Spree

Ten years ago, Faith Popcorn declared "the end of shopping" in her bestselling book The Popcorn Report. But from the looks of things, shopping is as pervasive as ever; we are a culture obsessed and beguiled by the desire for consumer goods.

Journalist and shopping addict Pamela Klaffke documents the history of shopping, from a time when cattle were currency to the current age of contemporary shopping phenoms like QVC and eBay.

Topics covered include:

The history of shopping malls and department stores

The evolution of retail design

Inventions that made shopping easier: the cash -register (1884), the shopping cart (1936), the bar code (1952)

Information on the largest fashion retail chain (The Gap, 3,676 stores), the largest retail firm (Wal-Mart, with annual revenues of $191 billion), and the world's largest mall (West Edmonton Mall, at 121 acres)

Shopping meccas and customs from around the world

The dark side of shopping: kleptomania, shopping addictions, anticonsumerism

The myths of shopping: Men Who Hate Shopping and Women Who Love Shoes

Full of fun and informative sidebars and photos, Klaffke's book demonstrates that how we shop explains a lot about who we are.

Pamela Klaffke is a writer, editor, and media consultant. She is currently the literary editor of the Calgary Herald and her semiweekly column about popular culture trends can often be read in various newspapers across Canada. Spree: A Cultural History of Shopping is her first book.