• You go shopping for shoes. Then the Diderot Effect. Back in the late 1700s, French philosopher Denis Diderot found himself broke. But he lucked out when Catherine the Great heard he couldn’t afford to pay for his daughter’s wedding and she stepped in to give him a huge wad of cash. Feeling flush, he bought himself a new red robe. Then this happened… He more
• why i don’t shop when i travel Traveling heightens conflation and coincidences and special moments. This post has been edited. This is mostly how it works: new experiences, the unfamiliar, fresh eyes and movement (ie non-stagnancy) mean that we’re in the best position to notice the conflations and coincidences. Although, as I have written before, there is no such thing as coincidence. more
• sunday life: my case against shopping* This week I don’t buy style Bless me father, for it has been nine weeks since my last resentful, unsatisfying and agitated jaunt to the gaudily adorned shrine that is my local shopping mall. Indeed, it’s been nine weeks since I’ve bought anything, apart from food, petrol and cotton buds. While I’m confessing, I should more