Ilene R. (planteater) reviewed Inconspicuous Consumption: An Obsessive Look at the Stuff We Take for Granted, from the Everyday to the Obscure on + 10 more book reviews
Paul Lukas pays attention to the things that the average person doesn't. He revels in humble, well-made objects that do their jobs perfectly (the change maker used by ice cream vendors), as well as the weird ones that defy explanation (kraut juice). Lukas helpfully provides the manufacturers' names, wherever possible, and/or tells us where he obtained his items - because Lukas is not only a philosopher of consumption, he is also a practitioner. It's an easy, relaxing read, and one that may make the reader a bit more aware of his or her surroundings, of the marvelous and strange things that inhabit our consumption-driven world, and of the impulses that drive us to create (and purchase) the things that we do.
H M. (anchovy) reviewed Inconspicuous Consumption: An Obsessive Look at the Stuff We Take for Granted, from the Everyday to the Obscure on + 296 more book reviews
He starts by describing the aesthetics of the Brannock Device (which we mostly know better as "that think they use to figure out your shoe size") and keeps up pretty well through Kraut Juice and Lawn Makeup. An interesting and eclectic read. A series of columns from the author's magazine "Beer Frame: The Journal of Inconspicuous Consumption".
