Taking Things Seriously: 75 Objects with Unexpected Significance - Softcover

Glenn, Joshua; Hayes, Carol

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1568986904 ISBN 13: 9781568986906

Publisher: Princeton Architectural Press, 2007

Synopsis

We all have something in our lives that while not obviously valuable, is displayed as though it were a precious and irreplaceable artifact. Inquire about the object's provenance and you'll likely be treated to a lively anecdote about how it came into your host's possession. Keep digging, and you might even crack the code of what the thingreally means.

Taking Things Seriously is a wonder cabinet of seventy-five unlikely thingamajigs that have been invested with significance and transformed into totems, talismans, charms, relics, and fetishes: scraps of movie posters scavenged from the streets of New York by Low Life author Luc Sante; the World War I helmet that inoculated social critic Thomas Frank against jingoism; the trash-picked, robot-shaped hairdo machine described by its owner as a chick magnet; the bagelburned by actor Christopher Walken, moonlighting as a short-order cook. The owners of these objects convey their excitement in short, often poignant essays that invite readers to participate in the enjoyable act of interpreting things. You'll never look at the bric-a-brac on your shelves the same way again.

About this title

About the Author

Joshua Glenn is a Boston-based writer and editor at the Boston Globe.

Carol Hayes is an award-winning designer and artist. She lives in Brooklyn.

Edition details

• Publisher: Princeton Architectural Press
• Publication date: 2007
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1568986904
• ISBN 13: 9781568986906
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 174