Title: A book of reasons
First published: 1999
Description: "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.

"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.

"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.

Buying 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.

"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.
Subjects: American Novelists, Brothers, Collectors and collecting, Death, Eccentrics and eccentricities, Family, Family relationships, Novelists, American, Psychological aspects, Psychological aspects of Collectors and collecting, Recluses, Brothers -- Death -- Psychological aspects, Literary, Collectors and collecting -- Psychological aspects, Eccentrics and eccentricities -- United States, Families, Novelists, American -- 20th century -- Family relationships, Recluses -- United States, BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY, Vernon, John, -- 1943- -- Family
Places: United States
People: John Vernon (1943-)
Time periods: 20th century
LC classification: PS3572.E76 Z465 1999