These diagnostic images accompanied a London Review of Books “Diary” essay by Jon Day about hoarders. They are meant to provide an objective baseline for evaluating the severity of pathological hoarding, but they immediately struck me as a metaphor, a time-lapse series capturing the evolving condition of my mind on any given day as it precedes. Usually I wake up with an orderly sense of where things belong and where things can be found, but soon the room fills up with an unruly pile of garbage that I eventually give up on trying to sort or discard. I know there were ideas buried in there somewhere, but I don’t think I will be able to find them, and who’s to say they wouldn’t have just become someone else’s mind trash?
I’m struck by how heavily the image at the top is weighted toward the high end of the scale. Once you get to about 6 or so, are further distinctions particularly illuminating? If the trash pile reaches 6 feet instead of 5 feet, I’d say that’s more indicative of the hoarder’s *height* than pathology at that point...
Sad to see RL go but glad something is coming from the ashes.
This has me thinking about what I don't collect/consume (something I often thought about while reading RL). Ironically, I find that physically consumable things often provide a less immersive experience than digitally consumable things. And where's the in between?
so good. some of the best tech writing i've read in the past months -- very happy that this newsletter is continuing despite the closing of RL
Every time I read your blogs I am blown away. Thanks for continuing this informative work.
So interesting and mind opening. Thank you for sharing this in my mailbox, for free.
I’m struck by how heavily the image at the top is weighted toward the high end of the scale. Once you get to about 6 or so, are further distinctions particularly illuminating? If the trash pile reaches 6 feet instead of 5 feet, I’d say that’s more indicative of the hoarder’s *height* than pathology at that point...
Anyway, great piece.
Sad to see RL go but glad something is coming from the ashes.
This has me thinking about what I don't collect/consume (something I often thought about while reading RL). Ironically, I find that physically consumable things often provide a less immersive experience than digitally consumable things. And where's the in between?