I Want That!

(Paperback)

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Description

I Want That! offers a vivid, fast-paced history of finding, choosing and spending. It makes stops in the agora in Athens where sharp sellers wet their wool to make it weigh more, and everyone came to buy, talk, eat, and philosophize. It visits the great medieval fairsbrief, gaudy moments in monotonous, laborious livesand it considers the cities of Rennaissance Europe where shopping and the idea of individual expression arose side by side. It demonstrates how one simple ideamanufacturing garments that were ready to weartransformed nineteenth century downtowns. It continues the story to the modern age where the Internet makes buying possible around the clock, and in times of crisis, political leaders tout shopping, not sacrifice, as the act of patiots.

I Want That! tells the fascinating story of how shopping came to be the way it is, and how you became the shopper you are.

Reviews

"I Want That! raises questions about consumption, material goods, trends, cultural shapers, markets, choice, desire and guilt, and makes one really think about the state of perverse pleasure and desire for reward that Thomas Hine terms the "buyosphere." Shop till you drop, or consume only till noon The ultimate rewards of our crazy lives of perpetual work, the evanescent pleasure of consuming, and our over-informative material culture with its excrescence of choice, are all discussed, clearly, concisely, and cogently. I Want This Book! -- Karim Rashid, Industrial Designer

"A witty and informal history of the way people shop. Casual and Cheerful, with interesting nuggets scattered about." -- Kirkus Reviews

"A choice morsel to consider while foraging on your next hunter-gatherer expedition." -- Dallas Morning News

"A fun book to read." -- St. Petersburg Times

"I Want That!...help[s] us understand an activity that is fraught with cultural implications. " -- New York Times

Author Bio

Thomas Hine, the author of four previous books, including Populuxe and The Total Package, is a writer on culture, history, and design. He is a columnist for Philadelphia Magazine and a contributor to the Atlantic Monthly, Martha Stewart Living, Architectural Record, the Washington Post, the New York Times, and other publications. He Lives in Philadelphia.