Secondhand: travels in the new global garage sale

Description

From the acclaimed author of Junkyard Planet, a global exploration of the hidden market for used stuff and a travelogue that follows unwanted, obsolescent objects' journey into a reusable future. 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 new and shiny-it entertains us, makes fortunes, fulfills needs, and transforms the way we live and work.;Empty the nest -- Decluttering -- The flood -- The good stuff -- Danshari -- Our warehouse is a four-bedroom house -- Frayed below the stitch -- Good as new -- Enough to sell -- And it lasts forever -- A rich person's broken thing -- More suitcases.