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The Comfort Of Things (2008)

by Daniel Miller(Favorite Author)

3.84 of 5 Votes: 3

ISBN

0745644031 (ISBN13: 9780745644035)

languge

English

genre

Nonfiction

publisher

Polity Press

review 1: As I read this book, I couldn't help but think, "This is a terrible ethnography." After taking a step back from the book, and after realizing Miller's intention was not to write a formal (academic) ethnography, I liked the book a lot more. Miller has a lot of interesting ideas. However, I feel that he could have gone much deeper into the anthropological analysis of his main idea by substantiating his work with other theories, or coining his own theories. As "The Comfort of Things" stands, it seems to be based more in the psychology of things, not so much the anthropology of things.But then again, what do I know? In any case, I would recommend reading this book.
review 2: Hmm, this wasn't quite what I expected, I guess. I think I thought it would be more o... morebviously anthropological, with more distance between the writer and subjects...but still I enjoyed it for what it was. Clearly in the course of the study he became very close to the people he was studying, and I got the sense that he really felt love for them and admired them even though some of them were very strange people and others were very dull. It reminds me a little of how my job is, getting a glimpse into the ordinary and extraordinary details of people's lives. less

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