or become ill?
- Are you regularly making investments to a retirement account?
If the answer is no to any of these, Shiny Objects offers the lessons needed to change spending habits and develop smarter saving strategies. With a series of quizzes and questionnaires developed over years of consumer research—and full of staggering new research on credit card abuse and compulsive shopping—Shiny Objects will help readers examine their day-to-day behavior, offering tips and tools to make the necessary changes.
A perfect antidote to the fiscal anxiety that’s been sweeping the nation—and out just in time for the holiday shopping season—Shiny Objects sheds some much-needed light on the science of spending, and demonstrates how we can cultivate lives of real value.
About James A. Roberts
Dr. James A. Roberts is a well-known author with approximately 75 articles published in academic literature. He is currently a Professor of Marketing and the Ben H. Williams Professor of Marketing at Baylor University in Waco, Texas, where he has been a faculty member since 1991. His research regularly appears in many of the top marketing and psychology journals and he has received two “Paper of the Year” awards. Additionally, Dr. Roberts has been recognized for excellence in the classroom where he has taught his brand of marketing and the social ramifications of our consumer culture to thousands of graduate and undergraduate students.
A primary focus of Dr. Roberts’s work over the last 15 years has been the psychology of consumer behavior. He is somewhat of an anomaly among marketing scholars, in that his research is largely focused on the “Dark Side” of consumerism and marketing. Current research efforts focus on the topics of materialism, compulsive buying, credit card abuse, and self-control. His book, Shiny Objects, takes a careful and amusing look at how our love of material possessions impacts our happiness and what we can do to find true happiness in a culture awash in material possession love. Dr. Roberts is a nationally recognized expert on consumer behavior and he has been quoted extensively in the media.
Dr. Roberts’ Tour Stops
Tuesday, November 8th: A Bookish Way of Life
Wednesday, November 9th: Patricia’s Wisdom
Tuesday, November 15th: Stephany Writes
Wednesday, November 16th: New Life on a Homestead
Thursday, November 17th: Greater Good Life
Monday, November 21st: Happy Simple Living
Tuesday, November 22nd: Frugal and Simple
Monday, November 28th: Chief Family Officer
Wednesday, November 30th: Amanda Brooke – Simple and Creative Living
Thursday, December 1st: Everyday Simplicity
Friday, December 2nd: One Frugal Girl
Sunday, December 4th: Consumerism Commentary – podcast
Tuesday, December 6th: Sustainable Life Blog
Thursday, December 15th: My Year(s) of Spending Less and Living More
Thursday, December 22nd: DINKS Finance