--- description: Find out why Having and Being Had by Eula Biss is on TIME's list of the must-read books from this year. title: 'Having and Being Had' Is One of the 100 Must-Read Books of 2020 image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt52be650076baf44d/698a140016d8845789c38cb2/best-books-2020-Having-and-Being-Had.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Nov 09, 2020 # Having and Being Had by Eula Biss by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close  An IKEA catalog has found its way inside author Eula Biss’ house. It boasts a message on its front: “Designed for people, not consumers.” Biss, who has just purchased her first home, thinks about this. “IKEA, the third largest consumer of wood in the world, has made furniture into something that gets used up,” she writes. “It is furniture for the apocalypse.” She considers the catalog’s message and wonders: Are consumers not people? It’s a question central to her collection of sharp and snappy essays about capitalism and privilege, and how both relate to our understanding of class. _Having and Being Had_ picks apart the ethics behind our capitalist society, culminating in a powerful look at the ways in which we assign value to the people, places and things that comprise our lives. **Buy Now:** _Having and Being Had_ on [Bookshop](https://bookshop.org/a/4973/9780525537458 "undefined") | [Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0525537457/ref=as%5Fli%5Fqf%5Fasin%5Fil%5Ftl?ie=UTF8&tag=time-books-20&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=0525537457&linkId=05288bb363fc280c5a22079803ac5a84 "undefined") These are independent reviews of the products mentioned, but TIME receives a commission when purchases are made through affiliate links at no additional cost to the purchaser. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/must-read-books-2020/5904240/having-and-being-had/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/must-read-books-2020/5904240/having-and-being-had/"},"headline":"'Having and Being Had' Is One of the 100 Must-Read Books of 2020","datePublished":"2020-11-09T19:29:01.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-02T23:44:05.493Z","description":"","url":"https://time.com/collections/must-read-books-2020/5904240/having-and-being-had/","keywords":["E-Commerce","Books","list"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt52be650076baf44d/698a140016d8845789c38cb2/best-books-2020-Having-and-Being-Had.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"creator":"TIME Staff","articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt52be650076baf44d/698a140016d8845789c38cb2/best-books-2020-Having-and-Being-Had.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collections/must-read-books-2020/5904240/having-and-being-had/","name":"'Having and Being Had' Is One of the 100 Must-Read Books of 2020"}}]}] ```