Knox County Public Library, Knoxville, TN

Brown Bag, Green Book #9: Cheap

For the ninth episode in our lunchtime book club series, the selected book was Cheap: The High Cost of Discount Culture by Ellen Ruppel Shell. Dr. William D. Shiell, Senior Pastor of First Baptist Church, led the discussion.

"Cheap addresses our need for more stuff by challenging our assumptions about discounts," Dr Shiell said. "The book says that just because something is on sale does not make it a good value. During the shopping season, this book asks us to look beyond the sale price and examine how our purchases reflect our values."

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In Cheap, Ellen Ruppel Shell traces the birth of the bargain as we know it from the Industrial Revolution to the assembly line and beyond, homing in on a number of colorful characters, such as Gene Verkauf (his name is Yiddish for "to sell"), founder of E. J. Korvette, the discount chain that helped wean customers off traditional notions of value. The rise of the chain store in post-Depression America led to the extolling of convenience over quality, and big-box retailers completed the reeducation of the American consumer by making them prize low price in the way they once prized durability and craftsmanship.

The effects of this insidious perceptual shift are vast: a blighted landscape, escalating debt (both personal and national), stagnating incomes, fraying communities, and a host of other socioeconomic ills. That's a long list of charges, and it runs counter to orthodox economics which argues that low price powers productivity by stimulating a brisk free market. But Shell marshals evidence from a wide range of fields-history, sociology, marketing, psychology, even economics itself-to upend the conventional wisdom. Cheap also unveils the fascinating and unsettling illogic that underpins our bargain-hunting reflex and explains how our deep-rooted need for bargains colors every aspect of our psyches and social lives. In this myth-shattering, closely reasoned, and exhaustively reported investigation, Shell exposes the astronomically high cost of cheap.

About Dr. Shiell

Dr. William D. Shiell is the Senior Pastor of First Baptist Church of Knoxville, Tennessee. He has published two books: Reading Acts: the Lector and the Early Christian Audience; and Sessions with Matthew. Dr. Shiell is a native of Pensacola, Florida, and received a B.A. in religion from Samford University (1994), a M.Div. in theology from Baylor University's Truett Seminary (1997), and a Ph.D. in religion from Baylor University (2003). He was named Outstanding Student of Truett Seminary's first graduating class. Dr. Shiell serves as an Adjunct Professor in the Religion Department of Carson-Newman College and on the Board of Directors for Associated Baptist Press. He is a member of Leadership Knoxville's 2009 class. He and his wife Kelly have two sons, Parker and Drake.

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Knox County Public Library Podcasts by Knox County Public Library is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. © 2009 Some Rights Reserved.

Brown Bag, Green Book #8: Last Child in the Woods

The eighth episode in our lunchtime book club series is about Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder by Richard Louv. Dr. McIntyre, Superintendent of Knox County Schools, led the discussion along with Knox County School’s Aneisa McDonald, Supervisor of Coordinated School Health, and Lisa Wagoner, Supervisor of Health Services.

In Last Child in the Woods, Louv explores what he describes as the alienation of modern-day children from the natural world. He emphasizes the important role interaction with nature plays in our personal emotional, physical and intellectual health. One child told him, "I like indoors because that's where the electric outlets are." Louv makes a direct link between the "plugged-in" state of children (he calls this "nature deficit") and significant problems such as obesity, Attention Deficit Disorder and depression.

Louv contends that connecting education and play to environment raises standardized test scores and grade point averages, improving many skills such as critical thinking and even creativity. Yet sending kids outside to play is increasingly difficult. Computers, television, and video games compete for their time, of course, but it's also our fear of traffic, strangers, and even virus-carrying mosquitoes that keep children indoors. Meanwhile, schools assign more and more homework, and there is less and less access to natural areas.

Parents have the power to ensure that their daughter or son will not be the "last child in the woods" and this book is the first step toward that Nature-child reunion.

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About Dr. McIntyre, Ms. McDonald and Ms. Wagoner

Dr. James P. McIntyre, Jr., has served as Superintendent of Knox County Schools since July, 2008. He has worked in the field of education, including both K-12 and at the university level, for 20 years. Prior to coming to Knoxville, he was the Chief Operating Officer for Boston Public Schools. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Boston College, a Master of Science degree in education administration from Canisius College in Buffalo, New York, a Master of Urban Affairs degree from Boston University, and a Ph. D. in public policy from the University of Massachusetts.

Ms. Aneisa McDonald has been with Knox County Schools since July 2007. She received her BS and MS in Education from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. She spent 12 years as a professional dance educator in Illinois, South Carolina, and Tennessee and served as a coalition coordinator for the Metropolitan Drug Commission's Drug-Free Communities Grant Program from 2001-2007.

Ms. Lisa Wagoner joined Knox County as a school nurse in 1994 and then was appointed Supervisor of Health Services in 2009. She holds a degree of nursing from Walter State Community College.

Subscribe for free to get new podcast episodes automatically downloaded so you can listen whenever and wherever you want.

Knox County Public Library Podcasts by Knox County Public Library is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. © 2009 Some Rights Reserved.