Lauren Weber
Author of In Cheap We Trust: The Story of a Misunderstood American Virtue
About the Author
Works by Lauren Weber
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Gender
- female
- Nationality
- USA
- Places of residence
- Connecticut, USA
New York, USA - Education
- City University of New York (MA - Business Journalism)
Columbia University (Graduate School of Business - MBA) - Occupations
- reporter
writer - Organizations
- Newsday
Reuters - Short biography
- Her blog:
http://www.laurenweber.com/?page=1
Members
Reviews
In CHEAP We Trust: The Story of a Misunderstood… by Lauren Weber
I thought this was a self help guide to becoming frugal but that was my mistake, it was really a history of American frugality. Interesting read.
I've read a few others of this sub-genre, and I kinda just skimmed most of the book.. The most value I found was in the last chapter- Cheapskate Psychology. First she reviews the traditional negative psycho-babble about anal retentivity. Then she finds experts who admit that those who can control the impulse to accumulate are mentally healthier and happier than those who can't. ( She mentions the Walter Mischel marshmallow experiment.) And then she pins it down correctly, from page 260 on. A sense of accomplishment and a hatred of waste in all it's forms. People who can live thriftily generally are not fearful of living against the grain, exhibiting more independence. Frugal people are nonconformists.… (more)
-a history of thrift and its opposite in the USA, from colonial times to today
-marketed as if it was about the author's family and friends, but much more
-history of a small but important subject; the best kind of history
-marketed as if it was about the author's family and friends, but much more
-history of a small but important subject; the best kind of history
Weber's research on the topic of thrift is exhaustive. I found the book exhausting- I was drowning in dry details. Can one slog through a dry book? If so, that's what I did here. The introduction was funny, where she talked about her cheap upbringing. I would really like to read a memoir from her.
Statistics
- Works
- 1
- Members
- 118
- Popularity
- #167,490
- Rating
- 3.5
- Reviews
- 11
- ISBNs
- 6