I've been listening to this book on audio via Audible.com, and am enjoying it very much, so when I found this fair-condition trade paperback at the Book Cellar I nabbed it for a release copy.

The book opens with the story of the Collyer brothers, perhaps the best-known (and one of the most extreme - and tragic) cases of hoarding. [Other books on them include Ghosty Men.] The book moves on to modern cases, with the author going into the different causes and types of hoarding that may occur, with suggestions for ways to spot the signs and to try to cope with the problem - and with warnings against the temptation to simply step in and haul the offending "trash" away all at once, as this seldom makes a permanent change and usually causes severe trauma to the hoarder and to their relationships with family and friends.

Given the relatively quick treatments given these cases in TV shows like "Hoarding: Buried Alive", the more leisurely looks given here intrigued me - all the more when the author was able to provide interviews from several hoarders over years, with their thoughts about their situation, the feelings they had when urged to get rid of something, and what (if anything) helped them get a handle on their syndrome.

It seems clear that while several existing psychological problems (and some neurological ones) can contribute to hoarding, it doesn't have a single cause, and thus doesn't have any one cure-all either. Some of the patients responded well to basic organizational techniques, with some thought-exercises to remind themselves of how they wanted to live, while others - no matter how motivated - simply could not shake the urge to acquire and the inability to let go...

I'm putting this book into MaryZee's Biographies of Things bookbox. I'll be handing the box off to next-in-line eponine38 on Friday. Enjoy!

Taken from Biographies of Things box.

RIP MaryZee.

My father told me about the Collyer brothers when I was quite young. I must have shown signs of hoarding at an early age..

Interesting (and frightening) read; it has inspired me to do a major cleanout. I've done about 10% so far and it really does feel GOOD!

Wish I had time for a longer review, but I'm short on time at the moment. Thanks again for this, GoryDetails!

I plan to offer this to a convention attendee who expressed an interest in it some time ago. Hope you enjoy it!

Gory Details gave me this at the Oxford convention as she had promised it to me ages ago. I had forgotten, however was quite happy to receive it as I work with quite a few hoarders, so maybe it will give me a bit more understanding about what is behind it and how to help them.

Interesting reading, especially as I see hoarding quite regularly in my job and have seen the results of "forced clear outs" I have also had to decline putting in a befriender as a result of these conditions, although if I had a volunteer that was interested in this area I might reconsider.

like another journaller I also can see elements of myself in the examples, although I am mainly just untidy and disorganised, something which comes with dyslexia. I have today experienced something which gives me an inkling of what it must feel like to a hoarder when something I value is removed without permission. One of my flatmates chopped down the apple tree, not that he has the right to do that .... I am trying to resist the temptation to kill him! He also strimmed my herb border .... I am sure I will get over it, however my view from the window is currently ruined ....

I am going to offer this to a GP friend of mine who has an interest in psychological interventions. I think she will find it interesting.

given to a friend who is interested in this sort of thing