Interview with Judith Levine, author of Not Buying It: My Year Without Shopping (Free Press)

Click To Play:

 

This interview is my first with an author who I think will be of interest to many of my listeners. Judith Levine is the author of Not Buying It: My Year Without Shopping, a new book from Free Press.

Judith writes about the same core issue that many personal finance and simplicity bloggers write about - what we spend our money on and why - and also the flip side, what it's like to not buy the things that our consumerist culture often makes us feel that we can't live without. In her book she gives the topic a thorough examination through a project of avoiding all non-essential purchases for an entire year.

Judith's writing is immensely engaging, and the book is full of colourful characters, dramatic events, and profound insights. I particularly appreciate her insight that in a world of incredible choice of things to buy, we've found ourselves impoverished in imagination of what we could have. I hope this interview gives you a small taste of a book well worth reading.

And a quick thank you to Seattle Simplicity, the blogger who recommended this book to me and to the listeners of this podcast.