Saturday 10 January 2009

The Selfish Capitalist by Oliver James


Vermillion €12.14

THE RICH are driving us crazy - worse, the poor things are driving themselves crazy too.
Oliver James's book Affluenza shocked the greedy last year. He wrote that the hunt for more and more affluence was an illness that left the infected feeling bloated and miserable.
He's back with The Selfish Capitalist, and a refreshing boot in the backside for those annoying geneticists who are creeping ever closer to the eugenics of the 1930s.
James reckons that the distress and mental illness that's on the rise in Anglo-American countries is the cause of a particular attitude to money.
"Based on the best available scientific evidence from the World Health Organisation, twice as many people suffer [emotional distress] in English-speaking nations compared with citizens of mainland Western European ones."
We're nuttier than the French. Oh, la, la!
This is a muscle-stretching book - you'll find yourself muttering at it, saying "but wait..." - but going on to read another page and another.
It ranges from how to get your kids to study successfully (teach them to be creative and autonomous) to the myth - according to high-up British military sources he talked to - of the 'War on Terror'.
Fascinating, controversial, crammed with facts and figures, and more fun than a barrel of monkeys.
Publisher's site

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