Nearly everyone collects something; even those who donrsquo;t think of themselves as collectors. William Davies King; on the other hand; has devoted decades to collecting nothingmdash;and a lot of it. With Collections of Nothing; he takes a hard look at this habitual hoarding to see what truths it can reveal about the impulse to accumulate.Part memoir; part reflection on the mania of acquisition; Collections of Nothing 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 collectorrsquo;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."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."mdash;New Yorker"Kings extraordinary book is a memoir served up on the backs of all things he collects. . . . His story starts out sounding odd and singularmdash;who is this guy?mdash;but by the end; you recognize yourself in a lot of what he does."mdash;Julia Keller; Chicago Tribune
#2123122 in eBooks 2008-05-02 2008-05-02File Name: B001QFY73E
Review
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. OverviewBy tigressthymeI wish the book would have included more about the black population; as it had the largest slave population in the state before the civil war. With that being said it gave a great overview of how the town was established. And is a great book for anyone doing research on ancestry in the area.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Great for spicing up your family history!By eldestwinAs a professional genealogist; I have found this book to add documentation and interesting bits of history to client files and I recommend it to any fellow genealogists - either professional or hobbyist. Thank you!1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. A Louisa County SamplerBy J. K. BrandauIndeed; Mr. Menefee wrote a comprehensive critique to which there is little more to add other than; perhaps; the uncropped; original print of Deputy J. C. Trice and the bloodhounds on page 25 is clearly dated 1914; not circa 1908. Notwithstanding; Louisa and Louisa County stands on its merits as an important record and a remarkable resource to anyone wanting to associate prominent names with faces and sites with images of late nineteenth and early twentieth century Louisa. I found it an invaluable tool in my reseach and recommend it as a companion volume to Murder At Green Springs.
