Blubberland: The Dangers Of Happiness

Renowned architecture writer and former NSW City Councillor Elizabeth Farrelly broadens her scope to examine Western society’s addiction to acquiring ‘stuff’. ‘Blubber’, by her definition, is anything spare or surplus. It can be good (spare time in the day, a birdsong for the sake of it) or it can be destructive: McMansions, silicone body parts, junk food–fuelled obesity. This is an intelligent, incisive examination of why we can’t seem to stop overdoing everything in our quest for happiness – even though we now know that overconsumption is not only not making us happy, but is fast destroying the earth. Along the way, Farrelly looks at how and why we attribute value to things (including our definitions of beauty and desirability) and concludes that it all stems from a desire to impress or outdo our peers.