Product Description

From bicycles to baked bean tins, cookers to cuckoo clocks, gramophones to garden gnomes, the collector's territory is as broad as it is beautiful. It's been said that one man's junk is another man's collection. But, while the collections of some gather dust in the attic, the 40-plus blokes in this book have proudly dragged theirs out into the light, polished them up and put them on display for the world to see. In this book, author Brian Jenner peers into their cluttered worlds and uncovers the bloke beneath the bric-a-brac, the personality behind the paraphernalia, the method in the memorabilia. Each fascinating story is illustrated with revealing photographs of each man and his collection. A truly collectible gift for men of all ages.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #352186 in Books
• Published on: 2003-09-01
• Format: Illustrated
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 93 pages

About the Author
Brian Jenner is the editor of the local website for Paddington, London (see www.newspad.com), and founded the small creative design and publishing company Tarsus Communications in 1998. Prior to this, he worked on The Guardian Obituaries column and The Daily Telegraph. He has also contributed to The Oldie, The Spectator and Private Eye, and writes jokes for bar mitzvahs, weddings and dinners. He lives and works in Paddington, London.

Customer Reviews

Help clutterholics to help themselves
Jenner's book praises the quintessentially English eccentric's capacity to collect, collect and collect again. Whether it is fine antiques, road cones or badges, somebody somewhere in England has a collection. The good news is that Jenner does not laugh at his collectors, but simply describes their collections at a wry distance, nearly tongue in cheek, but not quite. Give the book to clutterholics who have not yet worked out why they have unnecessary collections. It may help to start the process of making them aware of the reason why they collect. Learned behaviour or a method of procrastination, there are many explanations for collecting, but very few that make sense.

Super Coffee Table book
I noticed this book because of its interesting hand-sized shape and design - I just wanted to pick it up. So it was a pleasure to find that the contents match the cover in quality. Some amazing personalities are profiled here (want to know what sort of person would collect ovens, or sand? Find out here!). Jenner gives us intriguing insight into the collecting subculture. My one (slight) criticism is that I would have liked there to be more commentary on the question of what makes people collect typical things like stamps or art. Jenner's focus is definitely on the weird and wacky. I think this will make a good Christmas present for some of the male members of my family.

Collect a copy today
Wow – An amusing, well-written and witty little book exposing some on life’s more, shall we say, ‘interesting’ leisure pursuits.

At last I know what a ‘tegestologist’ does and the good news is that it’s perfectly legal among consenting adults and “they can’t touch you for it”.

An essential read for aspiring ‘Who wants to be a Millionaire’ contestants.

Collect a copy of this excellent book today and you won’t be disappointed.