{"product_id":"9780226437095","title":"Collections of Nothing","description":"\u003cp\u003eNearly 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 \u003ci\u003eCollections of Nothing\u003c\/i\u003e, he takes a hard look at this habitual hoarding to see what truths it can reveal about the impulse to accumulate.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003ePart memoir, part reflection on the mania of acquisition, \u003ci\u003eCollections of Nothing\u003c\/i\u003e begins with the stamp collection that King was given as a boy. In the following years, rather than rarity or pedigree, he found himself searching out the lowly and the lost, the cast-off and the undesired: objects that, merely by gathering and retaining them, he could imbue with meaning, even value. As he relates the story of his burgeoning collections, King also offers a fascinating meditation on the human urge to collect. This wry, funny, even touching appreciation and dissection of the collector’s art as seen through the life of a most unusual specimen will appeal to anyone who has ever felt the unappeasable power of that acquisitive fever.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\"What makes this book, bred of a midlife crisis, extraordinary is the way King weaves his autobiography into the account of his collection, deftly demonstrating that the two stories are essentially one. . . . His hard-won self-awareness gives his disclosures an intensity that will likely resonate with all readers, even those whose collections of nothing contain nothing at all.\"—\u003ci\u003eNew Yorker\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\"King's extraordinary book is a memoir served up on the backs of all things he collects. . . . His story starts out sounding odd and singular—who \u003ci\u003eis\u003c\/i\u003e this guy?—but by the end, you recognize yourself in a lot of what he does.\"—Julia Keller, \u003ci\u003eChicago\u003c\/i\u003e \u003ci\u003eTribune\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"University of Chicago Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47067435696368,"sku":"9780226437095","price":13.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9780226437095_p0.jpg?v=1763674639","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9780226437095","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}