This book is an evolutionary psychology (EP) look at consumerism. If you're not familiar with EP, this is probably not the best introduction (try Buss, Dawkins, or Ridley instead). If you are, this is definitely worth a read.
Miller focuses on trait display (how we show others we are worth mating with) as expressed through purchases. He concentrates a lot on the OCEAN personality inventory (also known as the Big 5), plus intelligence. OCEAN means openness, conscientiousness, extroversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism. It's an inventory that has a lot more validity and serious research behind it than, say, something like Myers-Briggs (see
Personality: What Makes You the Way You Are for more).
On the plus side, Miller has some fascinating insights. He also has a good writing style and a wicked sense of humor.
On the negative ... well, there's quite a bit. The first problem I saw was his having a really hard time simply getting to the point. It takes until chapter 3 before he really gets into it.
What does he spend the first two chapters doing? One is talking about himself. In fact, he's rather enamored and engages in quite a bit of trait signaling on his own. Take the section called About This Author. On the surface, he's letting you know his particular biases. A little reading, though, and it seems more like a personals ad: listens to Tori Amos and Ani DeFranco, drives a Land Cruiser, is a feminist and environmentalist, has lived abroad, has some impressive academic credentials, reads cool books, watches hip movies.
Another is going off on diversions. As an example, one particluar favorite is attacking anyone who might be considered a rival - marketing, Stephen Gould, Ivy League universities (even the Educational Testing Services) ... To return to EP again, all of this aggressiveness struck me rather as a young bull trying to take on some of the old patriarchs so he could get a harem of his own.
How much better if he had taken some time to explain EP a little more. He does a pretty good job of that with OCEAN.
Speaking of OCEAN, I'd really like to know why he doesn't cover extroversion and neuroticism. He dismisses them rather out of hand. Also, the openness chapter talks very little about consumerism.
One final thing that might drive you to distraction is the wicked sense of humor I mentioned above. Sometimes he is quite funny, but a lot of the time he simply sounds pissy and cranky. Here's his take on "kids these days":
"Kids told fifty times a day that they have `done awesome,' regardless of their talents and virtues, seem likely to acquire a grandiose sense of entitlement and a penchant for egotistical self-indulgence - not to mention an inability to use adverbs properly."
Huh? Here he is on "New Age" types:
"Likewise, there are plenty of open-minded novelty seekers who love strange ideas and experiences, but who are not very bright. They constitute the market for fantasy novels, self-help books, nutraceuticals, facial piercings, music by Enya, degrees in non-evolutionary psychology, and every product labeled `homeopathic.' Indeed, their combination of neophilia and inanity make them an extremely profitable market segment."
And here is on anti-consumerist, anti-materialist types:
"Since this type of self-deception looks naive and witless to those who understand the evolutionary origins and functions of self-display - including my dear readers by now - the renunciation strategy itself ends up looking stupid and childish."
He spends a lot of time trying to defend himself and EP as sufficiently liberal and open-minded, but name-calling and snarkiness like this doesn't really help much. There's a real contrast between him and a lot of the other EP writers out there in this regard.
Another difference between him and the other writers is what I'd have to call his rampant speculation. Yes, he does say he was trying to write something a little lighter, a little more fun.
However, all this is exactly what EP doesn't need at this point. The ideas of EP are ground-breaking and revolutionary enough that responsible EPers need to simply focus on making claims that they can legitimately - and dispassionately - back up. Bad boy behavior, even though it may look impressive to undergraduate coeds, does very little to advance the discipline.
