Why do we buy? Why are so many of our consumer choices simply a waste of time, energy, and money? How does advertising really work? And why are pregnant women more racist than the rest of us? In this brilliantly original, provocative and witty book, Geoffrey Miller - acclaimed author of The Mating Mind uses evolutionary psychology to explain the phenomenon of modern brand-driven consumerism. Traversing the murky terrains of marketing, advertising, brands, media, genetics, neuroscience and the latest advances in evolutionary biology to explore human behavior, Spent argues that many of our product choices are driven by the desire not to feel good, but to look good, by displaying our evolutionary fitness to those around us. At once a searing critique of the excesses of twenty-first-century consumerism and a masterful new take on understanding how the mind works, Spent is a radical, timely and original book.