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Title details for Secondhand by Adam Minter - Available

Secondhand

Travels in the New Global Garage Sale

by Adam Minter
Daniel Henning
Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
Borrow Listen to a sample Listen to a sample
1 of 1 copy available
When you drop a box of unwanted items off at the local thrift store, where do they go? Probably across the country—or even halfway across the world—to people and places eager to reuse what you don't want. In Secondhand, Adam Minter delves into the vast, multibillion-dollar industry that resells used stuff around the world. He follows the trail of unwanted objects from the closets, garages, and storage units of Middle America to epic used-goods markets in Canada, Mexico, Japan, Ghana, India, Malaysia, and beyond. Secondhand takes us through the often painful and heartbreaking process of cleaning out a lifetime's worth of possessions and shows that used stuff still has a place in a world that values the new and shiny—it entertains us, makes fortunes, fulfills needs, and transforms the way we live and work.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    February 18, 2020

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9781666564990
      • File size: 289412 KB
      • Duration: 10:02:56

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • AudioFile Magazine
      Daniel Henning capably narrates journalist Adam Minter's fascinating account of the industry of reuse, which examines businesses that run the gamut from local thrift stores to Japanese vintage shops to used-goods enterprises in Ghana. What happens to our unwanted, discarded, or donated stuff? What's the next stop for that drop-off at Goodwill? As Minter pulls aside the curtain on the global secondhand industry, listeners embark on a wide-ranging adventure, learning who profits (and who doesn't) from the afterlife of our cast-off belongings. Easy on the ear, Henning sounds interested and educational; he entertains by highlighting the material presented without calling unnecessary attention to his delivery. The result is a lively production that will stick with listeners, inviting them to consider--and maybe reconsider--their choices as consumers. J.C.G. © AudioFile 2020, Portland, Maine
    • Publisher's Weekly

      July 15, 2019
      Starting at what many people would consider the end of the story, when it’s time to dispose of possessions that are unwanted, unused, or broken, business journalist Minter (Junkyard Planet) takes readers on a surprisingly jaunty trip through the global market for secondhand goods. Starting at a storage unit in the Minneapolis suburbs and winding up in Ghana’s Golden Jubilee Terminal, a major import crossroads, with stops in Japan, India, and Malaysia along the way, Minter introduces a colorful cast of characters, such as 41-year-old “Shoe Guy,” a (self-declared) 35-year veteran of the U.S.-Mexico trade in used goods, and Robin Ingenthron, a Vermont entrepreneur who exports computer monitors from the U.S. to the developing world. Largely a portrait of an industry in decline due to items such as clothing becoming cheaper and less durable and higher ticket electronics being developed to insure that they are difficult to repair, Minter’s book reveals an economy hampered by an increasing overabundance of supply (“The things I value, I quickly realized, generally aren’t valuable to anyone but me”). This is a fascinating, eye-opening look at a dynamic, largely unseen world that only starts when one drops off something at a thrift store. Agent: Wendy Sherman, Wendy Sherman Associates.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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