Found II: More of the Best Lost, Tossed, and Forgotten Items from Around the World [Paperback]

Davy Rothbart (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 2, 2006

Found II, the follow-up to the acclaimed national bestseller, contains an engrossing, eye-opening assortment of the latest and greatest lost, tossed, and forgotten items -- love notes, shopping lists, doodles, and diary entries -- from around the world. Whether they are found on city sidewalks, stuck in chain-link fences, tucked into the pockets of secondhand clothing, or on the grass in a school yard, these items give readers an uncensored, poignant, and often hilarious peek into other peeple's people's lives.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

If you've ever pocketed a stranger's forgotten train ticket-stub because you're fascinated by the little bird doodled on it, this book's for you. The sequel to the first Found, and sister to Found magazine makes happened-upon stuff-notes, lists, photos-its raison d'etre. What's intriguing about this book's reconnoitered artifacts, is that they run the gamut from a young boy's storyboard retelling of having a gun held to his head to a disgruntled airline customer's complaint letter about being seated near the lavatory. Each item appears mostly intact (names and phone numbers have been redacted or changed) and looks as if photocopied onto the page. There's no organizational logic to the book, though that's a small gripe considering the wealth of puzzling and hilarious goodies included: a pros/cons list written about someone's male love interest; a letter from a London city official asking a guest of a library to stay away until his "personal hygiene becomes acceptable"; a letter from student propositioning a male teacher, and a rudimentary cartoon drawing of a pregnant man. Some inclusions benefit from contextualization (as in the notes that are found near prisons or inside floating balloons), and the author keeps editorializing to a minimum, leaving the found objects to speak for themselves.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review

"Found is a powerful fix for thinking voyeurs."

-- Joan Anderman, The Boston Globe

"A fascinating and wonderfully moving collage of human emotion."

-- Jessica Hundley, Los Angeles Times

"What's more irresistible than reading a letter not meant for your eyes? . . . A quirky lens into the flotsam and jetsam of humanity."

-- Marla Paul, Chicago Tribune

"I love Found!"

-- Drew Barrymore

"A fascinating collection. It will break your heart."

-- David Sedaris, author of Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim

"A great book . . ."

-- David Letterman

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Touchstone; Original edition (May 2, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743273079
• ISBN-13: 978-0743273077
• Product Dimensions: 10.7 x 8.3 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #316,014 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Davy Rothbart is the author of the national bestseller Found, and creator of the magazine of the same name. A contributor to public radio's This American Life, he is also the author of the story collection The Lone Surfer of Montana, Kansas. He lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Fascinating Book, May 3, 2006

By 

chickensdontclap (Sacramento,CA, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Found II: More of the Best Lost, Tossed, and Forgotten Items from Around the World (Paperback)

I first became familiar with Found when I flipped through my mom's copy of the first book. She had heard about the book from some local radio station. At first the basic premise of the book didn't sound too intriguing. It sounded like a book full of trash. Essentially, that is what Found is, but trash that tells stories. Love letters, photos, shopping lists, homework (one kid handed in a report on a certain part of the male anatomy) etc. Some finds are funny. Some tragic. Some heartwarming. Think of the finds as short stories, sometimes conisisting of only a few words. Or better yet, windows into the lives of others. This is one of those books that is fun to just pick up and flip through making it a perfect "coffee table" book. I took the first Found book to work a few years ago and was constantly lending it to people (or rather leaving it around while people couldn't help but be intrigued) who would soon be showing me their favorite finds. After reading this book you will never look at trash the same way again. I constantly scan the streets in search of my own finds worthy of Found Magazine. So far the most interesting thing I've found is a name tag that says "Pastor John Issacs." I wore it around work for awhile as a joke before it broke and another card behind the one that said "Pastor John" spilled out. It said "Elizabeth Jenson". Why did Pastor John have Elizabeth Jenson's nametag? Duel-Identities perhaps? You make up the story. The same goes with many of the finds in this book. I highly recomend purchasing both FOUND and FOUND II.

22 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars always amazing and intriguing, May 4, 2006

By 

C. Ryono "my heart is a series of tubes" (Portland, OR United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Found II: More of the Best Lost, Tossed, and Forgotten Items from Around the World (Paperback)

For those of you who might find the first Found book or this second one offensive in its content -- guess what? -- life is offensive. And for that matter, life is also often tragic, poignant, ironic, hysterically funny, random, and sometimes all of these things at once... the "Found" books and the magazines reflect all of these aspects of everyday life. That's what makes it so remarkable. Indeed, how many books can cause you to giggle and feel emotionally vulnerable within two pages? This work by Davy Rothbart, co-editor Jason Bitner, and all the Found crew deserves praise because this is a cross-section of humanity stripped down to its beautiful bare essentials. If, several thousand years from now, (android? zombie?) archeologists study our current century, they might go through our trash. Think of "Found" as giving them a headstart.

19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Collection of the world's trivia, April 25, 2006

By 

John Matlock "Gunny" (Winnemucca, NV) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Found II: More of the Best Lost, Tossed, and Forgotten Items from Around the World (Paperback)

Sub-Title: More of the Best Lost, Tossed, and Forgotten Items from Around the World ==It reminds me a lot of cleaning off my desk (It's been said that my desk is messy). The things I find. Some of which I had been looking for for months, some of which I don't recognize at all.

This is a collection of things (mostly paper) that got found somewhere. One note said: 'Sniper Wanted: to think out the herd a Little. Non-smoker.' From that you can make up any kind of story you want. Or how about the request: 'Please send me a picture of God.' And there is: 'Dear Santa, This year I am going to try to be naughty and save you the trip.' Or, 'The condom made a mistake and broke.'

One time I got a letter. It was well reasoned and talked about some business related subject that I've forgotten. Only thing, it was written in crayon. After the signature was written, "Please excuse the crayon, they won't let us have anything sharp."

Good for the coffee table or the bathroom.