A shameless plug for my wife's new, excellent book

[Adult Ed]

On June 23d, Faber and Faber will be releasing Ad Nauseam: A Survivor's Guide to American Consumer Culture by my wife Carrie McLaren and her longtime collaborator on Stay Free! magazine, Jason Torchinsky. It can be pre-ordered on Amazon for around $12.

I will now spare myself the embarrassment of waxing favorably about my own wife's work and instead cut and paste the following blurbs:

"In his opening salvo in the mental war against the paradoxes of late capitalism, George W. S. Trow proposed a motto: ‘Wounded by the Million; Healed—One by One.’ What the editors of Stay Free! set up inside the brilliant framework of their magazine is an arena where writers can roll up their sleeves and get cheerfully to work at shrugging off the succubus of commercial culture—for their own sakes, and for all our sakes. This book is a treasury of Trow’s kind of healing." - Jonathan Lethem, author of Motherless Brooklyn and Fortress of Solitude

“There’s no better way for you to avoid the pitfalls of our sinister consumer culture than by buying this book. Purchase it now. And make sure to browse the store’s wide selection of novelty bookmarks.” - Patton Oswalt, who you also may have heard of.

“Equal parts damning and delightful, Ad Nauseam is a guide for every shell-shocked consumer besieged by American commodity culture, a battleground where the greatest danger is thinking you're smarter than an ad.” - Ben Popken, Consumerist.com

There will soon be a cool site for the book but it currently under construction. Until then, here is the publisher's page for the book and a picture of the cover, which I invite you to judge the book by.

[isoS]

Sounds great! Congrats to your wife.

[Me!]

I think........I'll get it!

[smartbunny]

Congrats! I want to consume this book!

cute cover design too!

[ASR]

I also love the cover. If I see it in a bookstore I'll definitely skim through some of it before guiltily putting it back on the shelf!

[Big Box Of Money]

This might be the best way for your wife to go:

[Adult Ed]

Thanks, all!

Except for ASR who I am going to punch in the face and take $12 from.

[Trial]

Can this become a Q&A thread
Do you guys ever plan on starting a family

[ASR]

Yeah, I have a question: please don't punch me and take my lunch money!

[ArchStanton]

Yeah, I have a question: please don't punch me and take my lunch money!

Now I'M going to punch you because that wasn't a question.

[Berliner]

So wait, I have to learn how to reject consumer culture by buying something? You've tricked me again, Mammon!

[Adult Ed]

Can this become a Q&A thread
Do you guys ever plan on starting a family

Sure thing. I'll start a family with anyone* willing.


* One offer per person, family not guaranteed.

[Adult Ed]

So wait, I have to learn how to reject consumer culture by buying something?

Sadly, yes. That's why irony is so interesting. In fact, while researchers don't all agree I have a theory that if you buy TWO copies, you will definitely absorb the lesson.

[Berliner]

Plus, its only 52 cents away from super shipping!

[bao]

Congrats, Charles. This is super fucking exciting.

Also, the book sounds/looks really good. Consumer culture is such a tricky subject to discuss without being (a) a pedantic bore; (b) a vulgar Frankfurt School paranoic; or (c) an Andy Warhol cliche. I usually avoid critiques of consumer culture, as they almost always leave me frustrated.

That said, from the little I can glean from this book, it sounds entertaining, original, and probably only mildly paranoic (certainly the most forgivable of the above three sins). I am sincerely excited to read it.

On a side note: there is this relatively new sociological/historical/psychological literature that is beginning to study the effect of the cultural and physcial environment of the brain -- the physical brain -- actually arguing that the physical makeup of the brain has changed over time, conditioned by environmental stimulus. Meaning that we think differently than people did 1000 years ago, not only because of cultural conditioning, but because our brains are different and work differently. Its actually really interesting.

If we buy this argument, is there anything that can possibly change the brain faster than consumer culture and advertising? The effect of advertising has already made a dramatic and noticeable impact on attention spans ... sorry, I digress, but it seems like something in and/or near the wheelhouse of this book.

I can't wait to read this. Congrats again, Charles.

PS If I order two, does it come with an Ad Naseum visor and a baby t?

[Meen Bellpeppers]

Will you throw in a Sid Star bookmark?

[Adult Ed]

I can't wait to read this. Congrats again, Charles.

Thanks, bao. The ethos of the magazine (and the book) was to treat the subject with humor, not paranoia. With two books, you get both the first book and a second copy of the book. As well as, per Berliner's question, total enlightenment.

Will you throw in a Sid Star bookmark?

With 15 books, you get Sid himself to hold the pages for you*. No booksellers, please.

* Supplies are limited. Apparently this deal has been taken. Sorry, Meen. Sid says hi, though.

[Trial]

So it actually did kind of become a Q&A thread?

[Adult Ed]

So it actually did kind of become a Q&A thread?

By force of will.

And while I'm here, for people in the New York area or with an iPod, Carrie will be on The Brian Lehrer Show on Monday 6/22, WNYC.org, at 11:40 am. For those not in the area, it is posted as a podcast shortly thereafter.

[Meen Bellpeppers]

If you like your wife so much, WDYMH?