I had a hard time reading this book until I figured out that Todd is mostly commenting/lamenting/poking fun of his topics, rather than offering any solutions. He writes entertainingly enough, and often makes valid points, but he spends so much time chagrined that I expected him to say "ok, here's what we can do to fix this". He never does that (which is ok, but when you hear someone complaining so much, you naturally ask "so whaddaya gonna do aboudit?"). It's a strange mix of social commentary and weird personal confessions. Todd spends an entire (thankfully brief) chapter on how his cluttered barn represents the failures of his life. So you only raised sheep for a few years and then moved on to something else? You have an overabundance of unused cross country skiis? How is that failure? It's just life. He's a bit melodramatic. ( )

Essays on our relationships to "things"....including experiences as well as material objects. Interesting observations with writing similar to Wendell Berry's essays. ( )