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    Value Of Nothing: Why Everything Costs So Much More Than We Think
    Unavailable
    Value Of Nothing: Why Everything Costs So Much More Than We Think
    Unavailable
    Value Of Nothing: Why Everything Costs So Much More Than We Think
    Ebook334 pages4 hours

    Value Of Nothing: Why Everything Costs So Much More Than We Think

    By Raj Patel

    4/5

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    Unavailable in your country

    About this ebook

    As retirement funds shrink, savings disappear and houses are foreclosed on, now is a good time to ask a question for which every human civilization has had an answer: why do things cost what they do? The Value of Nothing tracks down the reasons through history, philosophy, neuroscience and sociology, showing why prices are always at odds with the true value of the things that matter most to us.

    Damien Hirst’s diamond-encrusted skull sold for a record $100 million at auction. But if we account for the possibility that blood diamonds were used (as many suspect), the human cost is even greater. A Big Mac might seem like the best deal in these economic times, but after analyzing the energy to produce each burger, from field to Happy Meal, Patel argues the real price tag is a whopping $200. But it is easiest to see the gap between price and value by looking at things that are so-called free. Examining everything from Google to TV, from love to thoughts, The Value of Nothing reveals the hidden social consequences of our global culture of “freedom.”

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateJun 6, 2010
    ISBN9781554688487
    Unavailable
    Value Of Nothing: Why Everything Costs So Much More Than We Think
    Author

    Raj Patel

    Raj Patel is an award-winning author, film-maker and academic. He is a Research Professor in the Lyndon B Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin. He worked at the World Bank and WTO, and has been teargassed on four continents protesting against them. A James Beard Foundation Leadership Award winner, he has testified about the causes of the global food crisis to the US, UK and EU governments, and is a member of the International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems. He is the author of Stuffed and Starved, the New York Times bestselling The Value of Nothing, and the coauthor of A History of the World in Seven Cheap Things, all of which have been translated and taught across the world, as have his scholarly publications in economics, philosophy, politics, and public health journals. His first documentary, filmed over the course of a decade in Malawi and the United States, is The Ants & The Grasshopper. He is a board member of the Deep Medicine Circle.

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    Reviews for Value Of Nothing

    4/5

    102 ratings9 reviews

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    • 3/5
      This book looks at why things cost what they do. The author, mostly, does a decent job with examples to explain what he’s trying to explain, but much of the actual economics/finance discussion went over my head. He really tried to “dumb it down”, and it’s probably enough for some, but unfortunately, it wasn’t always enough for me. Again, though, his examples were good and made it easier for me to follow. But, economics is just not my interest, so I’m leaving it with an “ok” rating.
    • 3/5
      A generally entertaining and informative call to action on the current way the richest countries are running their affairs and the affairs of the rest of the world. I appreciated the excursions into the theories of economists of the past and the glimpses of ways in which some communities are testing out new forms of democracy. It gives me hope for a non-consumerist future when I read books like this, even though doubt nags back at me when I consider how much people will need to change in order to build a more co-operative, caring society in the future.
    • 4/5
      A very good book about the flaws in the market price being a misleading rule about the human and ecological price. In the light of the impending ecological crisis, this book is very well researched and thorough. It is useful as a reference in the war between market and human values in the struggle for the future.
    • 3/5
      Didn't really like it, found it informative but not intriguing enough
    • 3/5
      It hit a raw nerve for me about where I am in life and society, and I'm still trying to figure out how to describe that experience. I'd like to read it again and maybe make some notes as I go. Left with a vague sense of wanting to do something, but not enough of a strong direction of what exactly that ought to be. (That may just be about me.) Recommended with that reservation.
    • 3/5
      I think Raj Patel described many of the issues we see today affecting the economy and the social marketplace. However, I fail to see any new ideas put forth here. We've heard these arguments about market externalities in books like Natural Capitalism and Omnivore's Dilemma. For me, while The Value of Nothingbrought up a lot of good points regarding failures of the current economic model, it doesn't provide the reader with anything novel.
    • 3/5
      An interesting look at the interplay between markets and politics. It is well written, with several real-life examples of how things can work better when people have civil rights and an interest in local politics and environment. Easy to read.
    • 4/5
      An eye-opener and pep talk for skeptics of "the-free-market-is-everything" position.
    • 2/5
      good ideas, very badly written