"Miller's moving account...is a stout defence of that pejorative
notion: 'only sentimental value.'He builds up a tapestry of the
variety of ways in which people use things to express themselves
and make meaning in their lives. The nondescript, the ordinary can
be invested with great value."
The Guardian
"An outstanding piece of work: a fine example of modern
anthropological fieldwork, a powerful corrective to the banal
notion that materialism is synonymous with excessive individualism
and, perhaps above all, an informed, sensitive, and wholly
sympathetic guide to the human diversity to be found through the
keyholes of our capital city."
Laurie Taylor, The Independent
"A wonderful and unusual antidote to the fear that humanity and
individuality is losing its battle with modern consumerism. In his
book, even the most trivial product of consumerism can be rendered
almost magical by its owners."
Financial Times
"This book sums up how far social anthropology has progressed
since Henry Mayhew wrote about the skull shapes of costermongers in
the 19th century."
New Statesman
"A set of delicately drawn pen portraits of lives in a single,
unnamed South London street ... this is a book quite out of the
ordinary. While you read these pages, this is the street where you
live."
Times Literary Supplement
"[I]t would be an injustice to Daniel Miller and to the
exquisite text he has crafted to describe The Comfort of
Things as anything less than beautifully written ... This
particular book opens up a variety of avenues for exploration, and
serves as a reminder of what sociologists can learn from such rich
anthropological research."
British Journal of Sociology
"This is social anthropology at its finest."
Steven Carroll, The Age
"This is the very best kind of micro-ethnography. Miller writes
better - and with more insight and compassion - than most
novelists. This book will profoundly change the way you look at
your friends' and neighbours' homes and possessions - and indeed
your own."
Kate Fox, Social Issues Research Centre and author of
Watching the English
"I am so impressed by Danny Miller's book. It is so keenly felt
and beautifully written, it provides as deep a view of modern
Londoners as early anthropologists tried to provide of residents of
more distant and exotic zones. Miller has produced a marvelously
personal and creative work, provoking us to wonder at the
extraordinary attachments of ordinary people. This is a great and
lasting achievement."
Sharon Zukin, Brooklyn College
"Through shoe leather fieldwork, human empathy, and unflinching
readiness to discern, Daniel Miller shows the central role of
material culture in contemporary urban life. An instant
classic."
Mitchell Duneier, Princeton University
"An artful antidote to continually demonised consumerism."
Crafts Magazine
"A timely reminder that investing possessions with meaning is
proof of humanity rather than inhumanity."
Blueprint
"In this remarkable book Daniel Miller provides an illuminating
portrait of people's relations to the ordinary objects that
surround them. The result is a surprising meditation on how we all
maintain order in our daily lives."
Viviana Zelizer, Princeton University
"This book offers a bold and creative model for how we might go
about the work of theorising and abstracting, trying to tell more
or less convincing stories about the 'relationships which flow
constantly between people and things'."
Environment and Planning D: Society and Space
