Collecting: An Unruly Passion: Psychological Perspectives

by Werner Münsterberger and Werner Muensterberger

Book Overview

From rare books, valuable sculpture and paintings, the relics of saints, and porcelain and other precious items, through stamps, textiles, military ribbons, and shells, to baseball cards, teddy bears,... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0691033617
• ISBN13: 9780691033617
• Release Date: November 1993
• Publisher: Princeton University Press
• Length: 324 Pages
• Weight: 1.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 7.8" x 10.0"

Customer Reviews

Excellent Analysis - Recognized Myself On Almost Every Page

I could not put this book down from the minute I started reading it and recognized myself on almost every page. As an inveterate collector, many of the observations related to the behavior of "monomaniacal" collectors rang absolutely true and sometimes uncomfortably hit home. While some the the Freudian psychoanalysis may be a little off [or at the very least subjective], these analyses are not the crux of the book and it should not be mistaken for a jargon-laden treatise. Instead, the many descriptions of various collectors and their motivations, habits, rituals and behaviors were - in my own personal experience - completely spot-on. In fact, I wish the book was twice as long! If I had any critical comments, they would only be that there were not enough contemporary profiles of collectors and perhaps too much focus on historical figures and the collecting trends of various historical periods. All-in-all a very informative, insightful and though-provoking read...a must for hard-core collectors!

Psychology collectors may fear!

The case studies are quite entertaining. The analysis of the drive to collect as a way to undo inner anxiety, stress and childhood trauma seems dubious, but who can say? Collectors may scoff at the analysis, or they may enjoy it....