Ok I picked this book by its cover. Not a good move this time. The cover picture had nothing to do really with the text inside of the cover. The book was ok for what it is about. But at time is was disjointed and it seemed like Duane Cerny rambled on. Chapter 3 really made little since to me other then the fact that he would of loved there to have been a yard sale after the deaths of the sister but there was not, so why have a whole chapter on it.

The book is about Duane Scott Cerny's love of vintage, antiques, and thift stores. I love all 3 things as well. He is a collector and seller of as the book is named Dead People's Things. His love for vintage started as a child, on his front porch buying, selling, and trading his friends old cast off toys. The book follows him from Childhood to adulthood and his life long hobby and career in the 2nd hand business.

I received this book from the Author or Publisher via Netgalley.com to read and review.

I couldn't wait to request "Selling Dead People's Things" after reading the blurb. My love of antiques and second hand stores - any book revolving around them, be it nonfiction or a murder mystery (think Garage Sale mysteries) gets my attention. From the introduction, I was hooked. The voice grabbed me from the beginning to the end. As I started his book and found out that he is from Chicago, I was reminded of one of my favorite movies, While You Were Sleeping" - the family business motto "We buy dead people's furniture". We all gather stuff throughout our lives and all of our stuff makes sense to us. For those who come after us, having the task of dealing with that stuff, it's usually a big mystery, food for thought. A glimpse that leads to so much speculation.
It can be a bit confusing if you, the reader, picked up this volume and expected it to be written as one fluid story/memoir. It's a bit choppy from one chapter to the next until you get used to the reason - it's stories strung together, each one to be enjoyed, savored and on to the next one. Yes, some are better than others but, then, aren't the chapters of anyone's life the same way? What one comes away with is we all have stuff, it's all a mystery as to why we had the stuff and, at the end, someone like Duane Scott Cerny may come along and help our treasured stuff on its journey. Whether it's political buttons that tell an entire life story known to a few before Duane came along to hear it told or others that will puzzle people and let them imagine the stories these items can never speak, this book was a pleasure to read. If I lived in Chicago I'd be a regular customer, happy to let other peoples treasures hint at their stories.

Duane Scott Cerny is an antiques dealer, and one whose name I am shocked hasn't come up more often in all of my mid-century meanderings. In this series of loosely connected essays, Cerny describes how he came to be the owner of Broadway Antiques Market in Chicago (formerly Wrigleyville Antique Mall, also in Chicago) after his humble beginnings as a schoolboy dealing in Playboy ephemera. He is a skilled antiques dealer with a keen eye, and his stories about a wide variety of estate sales, appraisals, and colorful characters are not to be missed.

There are bits of the book that could still use some polish, and I wish that Cerny spent less time telling sort-of ghost stories and talking taxidermy or Eames chairs (though a few of the ghost stories are wonderful), but overall, this is a book that is worth reading if you are a collector of just about any sort.

I received access to this title via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I received an advanced reading copy from NetGalley and Thunderground Press. Thanks!

This was a quick, enjoyable read. The author owns an antique mall business, and sells mid-century modern decor and furniture. This book is a collection of stories about his experiences finding and selling vintage items. It is well-written and the stories are quite interesting. All in all a fun read.

An engaging, witty, and often poignant memoir of life in the selling business. Cerny began dealing in desired goods at a young age, thanks to his dad's connections to Playboy magazine, and from there developed the famous BAM in Chicago, an antiques shop full of wonders and delights, particularly mid-century modern furniture. Cerny tells tales of pieces he bought and sold, pieces he couldn't buy, and pieces he couldn't wait to get rid of--the later category including a variety of haunted objects.

My only quarrel with the book is the cover design. I'd give this book to everyone I know who's ever been interested in collecting, old stuff, or Chicago history, but the gruesome cover will be a turn off to a lot of potential readers.

This is not a book that you would consider a masterpiece, yet I couldn't put t down. It was interesting, funny and sad, and intriguing. It was a book I kept dipping into, it just grabbed my interest in the why and what people find that they have to have/keep. A relaxing and very readable book.

Funny memoir from a man who developed a love of kitsch and thrifting at an early age and turned it into one of the midwest's first antiques malls. Interesting take on the antiques/estate sales business from someone inside the trade.

Cerny is a fantastic storyteller, and while his tone is somewhere between entertaining and downright zany, some of the chapters are nonetheless oddly endearing... My fuller review is posted on the Fine Books blog: https://www.finebooksmagazine.com/fine_books_blog/2018/06/beach-reads-for-bibliophiles-2018.phtml

Duane Scott Cerny debut of vignettes of his life and interests in antique world is a treasure trove of very funny and often heart felt memories gather together in one volume. The author has an incredible wit that lends itself to the material and has a talent for displaying these within the pages.

This is an ideal find for any reader who is looking at real life experiences and dealing with people on a day to day basis. It shows craftsmanship to be able to tell these stories without falling into the over dramatic and he lets these people’s and stories flourish. The humour of dealing with people and their collection is told with a heart-warming reminiscence that warms the cockles of the heart.

Cerny’s ability to make you see and live through these people is a real talent and he has captured this with the utmost respect even to those he doesn’t always get respect from. He chronicalises his novel from the start of his interests and takes us to the present day and even though these stories could be read as stand alone as each is very strong to be sold into magazine articles, etc, it also works as a collection which is very hard to find in books of this nature. This tells you what a deep and interesting talent Cerny is.

There are a couple of stories that veer into the supernatural which are interesting and these caught me off my guard. The author steers the reader in one direction and that takes a right turn that fits within the confines of the story he is giving.

Richly written, thought provoking and a must for any reader for a taste of the norm and not so norm. He captures his subject matter in their natural habitat and he will not let you go until you read the final words written. A gold mine of entertainment that I highly recommend for every and all readers. A fantastic treat.

Duane Cerny takes us on a walk through his vintage sales and adventures in digging through the lives of those who have passed. While some of the many people are simply looking for extra cash to get through the tough times in the lives, most are families who are overwhelmed with the many "treasures" that were accumulated over a lifetime.

This was a walk through the funny, the spine-tingling, and sad lives of those who collected, stored, and then - left everything behind for the next person to go through and make the best of.

This was a good book. There were a few things that kind of downed the book for me a bit, but overall I found it enjoyable and funny to read through.

Cerny, who is a professional antiques buyer and estate liquidator, offers behind the scenes glimpses of the material worlds people leave when they die: their hoarding, secret hobbies, sexual habits, financial secrets and guilty pleasures. Not all the short essays are winners, but there are a couple of gems, probably much like most estate sales.

Very entertaining book of vignettes and essays about life as a dealer of antiques and vintage items. It was equal parts funny and poignant and was written in a breezy, colloquial voice that I found very engaging. As with all such collections, some pieces worked better than others, but I enjoyed the book as a whole very much and have added the author's store in Chicago to my list of places to visit.

This review was based on an ARC ebook received in return for an honest and unbiased review.

I truly loved this book, the cover alone drew me in, but I was pleasantly surprised how quickly I was able to read this, I read it in 2 days. All the chapters were different but had interesting stories, chapter 21 was my favourite. I would've love to see actual photos of that huge apartment before it ended up getting divided up. I will post my review on Goodreads once the title is on there. I think the only thing missing in my opinion is photos to go with some of the chapters.

Cerny may be an antiquities (and tchotkes) dealer, but his real talent lies in writing. I laughed so hard I cried as he detailed his beginnings in selling the unusual and unwanted from his boyhood (which included plenty of Playboy pictures) to the rental of a taxidermied two-headed calf to a movie studio for the making of Natural Born Killers. As much a memoir of a young man growing up gay in the 60’s and 70’s and a tribute to friends lost to AIDS as a look at the peculiar things humans collect and treasure, this book is one of the funniest and most moving I have read in a long time