Customer Reviews

Collecting: An Unruly Passion: Psychological Perspectives

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I was offended from the first page of this book written by a psychiatrist, whose theory trivializes the emotional, aesthetic and intellectual (not to mention fun) qualities of collecting by reducing the pursuit to "compulsive action molded by irrational impulses." The author interprets the acquisition of objects "as a powerful help in keeping anxiety or uncertainty under control." This anxiety is ostensibly caused by "underlying factors" such as "war, a parent's suicide, prolonged illness, physical handicaps, death of a sibling, or SIMPLY NOT-GOOD-ENOUGH early care."
With this tunnel-vision approach, Muensterberger proceeds to relate anecdotes of famous collectors' lives and interpret them as compulsive and unconscious behaviors to alleviate neuroses. The text is padded with details about the rich and famous: Balzac was a collector of "bric a brac," a hobby described as deriving from childhood suffering. The collecting habits of Holy Roman Emperor Rudolph II are similarly reduced to "anal-obsessive character traits." Getty, Duveen and a plethora of historical fugues litter the text. This book is a classic example of psychoanalytic gibberish, probably originating from the author's doctoral thesis, based on the number of footnotes.
Ultimately, there is no argument here related to collecting that could not equally apply to any human behavior. Thus, there is no argument at all. As any educated person knows, it is all to easy to take an erroneous theory and find lots of examples to support it. As a former curator at a top ten museum, I think I am more familiar with collectors than the author. As a collector myself, I know that collecting is a happy, positive and enriching experience.
Jeanette Hanisee Gabriel

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!

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....

Exceptional book, very well written and insightful. Author is a psychoanalyst and he examines collecting behavior from this perspective. Historical case studies are quite interesting and entertaining. Helped me understand my own collecting impulses. Highly recommended!

People who aren't collectors have wondered why some people have the compulsion to collect(worthless)stuff. This book is great because it doesn't just label collectors as obsessive-compulsion,as many psychology books do, but explains the particular type of obsessive-compulsives that are collectors. Society often accepts the idea of collecting as a type of hobby and thus,normal behavior. However, when the inner life of collectors are exposed,as in this book, one begins to see a pattern of deep unresolved psychological issues which plague collectors;One begins to see that this so-called "hobby" is really an outlet for unresolved emotional problems. Their collections of(often)worthless stuff are a way to symbolically regain mastery of control in their lives, explains this book. The detailed accounts of collectors lives also reveal the individual idiosyncracies which may drive different collectors to collect the same kind of worthless stuff, but for different personal emotional reasons,thus exposing the real psychological motive in the collector's "ambition". The psychological concepts in this book may be a bit advanced for some, but Werner Muesterberger makes these easy to understand.

I thought it would be fun to see some interesting insights into why I collect books and like collecting in general. Nope. His insights are dry and old and no different than what drives any body to do anything. We all seek happiness because we are unhappy and there is always an underlying stress or anxiety about this. So why do some people collect? Or eat too much, or ski, or sky dive, or on an on and on. EVERYONE does SOMETHING to seek because they feel insecure and not sustained in the Universe. So collecting is not in the least unique. It's the same reason Mr. Muensterberger wrote this book - he is seeking in his own way. It's as simple as that. I will be returning this boring book.