[MississippiMasterpiece]

My problem is books...I've been collecting them for almost 20 years...I have thousands and thousands in my home...stacked in closets...boxed under beds...My name is MississippiMasterpiece and I am a bookaholic.

[1rudeboy]

I have a book collection that I value in the thousands. I asked State Farm if they would insure it for me, and it said no. Why? Because of the potential for fraud.

My name is 1rudeboy and I am a bookaholic.

[Muleteam1]

Never let it be said that capitalism doesn't have an answer for every human ailment. While Coast-to Coast (formerly Art Bell) serves schizophrenics, eBay serves collectors.

Muleteam1

[searchandrecovery]

The article reminds me of that guy in nyc who had an apartment filled with stacks and piles of newspapers and magazines (probably some books in there, too). I think some stacks fell over on him and he was trapped for a couple of days. I believe he lived (but had to clean the place out). He might have had some paper cuts.

[Quix]

LOL.

Have had to reform. Hauling bags back and forth across the Pacific is very limiting on limited income! Giving yet another round of books to the church.

[Marauder]

I read this and immediately discarded my collection of matchboxes filled with pieces of string too short to use.

Seriously, though, I've have an old British motorcycle for a long time, and over the years I've made changes for convenience and comfort, like adding turn signals (safety) and raising the handlebars. It was a "cafe racer" and with the short handlebars it was like riding a jackhammer.

As is, I can probably get around $6,000 - $7,000 for it; but the other day I was told that it would be worth in excess of $30,000 in original condition! However, the box where I kept the original parts has long since been lost or thrown away.

[Seaplaner]

I think that there are some books that could help you with this problem.

[Smokin' Joe]

HI Mississippi!

[Libertina]

I just LOVE you, MM! :)

[Nataku X]

Any single male Freepers out there who have a penchant for collecting small green pieces of paper?

[Ciexyz]

I collect matches from various restauants and hotels and conferences I've been to. May not mean much to anybody else, but it brings back memories to me. And maybe I'll need them to light a candle if the power goes out.

[DoughtyOne]

Pack Rats find clue to Obsessive Researchers

[xm177e2]

Researchers Find Clues to 'Pack-Rat' Urge

I misread the title... I thought it said:

Researchers Find Clues to 'Rat-Pack' Urge

[theFIRMbss]

>Researchers say they've found an area of the brain that seems to govern the urge to collect

Well, I think I know
the area of my brain
that's behind my urge

to collect pop tarts . . .
It's a good set, but, caution,
filling might be hot . . .

[RightWhale]

I have quite a collection of cheap, bent, Chinese screwdrivers. Maybe that's redundant.

[bankwalker]

Attention, pack rats: science may have figured you out.

It's very simple. If I throw it away, I'll need it tomorrow, so I better just keep it. It doesn't take up too much space.

[firebrand]

Having worked for book publishers for many years, I was always unable to resist free copies of collectible books--found among the piles on the windowsills or file cabinets.

Most of the authors came to NYC for book signings, so it was a simple matter to get them signed too. A night of entertainment at Barnes & Noble and you walk away a few hundred dollars richer. But now I can't figure out what to do with them. Just keep them, I guess.

[MinuteGal]

I'll bet those homes filled with thousands of books smell real good, LOL. Especially if some are infested with little pulp-eating insects.

Leni

[CORedneck]

Pack-ratters can also be bad at work. When I was a Sys Admin on one project, we had one guy whose office was a pigs pen. There was no desk surface because of papers, books, magazines stacked to 6 inches high. He had a Sun Sparc 20 on his desk (pizza box) and every several months, his hard drives would go belly up so the drives had to be replaced. After the drive failed the second time, I told him no work will be done in his cube until he cleaned up his crap and make space for me to work.

In that job, I was also in charge of a lab as well. I keep the place clean but this person, he and I would constantly butt heads because he always wanted to dump his junk in there. I also got rid of a lot of stuff of unused and outdated software such as dated to 1980 (this was 1997). Unfortunately, I had to get his permission to get rid of unneeded and unused stuff. He refused to sign the paperwork to get rid of it and I had to go over his head to get the approval. It p*ssed him off.