Stuff

Compulsive Hoarding and the Meaning of Things

By: Randy O. Frost, Gail Steketee

Narrated by: Joe Caron

Length: 9 hrs and 9 mins

Publisher's summary

What possesses someone to save every scrap of paper thats ever come into his home? What compulsions drive a woman like Irene, whose hoarding cost her her marriage? Or Ralph, whose imagined uses for castoff items like leaky old buckets almost lost him his house?

Randy Frost and Gail Steketee were the first to study hoarding when they began their work a decade ago; they expected to find a few sufferers but ended up treating hundreds of patients and fielding thousands of calls from the families of others. Now they explore the compulsion through a series of compelling case studies in the vein of Oliver Sacks.

With vivid portraits that show us the traits by which you can identify a hoarder - piles on sofas and beds that make the furniture useless, houses that can be navigated only by following small paths called goat trails, vast piles of paper that the hoarders churn but never discard, even collections of animals and garbage - Frost and Steketee illuminate the pull that possessions exert on all of us.

Whether we're savers, collectors, or compulsive cleaners, very few of us are in fact free of the impulses that drive hoarders to the extremes in which they live. For all of us with complicated relationships to our things, Stuff answers the question of what happens when our stuff starts to own us.

©2010 Randy O. Frost & Gail Steketee (P)2010 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

"This succinct, illuminating book will prove helpful to hoarders, their families, and mental health professionals who work with them." ( Publishers Weekly)

Interesting & informative

This book helped me realize what true hoarding really is and how to recognize it. The examples given in the book are extreme but typical of most hoarders.

Now I know the WHY

There are hundreds of books that tell people how to lose weight, but until the person understands why they are overweight, what motivates them to over-eat, they aren't going to be successful at losing weight or keeping it off. The same is true of all the books on how to organize and de-clutter. This book gives the reader an understanding of why it's so hard for the hoarder to "lose those extra pounds" and keep them off. It's not just lack of willpower or laziness.

In the same way that some obese patients gain back the weight they initially lost after bariatric surgery, the "forced clean-out" isn't successful for the true hoarder. Without understanding why they do it, they don't change the habits and lifestyle that caused the problem.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone. I'm sure that most people will recognize and be able to understand some of the hoarding traits in this book in family or friends, and maybe they will recognize and understand a little of themselves.

Enlightening

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Almost everyone I have ever met either knows a hoarder or is a hoarder. This book uses real-life stories to explain many different types and degrees of hoarding. Fascinating.
I listened to this book while cleaning out the closets in my house. It was an easy listen and a great motivator.

Good read

Any additional comments?

I do not really know anyone with this issue and never meet anyone. I got this book bc it was a daily deal and found topic interesting. I think the author did marvelous job writing about hording and explaining in a simple language that everyone can read it and understand it.

Only reason this book did not get 5 stars is because the topic was not too interesting to me.

good

a good collection of information on stuff... like clutter stuff. stories of extreme hoarders and advice for those with hoarding loved ones

Stuff"Compulsive Hoarding and the Meaning of Thing

Very insightful and thought provoking. It has reallly helped me understand the hoarder in my life!

Good but could be better

What made the experience of listening to Stuff the most enjoyable?

I found that the authors focused on a couple of stories of people and I would have been more interested in the variety of issues encountered with hoarders, and more on the treatment of hoarding (which they barely touched on).

Lots of Stuff About Stuff

By way of background, I have several hundred audio books in a wide range of areas in my Library. It is a pretty eclectic collection and I have enjoyed almost every one of them so I am, no doubt, a soft touch as a listener and review. I am deeply thankful for the reviewers who have the time, energy and ability to write thorough and insightful reviews. Sadly that is not me. What I can say is that I liked Stuff. It held my attention and I learned considerably more than I thought I would about a not so small part of our world. By the way, the narrator was excellent. It was well worth the credit.

Excellent information - Very helpful! Heartfelt.

I admit I have some hoarder tendencies and I listened to this as I cleaned out my basement. I am not a hoarder, but, I do know and love family members who are. I grew up in a home with a parent who, over the years developed a massive hoard, an unhealthy hoard. When the parent passed, there were few treasures salvaged from that situation. I promised myself in my childhood to never be like that parent and grow a hoard. I have kept that promise to myself, but, so have seen that mental illness affect my children in different ways.

Everything in this book spoke to me and made sense of this family history that began in my grandfather as far as I can tell. I am deeply grateful to the authors for their research and the sharing of their knowledge through this book and the excellent narration. I know I will refer to this book many times in the future. I read the Kindle version and have ordered a hard copy for interested family members to share. This is such important research that I hope continues. Most family members want and need good information about this disorder. I intend to keep listening to this book again as I struggle with the impact of this disorder in my family. I was hungry for this knowledge.

Thank you for the depths of my soul for this publication - and a special thanks to the folks involved in the personal studies provided within this book. This took great courage to produce! I love the book.

WoW- Ashamed at the anger I felt

I have learned so much listening to this book. I feel ashamed at the feelings I had towards hoarders.