With vivid portraits that show us the traits by which you can identify a hoarder, Frost and Steketee explain the causes and outline the often ineffective treatments for the disorder while illuminating the pull that possessions exert on all of us.

Dead body in the Collyer mansion : a prologue to hoarding -- Piles upon piles : the story of hoarding -- We are what we own : owning, collecting, and hoarding -- Amazing junk : the pleasures of hoarding -- Bunkers and cocoons : playing it safe -- A fragment of me : identity and attachment -- Rescue : saving animals from a life on the streets -- A river of opportunities -- Avoiding the agony -- You haven't got a clue -- A tree with too many branches : genetics and the brain -- A packrat in the family -- But it's mine! : hoarding in children -- Having, being, and hoarding.