Value: What Money Can’t Buy: A Handbook for Practical Hedonism

Value: What Money Can’t Buy: A Handbook for Practical Hedonism

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  • Type：Epub+TxT+PDF+Mobi
  • Create Date：2022-05-12 06:54:21
  • Update Date：2025-09-06
  • Status：finish
  • Author：Stephen Bayley
  • ISBN：1472134907
  • Environment：PC/Android/iPhone/iPad/Kindle
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Summary

Since the industrial revolution， when everything ran by clockwork， people have understood how important it is to live in the moment。 But over time our world has grown increasingly busy， and we've lost our ability to truly savour each unique experience and the simple pleasures the world has to offer。

Cultural commentator and critic Stephen Bayley seeks to explain what real value is: it's about taking the time and making the effort to appreciate things， of understanding the permanent charm of modest daily rituals performed with care and feeling。 Of caring about appearances and meaning。 Of being bold in matters of taste。 Of fully understanding the source of lasting pleasure。 Of making every encounter with an object or person meaningful。

Value is an elegiac account of what's recently been lost in the digital apocalypse。 But also an enthusiastic anticipation of what we can regain in a post-viral， more analogue and more thoughtful world。

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Reviews

Owen ，

Delightful and thought provoking。 Not so much a handbook or complete guide， but a great starting point on a range of topics。 My reading list has expanded， a blessing and a curse。。。

Meredith ，

Finally， a fearless critic！ Written during lockdown， this is a collection of musings and anecdotes giving a brief over view of the famous author’s ideas and opinions about current trends in design and fashion。 Bayley is wonderfully un-Politically Correct， and freely criticizes and critiques， so refreshing！ He is a prolific author and I felt as though this book was way to learn a great deal without having had access to all of his books。

Will Once ，

It is hard to fault the premise of this book。 We spend a lot of our lives doing low value things。 Wouldn't life be better if we focused on things that made us truly happy？Stephen argues that a great deal of modern life is low value， superficial， convenient， prosaic。 Instead we should be surrounding ourselves with art and things which connect us with analog instead of digital。 He quotes one example of Microsoft releasing a game which includes the whole world， which Bayley thinks is a terrible sha It is hard to fault the premise of this book。 We spend a lot of our lives doing low value things。 Wouldn't life be better if we focused on things that made us truly happy？Stephen argues that a great deal of modern life is low value， superficial， convenient， prosaic。 Instead we should be surrounding ourselves with art and things which connect us with analog instead of digital。 He quotes one example of Microsoft releasing a game which includes the whole world， which Bayley thinks is a terrible shame because it demans the world。 We will come back to that one later。It's a fair point。 Who hasn't found themselves sucked in to an internet rabbit hole where time seems to fly by and we don't achieve all that much？ So， yes， I can buy into what Bayley is selling。 William Morris said it in one sentence: “Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful， or believe to be beautiful。”Yup， I can buy that。 Then we run into problems with the book。 At times it feels like a unstructured rant。 Bayley will make a good point but then hop straight into a different point altogether。 We should all live like Robinson Crusoe。 Peasant living is good。 Lemons are better than oranges。He also contradicts himself。 He tells us that analog is better than digital but then praises the i-phone。 He rails against women's fashion but tells us to buy good quality men's suits。A handbook， it most certainly isn't。 It's a series of mini essays about the things that Stephen Bayley likes and dislikes。 If you happen to agree with him， fine。 If you don't you may find yourself scratching your head at times。 Apparently we're supposed to carry around a sketch book to draw freehand pictures of architechture。 Why？ Because that is what he likes。 He gets turned on by the engineering of a luxury jet's engines， but hardly mentions the environment。 In the end， this is one man's opinion。 He makes some good general points， but it's still one man's opinion。 Frankly you can save yourself the price of the book by living by the William Morris quote about beauty and usefulness。 One particular thing bothered me about this book。 It started with that microsoft game which so annoyed Stephen because it modelled the entire world。 I'm pretty sure that game is Microsoft Flight Simulator - a program which has been modelling a large part of the real world since the 1980s。 And while this is a digital program， the experience that we have with it is analog。 Ir brings just as much pleasure for those who get into it as Stephen's obessessions with cars or jet engines or architecture。But Stephen either couldn't see the merits of that program or he didn't want to。 Because he was blinkered by "analog good， digital bad" he couldn't see that some digital can also be good， if we use it consciously。Frankly I'm bored by the paper book vs kindle argument。 I am perfectly happy with either or both。 It's the writing that matters， not whether it's on a machine， on paper， on papyrus， whatever。So it's three stars。 It has it's moment， it is occasionally thought provoking， but it still feels like a blinkered rant。Oh， and I read it on kindle。 Sorry， Stephen。 Go sue me。 。。。more

Reference

google book https://www.google.com/search?tbm=bks&q=Value: What Money Can’t Buy: A Handbook for Practical Hedonism

hathitrust digital library https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/ls?q1=Value: What Money Can’t Buy: A Handbook for Practical Hedonism&field1=ocr&a=srchls&ft=ft&lmt=ft

The British Library https://bll01.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/search?query=any,contains,Value: What Money Can’t Buy: A Handbook for Practical Hedonism&tab=LibraryCatalog&search_scope=Not_BL_Suppress&vid=44BL_INST:BLL01&lang=en&offset=0