A well-researched examination of consumer behavior that risks alienating readers with overly dense prose.
Amber presents sustainable transformation strategies for consumer-facing businesses in this guide.
The author aims to offer action steps to move businesses from “superficial greenwashing” to “real, lasting sustainability.” Her “triple win” approach puts people, the planet, and prosperity at its center, aiming to balance all three for a comprehensive and inclusive approach to sustainability. The triple-win model focuses on working toward three goals: economic (by choosing green and healthy products), environmental (by living simply and consuming less), and social (by buying ethically and sharing responsibly). According to research cited in the book, sustainable consumption benefits the well-being of humans and the natural world in which they live; however, up to 90% of purchases are made impulsively, resulting in needless waste and psychological dissatisfaction. The author posits that businesses and individuals must work to promote more thoughtful and sustainable consumption; instead of capitalizing on purchases made because of stress or fear, she asserts, companies can educate and empower customers to make better choices. According to Amber, companies should avoid taking a patronizing tone in their marketing and promote sustainable practices and highlight their benefits. The book also advises businesses to focus on customers who share such values, while also supporting local communities. On the consumer side, the author believes that people must work to understand the link between emotional dysregulation and overconsumption. Practicing mindfulness and pausing before purchasing can help reduce unnecessary expenditures, she says. The author concludes with a call to action for business leaders to “support the equilibrium of life, act as custodians of existence, and ensure that the next generation survives and thrives.”
Over the course of this book, Amber’s robust research, precise definitions, and extensive citations make for an intellectually rigorous read. However, although the author is clearly knowledgeable and passionate about the subject matter, the prose could benefit from a plain-language rewrite to ensure audiences outside academia can access its message. For example, the book’s central concept, emotional capital, is explained in a convoluted way: “I build on the definition of Cottingham’s emotional capital as a tripartite concept, which is composed of (1) emotion-based knowledge, (2) emotional management skills or competencies, and (3) capacities to feel that link self-processes and resources to group membership and social location.” In the rare instances of simpler prose, the concepts become clearer, as in the author’s assertion that impulsive consumption is problematic because purchases “become waste or unnecessary items, turning fitness devices into mere clothes hangers.” Diagrams such as the “Iceberg model of sustainable consumption” and a chart of 50 innovative business strategies aid comprehension of the otherwise dense text. However, the book leans heavily on specialized terminology and layered concepts, as in a section that explores the many forms—and lengthy definitions—of consumption alongside modern movements, such as voluntary simplicity. Also, the book’s emphasis on analyzing the micro (or individual) level of consumption research crowds out deeper analysis of research at the organizational and systemic levels.
A well-researched examination of consumer behavior that risks alienating readers with overly dense prose.Pub Date: June 24, 2025
ISBN: 9781788607001
Page Count: 238
Publisher: Practical Inspiration Publishing
Review Posted Online: June 13, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
It’s not Shakespeare, not by a long shot. But at least it’s not James Franco.
A noted actor turns to verse: “Poems are a Saturday in the middle of the week.”
McConaughey, author of the gracefully written memoir Greenlights, has been writing poems since his teens, closing with one “written in an Australian bathtub” that reads just as a poem by an 18-year-old (Rimbaud excepted) should read: “Ignorant minds of the fortunate man / Blind of the fate shaping every land.” McConaughey is fearless in his commitment to the rhyme, no matter how slight the result (“Oops, took a quick peek at the sky before I got my glasses, / now I can’t see shit, sure hope this passes”). And, sad to say, the slight is what is most on display throughout, punctuated by some odd koanlike aperçus: “Eating all we can / at the all-we-can-eat buffet, / gives us a 3.8 education / and a 4.2 GPA.” “Never give up your right to do the next right thing. This is how we find our way home.” “Memory never forgets. Even though we do.” The prayer portion of the program is deeply felt, but it’s just as sentimental; only when he writes of life-changing events—a court appearance to file a restraining order against a stalker, his decision to quit smoking weed—do we catch a glimpse of the effortlessly fluent, effortlessly charming McConaughey as exemplified by the David Wooderson (“alright, alright, alright”) of Dazed and Confused. The rest is mostly a soufflé in verse. McConaughey’s heart is very clearly in the right place, but on the whole the book suggests an old saw: Don’t give up your day job.
It’s not Shakespeare, not by a long shot. But at least it’s not James Franco.Pub Date: Sept. 16, 2025
ISBN: 9781984862105
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Aug. 15, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
Striking research showing the immense complexity of ordinary thought and revealing the identities of the gatekeepers in our...
A psychologist and Nobel Prize winner summarizes and synthesizes the recent decades of research on intuition and systematic thinking.
The author of several scholarly texts, Kahneman (Emeritus Psychology and Public Affairs/Princeton Univ.) now offers general readers not just the findings of psychological research but also a better understanding of how research questions arise and how scholars systematically frame and answer them. He begins with the distinction between System 1 and System 2 mental operations, the former referring to quick, automatic thought, the latter to more effortful, overt thinking. We rely heavily, writes, on System 1, resorting to the higher-energy System 2 only when we need or want to. Kahneman continually refers to System 2 as “lazy”: We don’t want to think rigorously about something. The author then explores the nuances of our two-system minds, showing how they perform in various situations. Psychological experiments have repeatedly revealed that our intuitions are generally wrong, that our assessments are based on biases and that our System 1 hates doubt and despises ambiguity. Kahneman largely avoids jargon; when he does use some (“heuristics,” for example), he argues that such terms really ought to join our everyday vocabulary. He reviews many fundamental concepts in psychology and statistics (regression to the mean, the narrative fallacy, the optimistic bias), showing how they relate to his overall concerns about how we think and why we make the decisions that we do. Some of the later chapters (dealing with risk-taking and statistics and probabilities) are denser than others (some readers may resent such demands on System 2!), but the passages that deal with the economic and political implications of the research are gripping.
Striking research showing the immense complexity of ordinary thought and revealing the identities of the gatekeepers in our minds.Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-374-27563-1
Page Count: 512
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: Sept. 3, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
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