James Wallman Books

To understand 'stuffocation', we must start with how we got here. The modern obsession with possessions began in the years following World War II. Factories that once produced weapons turned their energy toward consumer goods. Governments and advertisers encouraged people to buy to keep economies gr...

From Stuffocation: Living More With Less

I often describe our condition today as a kind of invisible suffocation. Sociologists talk about it as the 'paradox of choice'—too many options leading not to freedom, but paralysis. Psychologists identify it as material fatigue, where the cognitive and emotional cost of owning too much outweighs th...

From Stuffocation: Living More With Less

The story of experientialism began with a simple observation: material wealth was supposed to make us happy, but it hasn’t. Since the mid-twentieth century, the promise of consumer culture has been that if we buy enough—cars, clothes, gadgets—we will be fulfilled. Yet data consistently show that bey...

From Time and How to Spend It: The 7 Rules for Richer, Happier Days

I distilled years of research and reflection into a framework that could guide anyone toward richer, happier days. I called it STORIES—a mnemonic that captures the seven essential ingredients of meaningful experiences: Story, Transformation, Outside and Offline, Relationships, Intensity, Extraordina...

From Time and How to Spend It: The 7 Rules for Richer, Happier Days