I hate to be cynical, because author Mark Kingwell seems to be pleading for a society that isn't so darn cynical, but his latest book seems like little more than a quickie rewrite of Naomi Klein's No Logo. A little less than a year after Klein's anti-globalization tract was issued, Kingwell has come out with The World We Want, a philosophical exploration of many of the same issues Klein cleverly documented.

"More and more, as the globe turns into a billboard for corporate propagation, the nature of citizenship is becoming skewed," is how the publisher describes the book. "For the cellphone-brandishing inhabitants of a world carved up into markets and territories determined by production and consumption, transcending the traditional boundaries of nation-states, what does it mean to be a citizen?" Kingwell then goes on to argue for a new model of citizenship, "based on participation as opposed to bloodline, constitution or religion -- one that will give voice and structure to our longing to be part of something larger than we are."

From the same publishing company (Penguin Canada) is a more factual book that looks at how Canadians are actually adapting to the new global reality (as opposed to Kingwell's fanciful vision of how things should be.) Better Happy Than Rich?: Canadians, Money, and the Meaning of Life, is a book of cleverly compiled research by pollster Michael Adams. "In his discussion of making it, spending it, stealing it, investing it, giving it away and losing it to taxes -- Adams outlines the changing perceptions and enduring ambivalence of Canadians towards money," the Penguin press people write. "They lust after it but resent those who have it, and unlike more garish Americans, those lucky enough to have it are averse to flaunting it."

Gee I don't know about that. If I see one more BMW Boxster splashing gutter water on homeless people I think I'll barf.

One final note about Naomi Klein. Did you know that British "smart rock" band Radiohead was so impressed with Klein's book No Logo, that they wanted to name their new CD after it? Now that's what I call a book that crosses many frontiers. Free Trade in the arts.