About this title: Nearly everyone collects something, even those who don't think of themselves as collectors. William Davies King, on the other hand, has devoted decades to collecting nothing - and a lot of it. With "Collections of Nothing", he takes a hard look at this habitual hoarding to see what truths it can reveal about the impulse to accumulate. Part memoir, ...
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Description: Very Good. Great condition for a used book! Minimal wear. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: University Of Chicago Press
Date Published: 2008-07-25
ISBN-13:9780226437002ISBN:0226437000
Description: New. New, unread, unused & in perfect condition with no damaged or missing pages. This is a pre-release paperback with same cover. This book is the same isbn, but is a paperback. Great Copy. Ships Lightning Fast. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Date Published: 2008
ISBN-13:9780226437002ISBN:0226437000
Description: New in new dust jacket. Book is in brand new condition-NO flaws to note. Pages are clean and tight. SHIPS V FAST! ! Sewn binding. Cloth over boards. With dust jacket. 163 p. Audience: General/trade. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Univ of Chicago Pr
Date Published: 2008-07-25
ISBN-13:9780226437002ISBN:0226437000
Description: NEW. Hardcover. From an inventory that is 100% brand-new, 100% direct from the publishers' distribution channel. We carry NO pre-owned, NO remaindered. We pack in CARDBOARD to ensure the pristine quality is maintained. (Bubble-wrap alone is NOT sufficient to protect from USPS equipment. ) Guaranteed brand-NEW, protected with CARDBOARD, your satisfaction is guaranteed. BKLUVID: 9780226437002. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: University Of Chicago Press
Date Published: 2008
ISBN-13:9780226437002ISBN:0226437000
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Description: Good. Dust Jacket present. GOOD with average wear to cover and pages. We offer a no-hassle guarantee on all our items. Orders generally ship by the next business day. Default Text. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: University Of Chicago Press
Date Published: 2008-07-25
ISBN-13:9780226437002ISBN:0226437000
Description: Good. WE SHIP WITH ECO-FRIENDLY MAILERS. Top back of dust jacket shows indentation from paper clip. Small price penciled in on first page. Tight binding. Clean pages. read more
"I enjoyed King's book a great deal, though it bears the unfortunate burden of falling into that category of academic books that are difficult to "use." The book itself is a sort of auto-ethnography (though he never classifies it as such), detailing King's obsessive collecting of both everything and (as his title suggests) nothing. King collects all sorts of obscure items: patterns from the inside of envelopes, stickers from the outside of fruit, boulders from Santa Barbara's beaches, metal from its junkyards. His collecting habits vary throughout his life, and presenting them here in their totality allows him to reflect on their personal significance as well as the similarities his own habits bear to those of other collectors. He has some interesting things to say about class (particularly the proclivities of middle class collectors versus those who can actually afford to collect what he deems to be things of value). He also makes a variety of useful comparisons between academics and collectors. But the real charm of his book lies in its willingness to engage with the common discourse regarding collectors (particularly the social-psychology people who, from Freud onwards, suggest that collecting works merely as a bulwark against death and loss). King does not deny this as a driving impulse, but somehow also manages to demonstrate how collecting has edifying properties, making it equally about life and growth."
"King is a collector. He has collected things since he was a little boy. What does he collect? Worthless things, he says. Labels from boxes and cans, for the most part. But he also has several other, equally useless collections.
King thinks about his collecting and puts it into context by revealing the events of his life and the larger world.
I can't really see someone going out and purchasing this book. It leaves you with a sense of having wasted your time reading it, with King dwelling on the meaninglessness of his collecting and of his life. He seems to find some meaning in the meaninglessness of everything, but that is way too philosophical for me."
"This is a short book and I couldn't even finish it. The author drones on in the over analysis of his life and hoarding problem. His writing style is not easy to read. The whole time I was reading this book I just wanted to tell the guy to stop writing a book about it and get a really good therapist! Maybe he does in the end, but I couldn't bear to find out."
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