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| Material World: A Global Family Portrait | 
 enlarge | Authors: Peter Menzel, Charles C. Mann
Creator: Paul Kennedy
Publisher: Sierra Club Books
Category: Book
List Price: $25.00
Buy New: $7.37
You Save: $17.63 (71%)
Buy New/Used/Collectible from $7.37
Avg. Customer Rating:  (55 reviews)
Sales Rank: 8232
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published)
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 256
Shipping Weight (lbs): 2.3
Dimensions (in): 11.9 x 8.9 x 0.7
ISBN: 0871564300
Dewey Decimal Number: 306.85
EAN: 9780871564306
ASIN: 0871564300
Publication Date: October 3, 1995
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
Material World March 10, 2008
Material World by Peter Menzel is one of the most exciting and informative books I have come across in a long time . No other book I have ever read has given me such in depth knowledge of the lives and circumstances of people living in other countries around the globe. The photographs are breathtakingly beautiful and the statistics are fascinating. Ursula Michelson, author of Alzheimers Patients in the Nursing Home: How Well Do Caregivers Meet Their Needs?
Beautiful book! November 15, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This book is a fascinating look at materialism, or the lack of it, around the world. Oddly enough, the American family was not the most obviously materialistic; there was a Saudi family with a 42 foot long couch! I have put this gorgeously photographed book in my classroom for independant reading time for my 9th graders. It is filled with statistics, information about the countries and the families and the stories of the photographers themselves. Also check out The Hungry Planet, a visual look at what people around the world eat, photographed and written by the same authors of Material World.
A beautiful achievement August 30, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
"Material World," written during the 1990 U.N. International Year of the Family, is a major achievement and, although it can seem dated in areas, is still timely and relevant for our world today.
Profiling 30 families from across a wide spectrum of the 183 U.N. member states, "Material World" depicts these families' struggles and triumphs in words, pictures, and statistics. Many of these vignettes are uplifting--the Cuban family holding on to each other as their nation suffers through communism--and many are very saddening--the three Carballo children sleeping in fear of being robbed each night. It is highly useful in perspective building and also a good way to see how others live elsewhere in the world. It is not going to make one "proud to be an American," but it is also not an "America-bashing" book. "Material World" demonstrates very powerfully the old proverb: 'It's not getting what you want, it's wanting what you've got.'
The Albanian family, with its minute amount of belongings; the Brazilian family, struggling to survive the slums; the Mexican sisters, window shopping before getting the very special treat of an ice cream bar--all exemplify this ideal. The children are in particular very inspiring, rising as they do above the conditions many sadly live in. This is their life, their daily bread--and in a powerful example, they make the most of it.
"Material World" is inspiring, beautiful, and still timely, even over ten years after its publication.
 What Blather!! August 20, 2007
9 out of 67 found this review helpful
This book is an attempt to shame Americans for living in the land of plenty. So what we have more stuff than other folks do! Most of the world is hobbled by war and bad government so people have less wealth than Americans. But I'm not losing any sleep over it. The Sierra Club is a political organization and this book is just that. . . politics. Read the part about American family ... "the legacy of slavery" and the "uneven distribution of wealth". What pure hooey!
Eye-Opening View of Other Cultures May 12, 2007
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
Photos showing the possessions - all of them, great and small - and daily life of families from around the world are supplemented by text and factoids backing up the photos. The purpose of this book isn't to make materialistic Americans feel guilty, but the book is certainly thought- and discussion-provoking. This book will be appreciated most by older children and adults, but even my 6-year-old "got it." Viewing a photo of the complete contents - what little there were - from the home of an Albanian family, he asked, "Where's the rest of their stuff?" Honey, that's it. And that's the point.
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