The Impulse Society
America in the Age of Instant Gratification
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Narrated by:
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Edoardo Ballerini
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By:
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Paul Roberts
About this listen
In every facet of postindustrial society - the way we eat, the way we communicate and entertain, the way we work, the way we court lovers and raise children, educate and govern - technology and affluence now let us reach our goals with a speed and efficiency unimaginable even a generation ago. But the result, Paul Roberts warns, is not all milk, honey, and gold. Companies now reflexively maximize short-term gain at the expense of long-term success. Politicians resort with ever-greater speed to nasty campaign tactics, and can count on their damaging claims to spread before the facts catch up with them. Consumers engage in serial over-indulgence in a self-tailored bubble. And the costs are substantial: financial volatility, health epidemics, environmental exhaustion and political paralysis, to say nothing of a growing, gnawing dissatisfaction.
Over 30 years ago, Christopher Lasch published his landmark book, The Culture of Narcissism, which struck a chord and became a runaway best seller. Lasch’s analysis was largely cultural, but the real story has always been an economic one, and the conditions that led to increasing selfishness and the breakdown of society have only gotten worse. Paul Robert digs down to the economic roots of the problem, shows how it has metastisized to affect every facet of our lives and our ability to navigate the future. In clear, cogent prose that mixes illuminating analysis and vibrant reporting, Roberts not only tells the fascinating story of how the impulse society came to be, but shows how, perhaps, a healthier society may still be possible.
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- How America Fell Behind in the World It Invented and How We Can Come Back
- By: Thomas L. Friedman, Michael Mandelbaum
- Narrated by: Jason Culp
- Length: 16 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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America has a huge problem. It faces four major challenges, on which its future depends, and it is failing to meet them. In That Used to Be Us, Thomas L. Friedman, one of our most influential columnists, and Michael Mandelbaum, one of our leading foreign policy thinkers, analyze those challenges - globalization, the revolution in information technology, the nation's chronic deficits, and its pattern of energy consumption - and spell out what we need to do now to rediscover America and rise to this moment.
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We have met the enemy and it is us.... Pogo
- By Soudant on 09-16-11
By: Thomas L. Friedman, and others
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Radical Markets
- Uprooting Capitalism and Democracy for a Just Society
- By: Eric A. Posner, E. Glen Weyl
- Narrated by: James Conlan
- Length: 9 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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Many blame today's economic inequality, stagnation, and political instability on the free market. The solution is to rein in the market, right? Radical Markets turns this thinking - and pretty much all conventional thinking about markets, both for and against - on its head. The book reveals bold new ways to organize markets for the good of everyone.
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Terrible Reader ruins this book
- By Brian W. Veit on 10-30-18
By: Eric A. Posner, and others
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The Battle
- How the Fight Between Free Enterprise and Big Government Will Shape America's Future
- By: Arthur C. Brooks
- Narrated by: Arthur C. Brooks
- Length: 3 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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America faces a new culture war. It is not a war about guns, abortions, or gays; rather it is a war against the creeping changes to our entrepreneurial culture, the true bedrock of who we are as a people. The new culture war is a battle between free enterprise and social democracy. Many Americans have forgotten the evils of socialism and the predations of the American Great Society's welfare-state programs.
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Right wing
- By John on 12-22-10
By: Arthur C. Brooks
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Plutocrats
- The Rise of the New Global Super-Rich and the Fall of Everyone Else
- By: Chrystia Freeland
- Narrated by: Allyson Ryan
- Length: 11 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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There has always been some gap between rich and poor in this country, but in the last few decades what it means to be rich has changed dramatically. Alarmingly, the greatest income gap is not between the 1 percent and the 99 percent, but within the wealthiest 1 percent of our nation-as the merely wealthy are left behind by the rapidly expanding fortunes of the new global super-rich. Forget the 1 percent; Plutocrats proves that it is the wealthiest 0.1 percent who are outpacing the rest of us at break-neck speed.
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Good Storytelling but ... analysis is "eh'
- By Susan on 11-04-12
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Economics for the Common Good
- By: Jean Tirole, Steven Rendell - translator
- Narrated by: Jonathan Davis
- Length: 18 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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When Jean Tirole won the 2014 Nobel Prize in Economics, he suddenly found himself being stopped in the street by complete strangers and asked to comment on issues of the day, no matter how distant from his own areas of research. His transformation from academic economist to public intellectual prompted him to reflect further on the role economists and their discipline play in society. The result is Economics for the Common Good, a passionate manifesto for a world in which economics, far from being a "dismal science," is a positive force for the common good.
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A Great Overview of the Challenges of Modern Econ
- By Zach Sullivan on 08-06-18
By: Jean Tirole, and others
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The End of Normal
- The Great Crisis and the Future of Growth
- By: James K. Galbraith
- Narrated by: L. J. Ganser
- Length: 9 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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The years since the Great Crisis of 2008 have seen slow growth, high unemployment, falling home values, chronic deficits, a deepening disaster in Europe - and a stale argument between two false solutions, “austerity” on one side and “stimulus” on the other. Both sides and practically all analyses of the crisis so far take for granted that the economic growth from the early 1950s until 2000 - interrupted only by the troubled 1970s - represented a normal performance.
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The Great Reversal
- How America Gave Up on Free Markets
- By: Thomas Philippon
- Narrated by: Walter Dixon
- Length: 10 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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Why are cellphone plans so much more expensive in the United States than in Europe? It seems a simple question. But the search for an answer took Thomas Philippon on an unexpected journey through some of the most complex and hotly debated issues in modern economics. Ultimately, he reached a surprising conclusion: American markets, once a model for the world, are giving up on healthy competition.
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Eye-opening, but better as a book - a must-READ
- By Ash on 11-29-19
By: Thomas Philippon
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Globalization and Its Discontents
- By: Joseph E. Stiglitz
- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
- Length: 10 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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This powerful, unsettling book gives us a rare glimpse behind the closed doors of global financial institutions by the winner of the 2001 Nobel Prize in Economics. When it was first published, this national best-seller quickly became a touchstone in the globalization debate. Renowned economist and Nobel Prize winner Joseph E. Stiglitz had a ringside seat for most of the major economic events of the last decade, including stints as chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers and chief economist at the World Bank.
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Plea
- By Asma on 10-13-20
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The Prosperity Paradox
- How Innovation Can Lift Nations out of Poverty
- By: Clayton M. Christensen, Efosa Ojomo, Karen Dillon
- Narrated by: Mike Chamberlain
- Length: 9 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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Clayton M. Christensen, the author of such business classics as The Innovator’s Dilemma and the New York Times best-seller How Will You Measure Your Life, and coauthors Efosa Ojomo and Karen Dillon reveal why so many investments in economic development fail to generate sustainable prosperity and offers a groundbreaking solution for true and lasting change.
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Simplistic, lack of insights
- By D. Cameron on 05-24-21
By: Clayton M. Christensen, and others
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Postcapitalism
- A Guide to Our Future
- By: Paul Mason
- Narrated by: Gildart Jackson
- Length: 13 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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Over the past two centuries or so, capitalism has undergone profound changes - economic cycles that veer from boom to bust - from which it has always emerged transformed and strengthened. Surveying this turbulent history, Paul Mason's Postcapitalism argues that we are on the brink of a change so big and so profound that this time capitalism itself, the immensely complex system within which entire societies function, will mutate into something wholly new.
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some good ideas...
- By "ge-ko" on 06-19-16
By: Paul Mason
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Red Flags
- Why Xi's China Is in Jeopardy
- By: George Magnus
- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
- Length: 9 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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Over the past four decades, China's remarkable transformation has garnered admiration but also sparked concern. George Magnus draws on his intimate knowledge of this dynamic nation to uncover the origins of its ascent and show why the economic traps it faces at home and the political challenges it faces abroad pose a serious threat to its continued rise.
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A pessimistic vision with western liberal bias
- By Jeronimo L. Jimenez on 10-23-20
By: George Magnus
What listeners say about The Impulse Society
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- DaWoolf
- 09-29-14
Required Reading
Paul Robert's “The Impulse Society” is one of the most interesting and intellectually satisfying non-fiction books I have engaged in the last year. Roberts begins with the premise that modern day American society is built on the need for immediate gratification from our consumer behaviors, social interactions, business practices, and political preferences. These claims are backed up with data and astute cultural/political observations dating back from Reagan and ending with Obama. The author also provides a historical perspective relative to the times when America citizens made personal and business sacrifices for the public good. “The Impulse Society” is completely engaging with great narration. The book will challenge the reader's long established beliefs and hopefully open them up to new perspective.
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4 people found this helpful
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- Ray
- 01-10-15
Good But Subjective
The author makes some powerful observations and in the abstract is spot on. I could only give the book three stars however due to the book's extremely subjective nature. He takes his many good points and then muddies the water badly with his personal narrative on one political party, global warming, et cetera.
A better book to get one started on this overall topic would be Shop Class as Soulcraft by Michael Crawford. It's non-political and makes more objective points as to how culture has changed under the influence of technology and easy credit.
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1 person found this helpful
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- lcr
- 10-10-19
Some good points from a socialist point of view.
Wanted to read about the effects of instant gratification on society, and there is some of that. However, this author takes it way over the top with politics, health care etc. The real problem starts simply with the family unit, not the wider community. Our families are falling apart, and so is everything else as we try to immediately satisfy our every whim.
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1 person found this helpful
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- JJ
- 08-12-15
Scary but true
Any additional comments?
This is one of the best books I have listened to in a long time. While it is rather heavy on economic theory, the author does a marvelous job at detailing the rise in "cut-throat" corporate culture and how the individual "me" society is leading to the systematic dismantling of our stable middle-class economy.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Doug - Audible
- 03-31-15
A Must-Listen for Millenials
This morning, as I passed person after person with eyes glued to their smartphone, it was impossible not to recall Paul Roberts' The Impulse Society and the dizzying implications of a culture retreating to self-made experiences and a personally customized life; a culture that uses an app to find the nearest coffee spot selling their favorite brand and then another app to track the calories consumed with each sip; a culture that allows algorithms to determine the next song they hear or movie they watch and interact with their "friends" by clicking a thumbs-up button.
As a millennial myself, I was aware of these issues on some subconscious level, but the greatness of Roberts' book is that, using the latest in psychological, political and economic research, he shows that our pursuit for short-term gratification is symptomatic of a larger socioeconomic problem in which myopic corporations look for the fastest returns, political leaders opt for the quick fix instead of tackling issues of true progress, and our self-identities have all but merged with the marketplace. Listening to Edoardo Ballerini's sober narration brings this eye-opener together. But, luckily, Roberts also provides a plan of treatment and a call to action that makes this audiobook a must-listen.
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11 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Amazon Customer
- 03-05-18
needs less examples
Chapters 1,6, and 10 are best parts, the rest are examples and remind me of a history book. Good points though overall.
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- rmp5s
- 05-01-19
If I could return it, I would.
Resource scarcity? Income/wealth inequality? What are you talking about, dude!? I only made it an hour...hour and a half in and couldn't continue. Dude's talking about nonsense.
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- CJFLA
- 10-20-15
Don't waste your money
Would you try another book from Paul Roberts and/or Edoardo Ballerini?
Generally speaking, I am politically liberal, but this guy makes Bernie Sanders look like a Republican. He blames all of society's ills on business, government and whatever other institution he chooses. You almost have to feel embarrassment for some with this much animus.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Joseph
- 07-03-22
Underwhelming
Tries to encompass too much in a short amount of time. Making connections that don’t exist and preaching their word as if it was the absolute truth. Because that’s all this story boils down to being. A preachy monologue made by someone who is neither informed or interesting in listening to.
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