Mongo: Adventures in Trash - Softcover

Botha, Ted

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1582345678 ISBN 13: 9781582345673

Publisher: Bloomsbury USA, 2005

Synopsis

Journalist Ted Botha became obsessed with mongo (defined as any discarded object that is retrieved) when he moved to New York. Decorating his apartment with the furniture and objects he found on Manhattan's streets, he soon realized he wasn't the only person finding things of value in the garbage, and he began meeting all kinds of collectors. Mongo is Botha's remarkable record of his travels among these varied and eccentric people-an appropriately addictive tribute to this longtime, universal phenomenon.

About this title

About the Author:

Ted Botha was born in New York and grew up in Japan, South Africa, and Washington, D.C. He has written for the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, and the Wall Street Journal, among other publications. His first book, Apartheid in My Rucksack, was a personal account of discovering Africa as a white African.

From Publishers Weekly:

After moving to New York in the 1990s and furnishing his apartment with bounty from the city streets, the author discovered he wasn't the first or only enterprising scavenger around. In this entertaining narrative, Botha (Apartheid in My Rucksack) delves into a world of avid collectors who forage New York's garbage for everything from empty soda cans and leftover sushi to old coins and first editions. These treasures even have a distinct name—mongo—which The Cassell Dictionary of Slang defines as "any discarded object that is retrieved," Botha explains. Each chapter examines a different category of mongo seeker, from pack rats and preservationists to voyeurs and visionaries, whom Botha befriends and accompanies on their mostly nocturnal routes. Some of the most fascinating sections involve Dave, "The Treasure Hunter," whose frequent forays to Manhattan's landfills yield precious gems caked with mud; and "The Anarchists," a band of bicycle-riding young people who forgo grocery shopping in favor of gathering edibles from plastic bags outside restaurants. Steven, "The Dealer," a used- and rare-book merchant whose entire inventory comes from the street, emerges as one of the tour's most industrious characters; he gets up before dawn and "works more diligently than anyone in an office, seven days a week." Though some of Botha's observations are repetitive, he's an able guide through the undisputed capital of mongo. His sensitive and nonjudgmental study portrays a previously overlooked but resilient and passionate population as one that's worthy of attention and respect.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

About this edition

• Publisher: Bloomsbury USA
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 1582345678
• ISBN 13: 9781582345673
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 256