Albert Cañigueral, our global curator representing Spain and Latin America has a new book that promises a personal and lighthearted take on collaborative consumption for those who want to learn more about movement. In this interview, he answers a few questions about where he draws his inspiration from and shares with us his favourite excerpt from the book.
What personally drew you to collaborative consumption?
It was after reading the book “What’s mine is yours” in early 2011 and then watching Rachel’s TEDxSydney talk. That led to a very active search for activity in the space using the #collcons hashtag which allowed me connect with Shareable and ConsoCollaborative for example. I saw that nobody was talking about this topic in Spanish therefore I decided to start the blog ConsumoColaborativo.com.
What made you decide to publish a book about collaborative consumption?
I thought about self-publishing a book about 2 years ago but it did not happen. The book “Vivir mejor con menos” was actually commissioned by the editorial Conecta (a brand inside Penguin Random House). The editor was in touch with a journalist that interviewed me for the magazine Alternativas Economicas. He then suggested me to the editor and we started talking about the best angle for the book. In fact the timing could not have been better to publish this book in Spain.
What in particular will the book focus on?
The scope is really broad and written from a very personal angle. It starts with my personal experience with Bicing and Couchsurfing. The deep dive is, focused on examples that operate in Spain, on shared mobility, collaborative tourism and P2P finances with a quick review of other sectors like 2nd hand apps, education, etc. The last chapter is about the 10 challenges that a transition to a collaborative society faces (regulation, metrics, concept of job, people who are excluded from the collaborative revolution, etc.)
Can you give us a preview of what to expect when reading the book?
You can download a chapter and a half for free from here.
What are your favourite parts of the book?
On one side the part that was inspired by this article that explains how the collaborative economy is not created against anything or anyone, it is in fact a renaissance with attractive ideas and experiments that define a blurred horizon of a new society.
And also the call to action at the end: “Las ideas son una de esas cosas que no solo no se gastan sino que se multiplican cuando se comparten”.. “Ideas are one of those things that not only are not spent but that multiply when shared.” .. so I encourage the readers to share their thoughts on the book with their friends (and to share the book itself too!)
The book is available to buy here (only available in Spanish).
