“Patrolling the neighborhoods of central Fort Worth, sorting through trash piles, exploring dumpsters, scanning the streets and the gutters for items lost or discarded, I gathered the city’s degraded bounty, then returned home to sort and catalogue the take.”
—From the IntroductionIn December of 2001 Jeff Ferrell quit his job as tenured professor, moved back to his hometown of Fort Worth, Texas, and, with a place to live but no real income, began an eight-month… More >>
This guy chastises society for throwing away perfectly good oven knobs, pictures of people we dont have a clue to as to who they are and the like. Imagine us! Not respecting and saving perfectly good items like that! Puh-leeeze. This guy finds it sinful that people throw pictures out! The only redeeming thing about this book are the stories about the ultra-wealthy’s waste. Which I even admit were eye-opening. But other than that it is just another case of one of the U.S.’s uber-liberal college professors ranting against capitalism and consumerism. What most of these clowns fail to realize is that time is money and garbage is garbage. That and the fact that he himslef seems to have no use for much of the junk he himself collects. He stores a huge assortment of these gee-gaws in a storage shed in his backyard with no idea of when or if he’ll ever use them. These types like to force recycling on everyone without regards to if anyone even wants or needs the trash we are now being forced to recycle. Most dont realize that there is no real market for most of the paper goods we are forced to recycle in most cities nowadays and it ends up in the landfill anyway!
Rating: 2 / 5
Ferrell’s book is a powerful consideration of what it means to identify and de-identify oneself through consumable objects. Scavenging is recycling, but it is also thinking and living in the spaces consumerism necessarily rejects: that of adaptation, or conservation, to be sure, but also of the de/reconstruction of meaning, and of identification with the losses (in all senses) of others. This tragic sense of gleaning is the one that is most often lost sight of. It is perhaps a modern version of the old practice of meditating on ruins, or on martyrs’ wounds.
Rating: 5 / 5
I just heard this author on the radio, and am so pleased he articluates many different aspects of “RE-USE”, or whatever word you are comfortable with. He describes how re-using things slowed down his life, and that is a tricky thing to accept, when we are all so efficiently scheduled and have worked out the dollar-to-effort-expended formula. it’s cheaper to throw it away and buy new, but perhaps we are using the wrong formula now. He mentions how his “ego”, or his desires are altered by being presented with objects he might not have chosen on his own.
You have to pick somewhere to start (the 3 R’s), in an attempt to slow down your part in the destruction of the earth, lower your carbon footprint, etc, ,and find a way that feels good to you. I have been a scrounger for 20 years, (NYC, SF, Paris, Iowa, Berkeley) , and my squeamish friends who stood by in embarassment are now starting to see the beauty of finding something fabulous and continuing that object onwards to it’s (new) rightful owner.
Rating: 5 / 5
The author’s choice of words and the way his writings flow make it a difficult read, best taken in small bites. It doesn’t read easily like Scratch Beginnings or How to Survive Without A Salary. Keep a dictionary close by while reading. I really enjoyed the book but I wasn’t able to tear through it as quickly as I would have liked.
Rating: 4 / 5
I found this book rather interesting and a bit depressing. His writing style was very different and honestly had a very difficult time making it through the first two chapters but eased into by the third.
Amazing eye opening discussion on waste in America.
I have foraged a bit for discarded items and am constantly amazed at the amount of waste that people create. Perfectly good items that are just tossed. Books, clothing, tools, furnishings, etc are tossed on a daily basis, on it’s was to a landfill. What’s sad is that many Americans are even unwilling to donate these items to a charity because it’s just too much effort.
Rating: 4 / 5