Book Review: Mine! How the Hidden Rules of Ownership Control Our Lives | Michael Heller & James Salzman

A hidden set of rules governs who owns what–explaining everything from whether you can recline your airplane seat to why HBO lets you borrow a password illegally–and in this lively and entertaining guide, two acclaimed law professors reveal how things become mine.

Mine is one of the first words babies learn. By the time we grow up, the idea of ownership seems natural, whether buying a cup of coffee or a house. But who controls the space behind your airplane seat: you reclining or the squished laptop user behind? Why is plagiarism wrong, but it’s okay to knock-off a recipe or a dress design? And after a snowstorm, why does a chair in the street hold your parking space in Chicago, but in New York you lose the space and the chair?

Mine! explains these puzzles and many more. Surprisingly, there are just six simple stories that everyone uses to claim everything. Owners choose the story that steers us to do what they want. But we can always pick a different story. This is true not just for airplane seats, but also for battles over digital privacy, climate change, and wealth inequality. As Michael Heller and James Salzman show–in the spirited style of Freakonomics, Nudge, and Predictably Irrational–ownership is always up for grabs.

With stories that are eye-opening, mind-bending, and sometimes infuriating, Mine! reveals the rules of ownership that secretly control our lives. 

Reflection

I was hooked by the airline teaser about reclining seats since I not only work for a major airline, but I am a strong supporter of the side of “it is airplane etiquette not to recline your seat!” I was interested in this book because I do a lot of coaching at work and in consulting I do on the side, and a common theme of these conversations at work is around ownership with work projects, particularly when many of their projects involve cross-functional teams.

Full of interesting stories, both large and small, this book really delves into the complicated way we all let ownership influence our lives. I am the first to admit that I get territorial at times. Maybe this comes from having several siblings and having to share so much growing up, or maybe I’m just (as most humans are) a bit selfish! There is a comfort that comes from ownership, right? It is related to psychological safety. If we own something—it something is ours—there is a feeling it is more stable. That it gives us value.

I’ll be honest, the fact that the authors didn’t support my notion of the wedge of space behind an airplane seat clearly belonging to the person sitting in the seat behind felt like someone stole my identity. I loved reading about the different ways people, companies, and organizations have played with the concept of ownership—and the ambiguity of it—to manipulate all variety of situations!

Covering everything from the most trivial of disputes to the much larger topics of inequality and gender discrimination, this book is the perfect mix of engaging examples and deep conceptual discussion that makes it fly by while also profoundly impacting your world view. And by the end, I can’t imagine any reader not finding some ways of recognizing the way these “rules” or ownership apply to their own life. Just maybe, we can use that knowledge for positive change!

Thank you to Double Day Books for my copy! Opinions are my own.