'Shopped' takes the reader on a lively, thought-provoking and incredibly interesting journey through the world of the modern British supermarket, revealing every secret trick and behind-the-scenes truths that they really wouldn't want the public to think about. From screwed-over suppliers to exhausted assistants, corner-cutting to own-label quality, obsessive perfection to global domination; it's all here in candid detail. I worked as a shop assistant for one of the 'Big Four' and within a couple of months of employment, I could see the truth in some of the topics covered in Blythman's book.

This book has affected me a lot. After reading this book, why would I want to shop somewhere that has colour charts to determine whether a tomato is good enough to sell? Where checkout girls have to put up their hands to go to the loo like naughty school children? Where staff have no idea what their products are or what to do with them? That shamelessly hire and fire suppliers with no thought as to their livelihoods and the amount of work that goes into large-scale production for supermarkets?

Read this book and be inspired. Vote with your feet and refuse to conform to the supermarket-driven one-stop-shop ideal where everything you need in your life comes from them in a neat once-a-week consumer package. This book is a sharp and well-written call to arms, and should be compulsory reading for everyone from teenagers to grandmothers. ( )

An interesting look at the practices of the supermarkets in Britain, and you can see the echoes of these practices in Ireland. Looking at how some of their practices aren't giving us better produce but a homogenity that may look better but often doesn't taste better. She echoes my own concerns about people complaining that small shops are dying who do their regular shopping in big stores. ( )