Victoria Castle

The main point of the book is that the experience of abundance in life depends on your psychological outlook. Castle explores the way in which personal narrative, generosity, and openness, among other concepts, influences either a sense of abundance or its opposite, scarcity and constriction. This is a useful perspective that psychologically complements the emerging literature of voluntary simplicity. The book would be improved by connecting the message to previous work in this area, such as show more Thoreau's Walden and the literature of Zen Buddhism. Seligman's work in learning optimism is mentioned only in passing, but as a research base for this line of thinking it deserves more coverage and integration. But overall this is a book that will help many people who are seeking alternatives to materialism and consumerism. show less