Voluntary Simplicity: The poetic alternative to consumer culture

by Samuel Alexander (Editor), Mark A. Burch (Contributor), Jerome M. Segal (Contributor)

Genres: Nonfiction, Economics, Nature

448 pages

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

Dr. Samuel Alexander, co-director of the Simplicity Institute, is a lecturer at the Office for Environmental Programs, University of Melbourne, Australia, teaching a course called ‘Consumerism and the Growth Economy: Interdisciplinary Perspectives’ into the Masters of Environment. He is also a Research Fellow with the Melbourne Sustainable Society Institute. He is author of Prosperous Descent: Crisis as Opportunity in an Age of Limits (2015) and Entropia: Life Beyond Industrial Civilisation (2013), and editor of Voluntary Simplicity: The Poetic Alternative to Consumer Culture (2009) and co-editor of Simple Living in History: Pioneers of the Deep Future (2014).

As well as his academic work, in recent years Sam has been working on a ‘simpler way’ demonstration project called Wurruk’an. He is also founder of the Simplicity Collective, a website and social network dedicated to exploring the relationships between voluntary simplicity, energy descent, and post-growth / degrowth economics. Dr. Alexander’s PhD thesis, conducted through Melbourne Law School, is entitled “Property beyond Growth: Toward a Politics of Voluntary Simplicity”.

Reviews

[Yassy · Rating 5 out of 5]

For anyone with an interest in down-sizing, environmental care or simplicity this book is a must read! Filled with chapter sized essays on the topic of voluntary simplicity by various authors, it was enlightening.