Million-dollar birthday parties, megayachts on the French Riviera, and $40,000 bottles of champagne. In today’s New Gilded Age, the world’s moneyed classes have taken conspicuous consumption to new extremes. In Very Important People, sociologist, author, and former fashion model Ashley Mears takes readers inside the exclusive global nightclub and party circuit—from New York City and the Hamptons to Miami and Saint-Tropez—to reveal the intricate economy of beauty, status, and money that lies behind these spectacular displays of wealth and leisure. Mears spent eighteen months in this world of “models and bottles” to write this captivating, sometimes funny, sometimes heartbreaking narrative. She describes how clubs and restaurants pay promoters to recruit beautiful young women to their venues in order to attract men and get them to spend huge sums in the ritual of bottle service. These “girls” enhance the status of the men and enrich club owners, exchanging their bodily capital for as little as free drinks and a chance to party with men who are rich or aspire to be. Though they are priceless assets in the party circuit, these women are regarded as worthless as long-term relationship prospects, and their bodies are constantly assessed against men’s money. A story of extreme gender inequality in a seductive world, Very Important People unveils troubling realities behind moneyed leisure in an age of record economic disparity.

男女约会可以提前预测谁对谁更心动吗？ 在一众应聘者中谁才会被最终选中？ 如何和老板谈判才能拿到更高的薪酬？ …… 很多人类行为都可以从生物学意义上诚实的信号（Honest Signals）中准确地预测出来。这些“诚实的信号”为我们了解人们的意愿、目标和价值观提供了一个行之有效的窗口。它们可以帮助我们准确预测各类活动的结果，如：男女约会、求职面试、甚至薪酬谈判等。 人们之间的信号所形成的社交回路(social circuits)塑造了我们的许多行为，就像我们对那些无意识的社会协调工作的本能反应一样，将我们融合成为一个协调的（但往往是有争议的）整体。社交回路虽然产生于两两之间的互动，但在群体中也同样有效。通过研究群体决策的信号，在社交网络中“解读”社会化信号的能力为群体决策提供了一种与标准的理性决策理论所不同的机制。《诚实的信号》将展示这些信号是如何影响社会群体行为的。通过比较不同信号模式的表现，本书将说明某些信号模式是如何提升群体决策，以及如何协助信息在社交网络中有效流动。本书将仔细探究这种网络智能的思路，以及如何利用它去改善团队决策。

在喧嚣的尘世中，你是否总是习惯于往自己身上套很多不必要的责任，然后解决不了，自我愧疚。你是否总是习惯于怀念过去，不可自拔。想着过去自己怎样怎样，现在就会怎样怎样。总想着改变过去，会把你困在原地，甚至你的未来也会变成你的过去。通过本书，你会知道：没有危机感，就是你最大的危机；可以穷，但你千万不能习惯穷；逆商，决定了人生高度；不熬夜，才是顶级的自律；你的自律终会让人望尘莫及；不抱怨，才是对工作最好的尊重；要远离“刀子嘴豆腐心”的人；你的善良里藏着你的贵人；你可以强大到无畏结果。