MARC Record from marc_columbia

LEADER: 02837mam a2200397 a 4500
001 2337810
005 20220616023712.0
008 990329s1999 mau b 000 0aeng
010 $a 99015173
020 $a0395944775
035 $a(OCoLC)ocm41108515
035 $9APL3008CU
035 $a2337810
040 $aDLC$cDLC$dC#P$dOrLoB-B
043 $an-us---
050 00 $aPS3572.E76$bZ465 1999
082 00 $a813/.54$aB$221
100 1 $aVernon, John,$d1943-$0http://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n84080751
245 12 $aA book of reasons /$cJohn Vernon.
260 $aBoston :$bHoughton Mifflin,$c1999.
300 $axii, 272 pages ;$c22 cm
336 $atext$btxt$2rdacontent
337 $aunmediated$bn$2rdamedia
504 $aIncludes bibliographical references (p. 259-272).
520 1 $a"Every family has its odd character, the one member who never seems right with the world. In his pairing of family history with the history of civilization, John Vernon discovers the extraordinary sources of ordinary things in the life of his reclusive brother, Paul."--BOOK JACKET.
520 8 $a"When Paul died and John was charged with settling his affairs, he came face to face with a life he had never suspected. His brother's house in southern New Hampshire was in a state of squalid disrepair: piled high with a lifetime of trash, unheated and decrepit, pitifully unlivable. An assembly worker and an amateur inventor, Paul had managed to keep his sad and strange world hidden from his family and acquaintances."--BOOK JACKET.
520 8 $a"Why does a childhood full of promise turn wrong? Why do we clutter our lives with things? How do we make and understand our world? Vernon seeks answers in the most unexpected places.
520 8 $aBuying a hammer at Wal-Mart inspires a short history of tools, Paul's wake occasions an investigation of embalming, and cleaning out his house gives rise to a history of central heating and of domesticating environments - all in an attempt to "comprehend a life that left behind not splendid monuments but ordinary wreckage.""--BOOK JACKET.
520 8 $a"The result is a book of reasons: reasons for his brother's way of life, reasons for his own response to Paul's death. In the process, he discovers how reasons enable all of us not only to better understand the world and its mysteries but also to accept what can never be explained."--BOOK JACKET.
600 10 $aVernon, John,$d1943-$xFamily.
650 0 $aNovelists, American$y20th century$xFamily relationships.$0http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh2008108456
650 0 $aCollectors and collecting$xPsychological aspects.
650 0 $aEccentrics and eccentricities$zUnited States.
650 0 $aBrothers$xDeath$xPsychological aspects.
650 0 $aRecluses$zUnited States.
852 00 $boff,glx$hPS3572.E76$iZ465 1999