Mongo: Adventures In Trash

From Strand Bookstore

The journalist's memoir of his life as a collector of mongo--any discarded item that is rescued from the trash--& his record of other mongo collectors he has found.

From the Publisher

An intriguing journey inside the eccentric world of nonprofessional garbage collectors offers a series of colorful portraits of all kinds of collectors unified by their mutual obsession with mongo, discarded items rescued from the trash, despite their individual motivations for collecting.

Review

Jenny Ingram - Bloomsbury Review
"The characters are as interesting and memorable as the items they come across."

Review

Publishers Weekly
"[Botha's] sensitive and nonjudgmental study portrays a previously overlooked but resilient and passionate population as one that's worthy of attention and respect."

Review

Kirkus
"An adroit paean to thrift, lasting value, and the bargain ethic."

More about the book

Ted Botha, who furnished his Manhattan apartment entirely with items he found in the trash, devotes this nonfiction work to those who have made a vocation of collecting "mongo,"--treasures that others have thrown out. From rare books and Victorian jewelry to cans picked up for the nickel deposit and the discarded food from restaurants, there is wealth to be found in garbage, if one only has the patience and the dedication of those whose accounts are recorded here.