Shopping Books

dont buy "Not buying it" it not as enlightening as I thought it would be.

I was surprised to see the number of negative reviews that people have given this book. Expecting to read a book of what it's like to resist the urge to spend frivolously, I was pleasantly surprised to find an entertaining, deeper reflection on culture that surrounds consumerism and buying. I noticed many people seemed bothered by Judith Levine's "hypocrisy" and I feel they have failed to miss the point of this book. Levine is not preaching her experience, instead, sharing it as a human being with elements that show she is every bit as human as anyone, which in my opinion makes this all the more inspirational.

I greatly enjoyed the authors witty style, and she brought up an number of intriguing statistics and facts. It does get a little political at times, but it's a true reflection of the circumstances that surround the book. While I'm not about to embark on a similar social experiment after reading this, it has made me reflect on how buying is defined in society and ask myself why do I want to buy the things I want to buy, and are they necessary?

I flew through the first third of this book...when she was still having a hard time with not buying things.

Then, apparently, she adjusted, because the rest of the book didn't really have much to say about the lack of buying. It was mostly about politics at that point - which I'm not interested in reading about in the least.

Several hypocritical points, as other reviewers have mentioned. And by halfway through, I found I just didn't care anymore.

I'm glad I _didn't_ buy this (I got it from the library). I was amazed, first of all, at how awkwardly-written and poorly-organized it is considering the author is a professional editor. It's repetitive and there is very little focused attention paid to any guidelines she has for what is "necessary". She has minimal insight and seems to have missed the point of her own book.

This was one of the most incredibly self-centered, shallow, books I have ever read. I was amazed that the author would describe herself as "a woman of bird-like consumer appetites" since she is far more brand-conscious than I am, and I would not apply the same label to myself. If she doesn't actually buy more than I do, she certainly pays more attention to what is out there to be bought. I don't believe for a moment that her Alain Mikli glasses or Ibex jacket (neither of which brands I have ever heard of before) are not status symbols--she bought them to achieve a certain look. The only people you impress with you Ibex, or whatever, jacket, are other shallow people who think you can buy a personality.

She is not poor. I make just over half of what she does, I don't have a husband to subsidize my lifestyle, and I am still not considered poor. I can't imagine she supports three cars and two households in the Northeast on $50k so I assume that Paul must be providing the bulk of the household income. Hmmm. Convenient.

Ms. Levine appears to have a whopping sense of entitlement and a very poor grasp of cost vs. value. She admits that she had no plans to pay back her government student loans until the credit companies caught up with her. She laments the lack of state funding for the arts but has never paid more than 25 cents' voluntary donation to the MoMA ($12 suggested). She constantly mocks free entertainment and harps on the lack of "culture" in Vermont and Bozeman, Montana, and how she lived in New York to be near high culture. She wants hand-outs, but she doesn't give back. "I'm too good for your open mic night, but I want everyone else to subsidize my top-flight tastes." Oh, yeah? Well, mock my open-mic night, but at least I'm out there contributing. I play four instruments and arrange music for them, I paint, I sew, and I fork over at the museum because I'm darned glad the museum is even there for me to look at. What do YOU do with your spare time? Oh, yeah--you SHOP.

She is spoiled and less able to entertain herself than most four-year-olds. She seems to expect an award for hand-making a Valentine. Without a credit card, art movies, or theater tickets, she has no idea what to do with herself. Get a hobby, woman!

I'd also like to know why an environmentalist who is trying not to spend has a New York Times subscriptions. She could read it online and save both money _and_ paper.

Her ravings about Bush, even if you agree with her, made no sense in context. Bush, et. al., are not responsible for American consumer culture. She should have left the politics out if she has so poor an understanding of it, or is so unwilling to consider multifaceted viewpoints.

Overall, my impression was that this was the viewpoint of a very limited, self-absorbed, immature woman whose identity seems to have been almost completely purchased--designer glasses-frames, the "right" jacket, the "right" entertainment, the "right" politics, the "right" organic food--but who, left to her own devices, has never developed a sense of who she is under the trappings.

One cannot help but thing that the non-consumption is as much an identity schtick as was the overconsumption.

Honestly, I just couldn't finish this book. The author was so self-absorbed, and sounded so self-important that it became difficult for me to read, even though the actual writing style was at times pretty entertaining. I guess she sounded a bit like a grownup version of a teenager who decided that she was above going to the mall for awhile. Moreover, she spent most of the time, it seemed, complaining about her choice, and the fancy junk she couldn't buy as a result of it. I'm not trying to belittle what this woman has done (hey, I don't have a book on consumerism, do I?), but let's face it - most of us who are now looking at these types of books are doing so in hopes of gleaning meaningful lessons from our new-found need to economize. Because of this, to us, taking a dip in such shallow water, by someone who is careful to not be confused with a person who might need to economize, is not usually our desired experience. Most of us just want someone to get real. I tried to like the book, but I couldn't. Obviously, people look for different things in their reading, and I wasn't expecting the book to deliver what it did. I'd probably recommend going to the library and checking this out first, though, before determining whether it has a permanent home on your own bookshelf. I swapped mine out online last week, with a bit of guilt toward the recipient. I hope she's not expecting what I was (sigh).

I think I would have been better off reading from the wisdom of our previous generations. They lived without buying the hype, they created support for one another, and they centered their lives on the important things. They did this because, especially during times of war and need, they were not tempted by the preoccupancies that distract and/or steal meaning from our lives and the truth they should bear.

If you have previously enjoyed some of Pico Iyer's travel writing, stay away from this book. It's not a book about seeing the actual world as it is, it's a book about metropolis city centres, airports and the kind of people who spend their lives in metropolis city centres and airports.

With Pico's background of being born in Britain and brought up by Indian parents, being schooled in Britain and the US, working all over the world and living in Japan, there's no wonder he doesn't really feel at home anywhere. That's not to say this is something new that has much to do with the ongoing globalization. Exactly the same thing has been happening for ages, with people moving from countryside villages and farms into the cities. Not feeling quite at home there, they may go back to their villages just to discover that they don't really belong there either anymore. Pico seems to believe that he is one of a new kind of people who experience a lack of home, but I just don't buy it.

Yes, we're surrounded by products and food from all over the world, as opposed to earlier. But that doesn't change who we are. And for a huge proportion of the planet's population, globalization is still just a meaningless word.

The first chapter is all you have to read. The rest of the book is just the same message repeated. And it's not a particularly important message.

A fun topic with only partial in depth exploration. A change from Pico Iyers other true travel stories, this book explores the actual travler themself. For anyone who has spend time actually living in other cultures, the book will hit home on some tangent. Fun read but not as good as some of Pico Iyer's other reads.

I had already begun reading this book (have read only a/b the first 50 pages), when I logged on to Amazon, with a view to e-mailing a friend a link to the book. Started browsing through the editorial and customer reviews -- all the editorial reviews v. positive, but majority of the customer reviews quite negative.

My bias is gen. towards the customers (and esp. in this case, since they seem to be more actual travellers, vs. editors who merely review travel writing). Yet, and I find this odd, I actually like what I've read so far (caveat: haven't read it all), though I would agree, to a degree, with some of the negative comments.

Perhaps it's because I can relate. Work in finance. Born & raised in Bombay, studied in the US, lived in China learning Mandarin, now in Toronto and a soon-to-be Canadian citizen. No family, no strong ties to anywhere. Perhaps some those readers who dislike the book can't relate.

Some of the comments I agree with. There is repetition. Tone can sometimes be "whiny", as a few readers note. Iyer should pick up some language skills - I can feel at ease in Bombay or Beijing in large part because I have speak both Hindi and Mandarin.

Other criticisms I don't agree with. E.g., some have commented that Iyer's "global soul" relates to a v. small number of people. Well, that's the going-in position. The book is made of observations about being raised, living and working in multiple cultures/geographies. By definition, it's not going to be relevant for most of the 6 bn + people on the planet. They're not the target audience.

Iyer is an entertaining writer. That's why I read him. This book, although not excellent, is good (I like "The Lady and the Monk" better though). I really enjoyed the last chapter of the book about his experiences as a foreigner in Japan. I could relate because I too, lived as a foreigner in Japan. But the remainder of the book came across to me as a little bit too much. In other words - exaggerated and overdone. But this is not a worthless book. It's merit comes in remembering that these are the author's ideas and experiences - not everyone else's.

I love this book. I'm sending it to all my relatives who, like the author, are modern post-ethnics with no true sense of ethnic allegiance. His insights are quite droll: a person with no deep national loyalty may be staunchly loyal to one airline. And some huge portion of all airmiles are earned on the ground! He captures the absurd, the sad, the hopeful aspects of being a bourgeois post-ethnic in today's climate. I take my hat off to this man for writing a book that can be said to speak for an entire generation. That may sound audacious but those are the feelings he inspires in one reader! The book is not only about travel. You can be a reluctant traveller (like me) and still enjoy his narrative.

The great thing about this book -- it can be read out of order. I read the Toronto chapter first. I read the Empire chapter next. I read the first chapter last. It works. This is a book I will re-read. It has some errors, which other reviews here have rightly pointed out, but in total it's a...good read and its insights are substantial.

I have previous editions of this book which I found initially helpful but this " updated" one is hardly that. It still lists stores that closed 6 years ago!!!!! The author has not done her research recently and it is reflected by inaccurate data causing shopping angst!

When this series started 20+ years ago, it was interesting and fresh. Now it merely looks old,out-of-date and worthless. Suzy's editorial style is intensely irritating. She's a fashionista who couldn't be less interested in anything you can't wear. And I agree with the other reviewers - most of it is years out of date.

I always eagerly await Suzy's latest Born To Shop Editions from all over the world and this one didn't disappoint. Since she has lived there for over 5 years this edition has been stream lined to perfect. Even with the transportation strike while visiting this past 2 weeks.............Thanks!!

I've been traveling to Paris for 35 years (lived there for one) and so, know the city fairly well.... A friend lent me this book, and I tried to use it during the 3 weeks I spent in Sept-Oct of last year (2006), and was very disappointed. I mapped out the locations of several of the shops Suzy raves about, and arrived, only to find that the store was no longer (was it ever?) at the address she gave. If you know Paris, you know that there are tons of little, hard-to-find-rues, so it was VERY frustrating to spend so much time looking....and finding nothing. I would suggest she do her homework before she publishes another guide.

I purchased this book a little while before going to Paris and read it cover to cover, made maps, reference marks on my maps (basically went over board) believing I had invested money in a guide that was somewhat acurate. Sadly, I was mistaken - many of the stores mentioned were either no longer in business or were at another address. Most of the advice was off the cuff and not honest enough to be taken seriously by anyone. It is a fun read, don't get me wrong, but more as fiction than fact. Paris is a living, breathing animal of a city, always changing - i realize now that advice, not military precision shopping, is what I am looking for, and this is not it.

For anyone deciding to buy this book or any other like this. I've been to Disney World many times and there are a few things that will save you money.
When you stay in a resort buy some drinks/soda/bottled water to take with you in your room. One drink inside the resort is like 3 dollars. Also the rooms don't have refrigerators (as far as the resort I've stayed at) Also, when you want to buy souvenirs don't buy at the Disney Parks or at the Disney gift shops in the resort. Go to a Wal Mart in Orlando or a Mall that has the Disney store. You get all the same stuff like T shirts, Toys, keepsakes, etc for half the price. Also eat a good breakfast before you go into the park because the food there is not very good and expensive. A few days of eating that food and you are going to want to have a good home cooked meal. Also buy snaks at a grocery store and keep with you at the hotel/resort so you don't keep on going to the food court at the resort. Everything there is overpriced. Instead of spending my money on snaks and drinks i spent it on the actual meal. The food isn't that expensive its the snacks and drinks that add up. Also make sure that they are not doing any repairs to your resort. I stayed at one resort that had the main pool closed because they were repairing it. The value resorts (music, movies, sports, pop culture) do not have very nice rooms. They are like any other room in a Holiday Inn except that they have Disney Comforters on the beds. Its a better value to go to the Mid price resorts like the Caribbean, Coronado Springs, or Port Orleans. You pay about $50 more a night but it is very well worth it over the value priced
rooms that cost 100-150 a night.
I hope this helps someone going to Disney World.

While the first two chapters have some moderately useful information about saving money on a trip to WDW, the rest of the book is much like any of the other Disney World guidebooks available. The authors describe each ride or show, but don't necessarily tell how to save money.

Since some of the information is now outdated, if you are looking for a guidebook, you would be much better off getting one of the "unofficial" guides (The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World 2007 (Unofficial Guides)) or the Passporter guide (PassPorter Walt Disney World 2007: The Unique Travel Guide, Planner, Organizer, Journal, and Keepsake! (Passporter Walt Disney World)).

For much better money saving tips, I would recommend Disney on a Dime: Money-Saving Secrets for Your Walt Disney World Vacation.

This is a COMPLETE waste of money. I didn't learn anything from this book that wasn't common sense! It is VERY outdated and apparently is just for people who have been under a rock since WDW was erected. SAVE your money and do NOT buy this book! Buy the WDW Passporter.

The most valuable thing I learn is from another book: rent a multi-family vacation house with my friends, 16 people for $199 a day. We all enjoy the stay at a luxury emerald island resort. check this out: http://www.cyberrentals.com/index.cfm/property/126687

I was excited about buying the guide but learned that most of it was just information about the parks, i could read that in a tour book. Although the helpful website were informative but the rest of the book wasn't.

This is one of my many cookbooks. I like how the author gives substitutions for ingredients if you don't have them on hand. I wish that there were illustrations and that's why I only gave it a 4. P.S- The honey glazed pheasant/chicken is excellent!!!

I got this book from the library hoping to find some neat tips to save on groceries and kitchen items. This book gave me neither. It talks alot about how to cook gourmet type meals, not at all cheap. Not impressed with this book. I am glad I didn't order it.

I agree should have been called "Cheapskate Gourmet" or something like that. I did not find a book chock-full of big money-saving tips like I was hoping for. It's mostly a gourmet cookbook with tips that help curb costs specifically of gourmet cooking. I'm sure this book will save me money if it helps curb our habit of eating out, but it would probably increase grocery bill of a family already cooking at home.

I also am not thrilled at the paperback novel publishing type, with the small print, and binding that's hard to keep open. I'm sure it kept the book affordable, but it's not ideal for a cookbook!

This format and the content of this book are tedious and unentertaining. Every single money saving tip in here can be obtained from internet frugal sites for free. And on top of that, the recipes are ridiculous. Not only are they not family friendly, you could blow your entire food budget for the week purchasing the speciality items to make just one of the meals. Want to feed your kids Sea Scallops, Pheasant and Prosciutto wrapped asparagus on the cheap? Well then you might buy this book? But if you want to cook these things on a regular basis anyway there are much better recipes and cookbooks out there for gourmet meals such as this so you've pretty much wasted your money anyway you go with this book.

Unless maybe you are a single person who eats out at fancy resturants, and would like to consider this an alternative. Then again, that is if you could only understand half of the recipe directions! This book is the only ... thing you will be getting out of it. Not at all worth the money, (good thing I checked it out at the library before buying it), I would reccomend either The complete Tightwad Gazette, or Not Just Beans anytime before I would this book!!!!

I haven't started the FFP yet but i ordered the complete plan package and I've had a chance to thumb through all three books including this Journal and so called Shopping guide. If you're planning on buying this book primarily for the Shopping guide to make grocery shopping list etc. Do not buy it. But for just a journal to keep track of eating habits, (Whether you write them down before you eat or after, I'm doing before because it gives me a plan to go by) to keep track of daily exercising, reflections, Sleep time ,etc. For that , it is a perfect Journal, but not at all much of a shopping guide. Like a previous reviewer stated, there are simply bulleted lists of foods used in each phase of the plan, grouped by category (vegetables, proteins, etc.), and this only takes up about 12 pages in the back of the book, the rest are journal pages to last you 6 weeks. But overall I still give this only a 3 because it is perfect Journal wise and even has motivational quotes and reminders for every day of the 6 weeks it provides you a Journal for. BUT it would be much more helpful and less time consuming if they provided a vivid shopping list for every 2 weeks of the plan or so, or at least blank lined pages where you could make your own to tear out.

The journal content is good, but the book is a typically-bound softcover which does not lend well to journaling (spiral-bound books which lay open flat or fold back are much better). The biggest disappointment was the Shopping Guide section which, according to the front of the book, "features shopping lists for fat-flushing foods". They are merely bulleted lists of foods used in each phase of the plan, grouped by category (vegetables, proteins, etc.) It would have been more helpful to have actual shopping lists by week, based on the plan menus.

This is a journal in which you write your thoughts for the day; what you ate; what exercises you did, etc. From the beginning, I wasn't interested in the shopping guide. To me, that isn't the important part of the book. I've been using this journal since January 2007. I get about 6 weeks in one book. I'm on my fourth. I find this to be a healthy tool. Every day I record what I have eaten; my exercise routine; any problems with my health; my thoughts on how I did for the day. I end my journaling on a positive note. I always find something good that I did for the day, even if I totally screwed up. There is always something positive that you can find. The journal helps me to focus on those positives. Each day starts with a positive quote from a well-known person for motivation. Then there's a weekly journal page for you to record your measurements and your thoughts on how you did for the week. Helps you to plan goals and rewards. The price for this book is really low. I've taken a look at a couple of other journals (Stong Women has one), and they are around $15. So, this is a bargain. I give it four stars because I didn't need the shopping guide, and would have liked to have used them for journal pages instead. I would recommed purchasing this book to help you achieve your weight loss goals.

Be aware that "journal" means lots of blank pages. Not much of a bargain for all that space. Could just as well have been a pamphlet!

Nothing great about this book. Follows the same patterns as many others I have read. Simple common sence guidelines but nothing amazing or new to the readers.

This was supposed to be a book about BARGAINS! Not a book by some idiot yuppie whining about her life. Lady, if you don't want to change diapers, don't have a baby, OK!

What a moronic book! It's more therapy for the author than advice for the reader!

This book has some wonderful tips for shopping. Stephanie has great ideas and presents the facts well. It is very boring reading through all of her little stories to get to the information I am looking for in this book. I wish there was a way to get her information and not have to read her whinning and telling us how awful thing are in her life.

This book was exactly what I was looking for -- plenty of resources for discounts on travel, clothing, furniture, baby items. I gave it to my sister, and she won't return it!

While I enjoyed Ms. Gallagher's first book and a few of her articles in magazines it appears she was not at her best here. If I want advise on how to shop on the internet or at discount house's she gives a lot of names but not much on the substaince of purchasing. This book should include the statement "the self proclaimed laziest research write", not the laziest shopper.

A waste of money, this is nothing more than a blank notebook. I was extremely disappointed, and I would give it no stars if I could. Just rubbish! That's how "authors" make money.

Just bought this book, and it is OK but not what I thought it would be. It is really too small to use for any serious wardrobe work, the 'envelope' in the back is much too small for receipts/clippings of outfits/etc., and the structure is a bit too inflexible for real wardrobe planning/changing. I bought it to replace the 3-ring binder that I use for my wardrobe, but it just can't do that much. Guess I'll keep the binder, and use this for little things related to wardrobe & clothing.

Sometimes it's difficult to decide what gift a woman would like. Well I've just recieved the most perfect gift from a friend of mine. It's a book called, "The Fashion Journal: Wardrobe and Shopping Organizer." This book is perfect for all of those fashion conscious women out there. Not only does this book give examples of types of fashions through the years, but it leaves room for you to write your own thoughts and ideas about the past and latest fashions.Many find it hard to plan an outfit for special occasions. The Fashion Journal allows room for you to explore all options. The checklists make it easy to keep track of what you have and what you need.I admire the originality and creativity that make this book as wonderful as it is. I would definately suggest this book to all women out there that like to stay organized while creating the perfect wardrobe.

I don't think anyone needs a fashion journal. I bought this book, expecting more, but it was a waste of my (...) dollars. I really think that this is one of those books that just wants to take advantage of people's money.

Now if you're one of those people that's disorganized then you might need this, but I think that people can live without this book. Besides there are many books out there about organization, why would anyone want to buy this book, not only that but its also a waste of trees.

DO NOT waste your time and money on this booklet. First of all, it's just that: a booklet, and the information given seems to have been written by an elementary school student. Bad, bad, bad!!

I am disappointed in the purchase of this item. This supposed book is actually a booklet. It doesn't have much meat in it. This type of booklet needs to list websites that are appropriate to the subject and to provide those websites addresses within the contents of the book. There are only a few websites given.

This book is a great resource to use to get into mystery shopping. It gives you exactly the information you need to start your own home based mystery shopping business. I used this book as a manual to give me the information that I needed to get started. I followed the directions and have already started getting a lot of job offers. It is concise and informative. It doesn't just give you the information on mystery shopping, it tells you about merchandising and how to get started in it. It also explains in detail how to avoid problems. I haven't found this information in any other book. I highly recommend this book.

I enjoyed the book Mystery Shopping by James Poynter. I was able to read it very quickly and it had all of the information I needed. The day after I read the book I had a job as a Mystery Shopper.

This book is a shameless attempt at making money. This book is shallow and says nothing. A total waste of time and money.

After reading Poynter's book, I found that most of what I was looking for in a mystery shopping book was not there. I suggest that people looking for a really great book on mystery shopping check out "Everything you need to know about Mystery Shopping". It's well worth it.