We don't think we hate cheap things, of course, but we rather behave as if we do, in the sense that we rarely properly appreciate what is always around us and doesn't appear to cost very much, for example, the night sky, pencils, fried eggs, zips and the holding of hands.

This volume explores the way we can easily grow disenchanted with our immediate circumstances and pine for what is exotic, costly and out of reach - and it gently returns us to ourselves, full of new found wonder and gratitude.

Combining literature, economics and sheer good sense, Why We Hate Cheap Things reawakens us to the world immediately around us and to the latent beauty and interest of what we have.