Luxury is the Dadaism of possession. Luxury - just the word evokes a multitude of ideas: from expensive trinkets, excess and waste, to wealth and comfort, conspicuous consumption and status symbols. And it apparently provokes strong opinions, as luxury is often either sharply condemned or vehemently defended. But do the numerous critics and defenders of luxury even know what they are talking about? There is no luxury research that systematically attempts to determine when something is considered luxury before any evaluation. Therefore, the answer to a seemingly simple question is still pending. It is: "What is luxury?" Lambert Wiesing is pioneering in his new book, as he answers this question using distinctly phenomenological means. He shows that luxury cannot be an attribute of things or actions, but is instead defined through a private experience.