Book: Junk: Digging Through America's Love Affair With Stuff by Alison Stewart
Source: Library
Description:
Junk has become ubiquitous in America today. Who doesn’t have a basement, attic, closet, or storage unit filled with stuff too good to throw away? Or, more accurately, stuff you think is too good to throw away.
When journalist and author Alison Stewart was confronted with emptying her late parents’ overloaded basement, a job that dragged on for months, it got her thinking: How did it come to this? Why do smart, successful people hold on to old Christmas bows, chipped knick-knacks, VHS tapes, and books they would likely never reread? She discovered she was not alone.
Junk details Stewart’s three-year investigation into America’s stuff, lots and lots and lots of stuff. Stewart rides along with junk removal teams from around the country such as Trash Daddy, Annie Haul, and Junk Vets. She goes backstage to a taping of Antiques Roadshow, and learns what makes for compelling junk-based television with the executive producer of Pawn Stars. And she even investigates the growing problem of space junk—23,000 pieces of manmade debris orbiting the planet at 17,500 mph, threatening both satellites and human space exploration.
But it’s not all dire. There are creative solutions to America’s overburdened consumer culture. Stewart visits with Deron Beal, founder of FreeCycle, an online community of people who would rather give away than throw away their no-longer-needed possessions. She spends a day at a Repair Café, where volunteer tinkerers bring new life to broken appliances, toys, and just about anything. Stewart also explores communities of “tiny houses” without attics and basements in which to stash the owners’ trash.
Junk is a delightful journey through 250-mile-long yard sales, and packrat dens, both human and rodent, that for most readers will look surprisingly familiar.
When journalist and author Alison Stewart was confronted with emptying her late parents’ overloaded basement, a job that dragged on for months, it got her thinking: How did it come to this? Why do smart, successful people hold on to old Christmas bows, chipped knick-knacks, VHS tapes, and books they would likely never reread? She discovered she was not alone.
Junk details Stewart’s three-year investigation into America’s stuff, lots and lots and lots of stuff. Stewart rides along with junk removal teams from around the country such as Trash Daddy, Annie Haul, and Junk Vets. She goes backstage to a taping of Antiques Roadshow, and learns what makes for compelling junk-based television with the executive producer of Pawn Stars. And she even investigates the growing problem of space junk—23,000 pieces of manmade debris orbiting the planet at 17,500 mph, threatening both satellites and human space exploration.
But it’s not all dire. There are creative solutions to America’s overburdened consumer culture. Stewart visits with Deron Beal, founder of FreeCycle, an online community of people who would rather give away than throw away their no-longer-needed possessions. She spends a day at a Repair Café, where volunteer tinkerers bring new life to broken appliances, toys, and just about anything. Stewart also explores communities of “tiny houses” without attics and basements in which to stash the owners’ trash.
Junk is a delightful journey through 250-mile-long yard sales, and packrat dens, both human and rodent, that for most readers will look surprisingly familiar.
Rating: 4 stars
Review:
Writer and journalist Alison Stewart looks into the world of junk, she traveled the country speaking with various people such as collectors, hoarders, people who want to live with less and more. How our abundance of things have led to the ever growing business of junk storage, junk removal and professional organizers. The author also looked at how we value or over value our things especially when it comes to selling or getting rid of them.
She also looked into the environmental aspect of the junk business such as recycling, upcycling, freecycling and simply repairing old things as ways of dealing with our junk so it's not just sitting in a landfill. There is so much that the author looked into from TV shows that center around junk and even junk that most people probably don't even think about such as the junk floating around out there in space.
I found this to be interesting and well researched as you see how our desire or undesirable interest in things have shaped the way we live. It's hard for some people to let go of stuff while others can easily do without. People have stuff not only crammed in their homes but also sitting in storage units. No surprise that the storage unit industry is a multi-billion dollar and growing industry, people really don't want to get rid of their stuff.
But getting rid of stuff can be hard because as the author touched on it's not just junk there are a lot of emotions attached to our things. This book came about due to the author and her sister cleaning out their late parents' basement. There were years and years of belongings sitting in the basement that held memories which made it harder to complete their task.
Junk is hard to define because what may be junk to one person is treasure to another. But there is a growing awareness that we have too much stuff which sort of coincides with the tiny house movement with more people are looking to live a more abundant life with less stuff.
While I enjoyed reading this, I found the few interviews that were featured throughout to be rather boring, sometimes long and unnecessary. They threw off the pacing of the book but overall this was a good read. I love the human interest aspect of this because our junk sort of reflects who we are no matter how much or little we have.
And an unexpected side-effect from reading this was finding myself going through my stuff and getting rid of things.
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