(Originally published 2002, Paperback edition 297 pages)
During the 2012 Presidential campaign at a private fundraiser, Mitt
Romney was being secretly videotaped and told a group of fat cats,
"There are 47 percent of the people who will vote for the president
(Barak Obama) no matter what ... who are dependent upon government, who
believe that they are victims. ... These are people who pay no income
tax. ... and so my job is not to worry about those people. I'll never
convince them that they should take personal responsibility and care for
their lives." He said this not only because he believes it, but also
because the hypocritical suck-from-the-government-teat rich donors do
too. As Mr. Conniff writes, "... they consider outsiders irrelevant,
uninformed, and even subhuman." THIS is the unspoken mindset of people
swimming in money. Mr. Conniff's book takes a decent stab at
hypothesizing through the use of evolutionary psychology as to why these
swollen egos, throughout the world, act the way they do.
Evolutionary psychology is a fun field of study because it attempts to compare human actions with the rest of nature. Mr. Conniff states that he was not interested in praising or bashing the rich. It is true he did a respectable job of keeping to his promise, but holy moly, some of the examples made me shake my head in wonder at these people's actions. The author covers such areas as social-status competitions, the behavior of subordinates, conspicuous consumption, grandstanding, philanthropic efforts, their habitats, infidelity and obsession with marrying the "right sort." As the author points out, these rich folks frequently disavow their desires for risk taking, power or money despite them clearly wanting all three.
Mr. Conniff's easy-to-read, witty and very informative book was an absolute pleasurable experience. I especially enjoyed the Epilogue's "An Alpha Ape's Ten Rules for Living Wisely in an Imperfect World." Ironically, the book made me feel better about my down-to-earth, middle-class life. I would not have the temperament nor the desire to EVER hobnob with their ilk. Granted, they never have to worry about health care, starving, unemployment, receiving a poor education or many of the everyday tribulations that most people endure, but life's waaaay too short to be tolerating the rich's superficial nonsense.
Evolutionary psychology is a fun field of study because it attempts to compare human actions with the rest of nature. Mr. Conniff states that he was not interested in praising or bashing the rich. It is true he did a respectable job of keeping to his promise, but holy moly, some of the examples made me shake my head in wonder at these people's actions. The author covers such areas as social-status competitions, the behavior of subordinates, conspicuous consumption, grandstanding, philanthropic efforts, their habitats, infidelity and obsession with marrying the "right sort." As the author points out, these rich folks frequently disavow their desires for risk taking, power or money despite them clearly wanting all three.
Mr. Conniff's easy-to-read, witty and very informative book was an absolute pleasurable experience. I especially enjoyed the Epilogue's "An Alpha Ape's Ten Rules for Living Wisely in an Imperfect World." Ironically, the book made me feel better about my down-to-earth, middle-class life. I would not have the temperament nor the desire to EVER hobnob with their ilk. Granted, they never have to worry about health care, starving, unemployment, receiving a poor education or many of the everyday tribulations that most people endure, but life's waaaay too short to be tolerating the rich's superficial nonsense.
(Meyers - A few years ago, I
started writing, under the pseudonym Franklin the Mouse, short
reviews at Amazon's web site. This is my most recent review #333)
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