Adam Minter's Secondhand Journey: Exploring the New Global Garage Sale Scene

Lauren Williams, the Casual Unclutterer: I'm recycling some of my review of Minter's first book: Junkyard Planet: Travels in the Billion-Dollar Trash Trade to write this review ♥. Secondhand: Travels in the New Global Garage Sale by Adam Minter is amusing, terrifying, inspiring, infuriating and depressing. Not the book itself, which is wonderful: Minter is an accomplished journalist with a unique understanding of his subject matter - junkyards, scrapyards, recycling, reuse, secondhand throughout the world - because he grew up in his family's Minneapolis, Minnesota, US scrapyard. All those other adjectives because Secondhand so compellingly exposes the worst of capitalist excess. Western cultures WASTE resources on an immeasurable scale, and maintain an enraging, ill-informed insistence that Western solutions to global challenges, which often truthfully are generated and propelled by Western societies in the first place, are the only appropriate ones. In a trash can, Western cultures, and a growing number of cultures influenced by Western values, use too many original raw resources to sustain rational levels of production and consumption before the unhealthful consequences to the Earth's ecosystem may be irreversible....

United States on Feb 21, 2023

KatyJ: Minter is such a terrific, fluid writer and a dogged, thorough reporter that you'll be enlightened on the larger global problem of Too Much Stuff without having to view it from a bird's eye view: he is there, on ground level, on the streets and at warehouses and refuse heaps all over the world. But "Secondhand" also zeroes in on questions an individual might ask: Why is my grandmother's china becoming less valuable, not more valuable, even as it becomes more "antique"? The answer is useful to anyone who has too much stuff.

United States on Nov 26, 2022

Vanessa Arnold: My extent of the global secondhand market was limited to just goodwill and like a lot of people thought it just ended there. This book opened my mind to how big this market is and how much of an impact it has on the world. I couldn’t recommend this book enough!

United States on Feb 14, 2022

southbaygal: I heard the author being interviewed on a local call in radio program and was intrigued enough to buy the book. I worked in retail for a number of years. My mother also had an informal hobby buying and selling used items. She was very good at it. As someone who used to worship at the alter of the mall getting rid of things that no longer suited me always made me feel a bit guilty. I had no idea where they actually ended up. This is an eye opening book. Thank you Mr. Minter. By the way since I’ve retired I’ve been going through my things and getting rid of them. Now I buy only replacement items when they break or wear out.

United States on May 12, 2021

crazee cat ladee: Very clear and concise, a quick read. Also very engaging. I liked that the author used real life people and not just dry recitation of facts. The author includes some suggestions for a path towards better sustainability but I felt could have included more about how to actively get involved (legislatively or with various organizations).
Overall, time very well spent.

United States on Dec 29, 2020

Dave the Rave: Although the author tries to give the book a positive spin in the last chapters, this is an eye opening look at the global consequence of Noth American hyper consumption. In fairness, the over consumption habits of other nations (e.g., Mexico, Japan, the Philippines) are also laid bare. Meanwhile, the reader is stripped of the notion that a donation of used items to charity is a mitzvah. It ain't, it is just more fodder for the landfill.

Canada on Oct 25, 2020

Satisfied Philips customer: Wished to learn about the importance of garage sales in N. America

Canada on Sep 30, 2020

Sarah N: This book is so interesting, I am a big fan of second hand items, I donate and buy items regularly. This book is quite shocking, makes you think about stuff in a different way. For British readers, the author has examples from America and other countries, but does not mention our second hand market. There are highs - people buying, fixing and reusing and re-homing things and the lows - landfill items, cannot be recycled. I would definitely read other books by this author.

United Kingdom on Jul 16, 2020

Lynn: An interesting read about the state of our second hand economy.

Canada on Mar 04, 2020

Katie: I’m not finished reading it yet, but so far it’s keeping me interested, it’s informative and well written.

Canada on Feb 07, 2020