Consuming Passions: Help for Compulsive Shoppers [Paperback]

Ellen Mohr Catalano (Author), Nina Sonenberg (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1993

This book helps you discover why you shop. It exposes the hidden persuaders in catalogs and malls that trigger compulsive buying. Special chapters focus on staying within a budget and resisting temptations.

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: New Harbinger Publications (June 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1879237385
• ISBN-13: 978-1879237384
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #691,209 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Buy This Book, September 21, 2003

By 

Randy Given (Manchester, CT USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Consuming Passions: Help for Compulsive Shoppers (Paperback)

Buy this book if you are a compulsive shopper. Yes, that seems to be a contradiction. However, it has two purposes -- it not only gets you a good book on the subject, it gets you started on the road of seeing where your values are and only buying things that will really benefit you.

The book is easy to read and in small chunks so that it can be read in small increments of time. The only problem I found was that the words are too close to the edges of the page so that it makes it hard to hold in one hand without covering up the text.

For the impatient reader, I suggest reading chapter 1 ("The Smiled-Upon Addiction") followed by chapter 7 ("Anxiety and Stress Relief"). Chapters 8 ("Alternatives to Shopping: From A to Z") and 9 ("Fighting Back") are optional but worth skimming. Some chapters, like chapter 5 ("Keeping Track of Shopping Behaviors), chapter 6 ("Learning from Your Shopping Record") and chapter 10 ("Taking Control of Your Finances"), may be old-hat to those of us that have been in this predicament for a while. So, if it will keep you from recovery, skip those for now.

Since there are few good books on how to overcome similar problems, this is a good book.

32 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Consuming Passions, November 22, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Consuming Passions: Help for Compulsive Shoppers (Paperback)

I have struggled with Compulsive shopping for 15 years and never knew why. This book explained why I do it. I believe knowing why you do a behavior is half the battle of overcoming it. I highly recommend this book!

11 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Do Not Buy this book on amazon, February 8, 2005

By 

Violet Busby (Fairfield, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Consuming Passions: Help for Compulsive Shoppers (Paperback)

You can buy this book over the counter for $12.00 (it is even written on the book) but these people are selling it for $40.00! Check out your nearest bookstore and save yourself some money. I guess they think overspenders will spend more that what something is worth.