[MississippiMasterpiece]

My problem is books...I've been collecting them for almost 20 years...I have thousands and thousands in my home...stacked in closets...boxed under beds...My name is MississippiMasterpiece and I am a bookaholic.

[EEDUDE]

And obviously brain damaged! LOL!

[Galtoid]

I can think of worse things than surrounding yourself with books. Why don't you just open a neighborhood library? That would be the answer.

[xJones]

Oh, thank God! But can it be eventually cured?

[cricket]

Since it is 'books' you collect; you are exempt from 'rat' status ;^)

Did you say thousands?

[JudyinCanada]

Well if the workshop, garage, and shed aren't soon cleaned out, there is going to be even more brain damage around here!

[risk]

My name is MississippiMasterpiece and I am a bookaholic.

I can't think of a better addiction!

[melbell]

I collect scientific reasearch articles...

and you have just made my problem worse!
[/sarcasm]

[blam]

"My name is MississippiMasterpiece and I am a bookaholic."

Ditto. But, I collect most anything...most in my family do.

[IronJack]

This is not as harmless an obsession as you'd think. I have a colleague who comes from a whole family of pack rats. His house caught fire a few years ago, and he was forced to move. He literally had to buy a farm with outbuildings to contain all the junk he'd accumulated over the years. I'm talking about boxes and boxes of rusty and rotten construction scraps, broken machinery, and stuff like boxes for toys he'd bought his kids for Christmas 20 years ago. Hauling all that crap cost him a small fortune -- the outbuildings weren't big enough so he ended up buying half a dozen old semi trailers -- and took forever. To make matters worse, his dad is even more of a pack rat than he is, and has had more than 80 years to accumulate junk.

He is so weighed down by his "possessions" that they own him, not vice versa.

[liberateUS]

Finally, I know what's wrong with my wife! I always felt like it was brain damage, now I know!

[cgbg]

I confess:

Classical music CDs

Science fiction books

Hand-made Cigars.

:-)

[ClearCase_guy]

I'm glad I found this thread. I collect articles on why people collect things ...

[Mr Ramsbotham]

Trained scientists ought to know better than to jump to these ridiculous conclusions. Just because a particular area of the brain lights up when stimulated in a certain way is no sign that there's a causative relationship between it and the behavior. Obviously every conscious action has to be processed somewhere in the brain!

[Fiddlstix]

Note to self:
I must quit collecting lug nuts from '57 chevrolets.

[Tuscaloosa Goldfinch]

Mother, is that you?

No, you live in Mississippi.

[Petruchio]

Often, thoughts of collecting girlfriends has crossed my mind...

However, thoughts of selective dismembership has prevented me from acting on the impulse.

[berkeleybeej]

I watch the animal cop shows and am always stunned at the dog and/or cat collectors (with attendant filth).

My Mom was a garage saler -- After she died, my sister and I were amazed at the amount of "stuff" that her tiny house and garage could hold.

My sister may have the disease. I don't - Less is more.

[Rebelbase]

Guilty.

[arasina]

I used to collect books but I reached an overload point where I decided to keep only the ones I would actually read again. Now I read a book and immediately pass it on or donate it. I started purging "stuff" I collected after moving a couple of times and now I do it on a regular basis.

I still have "pack-rat" tendencies (inherited from my father who collected antiques and historical memorabilia) but I like my space too much and can't stand the knick-knacks that many women like to hoard.

[Irish Queen]

Me too! My husband estimates that I have around 35,000 books. My collection is mainly nonfiction. My excuse is that as a teacher and writer I need the books. But the truth is I simply love books, especially old ones.