Get a Hobby! (You can always use one more.)

I flippin’ love Get a Hobby: 101 All-Consuming Diversions for Any Lifestyle, by Tina Barseghian. What could be better than a reference manual to get you started on a whole new slew of obsessions?

When I say “reference manual,” I mean that each and every hobby profiled here is offered up with a brief history and overview, a list of supplies you’lll need to get started, some book and website references, profiles of hobbyists, and even the occasional project to try.

Now, the crafty among us will find plenty of craft-oriented hobbies to check out (such as candle making, needlework, stained glass, and gourd crafting). But the book goes way beyond crafts, to include such wildly divergent pasttimes as dumpster diving, model aircraft, beachcombing, puppetry, species protection, astrological charting, and yes, taxidermy.

Not only that, there’s even a handy quiz you can take to find out what your hobby personality type is. From there, you can match yourself up with hobbies that fit you best.

All in all, it’s a fascinating look at the fine art of geeking out on things. And what a great gift for anyone you know who watches too much television! I got to interview Tina about this project, too:

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What made you decide to write a reference manual about hobbies? 
Actually, I was commissioned to write the book by the good folks at Quirk Packaging, who put together fun titles like “Worst Case Scenario Survival Handbook” and “How to Be President.” They found me through Ready Made Magazine, where I’ve been contributing editor for the past five years.

So, you’ve profiled 101 different hobbies here. How in the world did you select them all?
I sat down with a group of friends, some pizza and beers, and we brainstormed for the entire night. We went through every hobby we’d ever heard of and compiled a list of almost 200 hobbies. Some of them I’d never heard of, like gravestone rubbing. My husband knew about it because he lived in England for a year and had seen people do it there. Some of them were ridiculous, like gambling (you can’t really promote that in good conscience!). But the whole process was really fun, as you could imagine.
 
. . . And were there any hobbies that you considered, which didn’t make it into the book? Has anyone gotten on your case for leaving out their favorite hobby?
Here are some that didn’t make it: Joining a jug band, open mike nights, Sunday driving, sausage making, juggling, stone wall stacking, karaoking, shoemaking, yodling. 
 
We haven’t heard yet from the public about this because it goes on sale today. But I’ll keep you apprised of any rants or raves. Actually, one guy apparently did respond to an article about the book that came out in Diablo Magazine . He called the writer of the article and insisted they do a story about him because he’s spent the last 20 years building one dollhouse! You gotta love these avid hobbyists!

This book goes way beyond merely profiling these hobbies. Each one has a complete profile, including an overview of how it’s done, some history, a list of what you’ll need to get started, a list of books and websites, some profiles of hobbyists, and some projects. Whew! Wasn’t that a massive amount of research?
Don’t get me started! It was an exhaustive undertaking, to stay the least. For most of 8 months, I was holed up in my office from morning till about 11 p.m., and through most weekends. (That’s why I dedicate the book to my husband, who truly stepped up and took care of our daughter and everything else.) I hired an assistant to do some cursory research (thank you, Katherine and Wiki!), but I had to confirm every piece of information from an outside source, which took some effort. Looking back, now that I have some distance, I realize it was a huge project, but I’m glad I didn’t think about the scope before I dove in, or I might have become intimidated. I thank Al Gore, or whoever is really responsible, for inventing the Internet.
 
So why hobbies? Why are they important? What do we gain from being hobbyists?
That’s a good question. If you notice on the cover of the book, it says “This book can save your life.” Now that’s a bit of an exaggeration, but the idea there is that engaging in a hobby allows you to unplug from a demanding world (job, household chores, friend and family responsibilities, etc.) and focus on something that gives you pure, unadulterated joy, which in turn relaxes you and melts away the stresses of the day. It’s something you look forward to doing, rather than something you have to cross off your long to-do list. Maybe for you it’s chiseling an ice sculpture or constructing the pages of your own book or ambling through the woods looking for mushrooms to cook in your spaghetti sauce. Whatever brings you that elusive feeling of contentedness is what will make you a better human being, and that’s why it’s important.

Of course I want to know what your hobbies are! And did you pick up any new hobbies as you researched this book?
I dabble in a few hobbies, but can’t say I’m a purist in any one hobby. I love to go to flea markets and second-hand shops looking for treasures. I love watering my garden and watching little plants thrive into healthy ones. I still love taking photos with my film camera, an old 1980s Canon AE1. I’ve got a digital that I can’t figure out quite how to use to get beautiful, arty photos, but my Canon never fails me. I also love using my Lomo Kompakt Automat Camera, which has a glass lens and was built in an optical factory in Russia. It’s just a point-and-shoot, but the resulting photos are truly ethereal.

As for picking up any hobbies, after completing research and writing each entry, I resolved to try that particular hobby, one after another. But to be honest, the only one I’ve really started doing is paint-by-numbers, so far. My abilities as a painter never progressed past the third grade, but I still love coloring with my daughter, so paint-by-numbers is the perfect intersection of that meditative feeling of coloring, but with a lot of guidance, which I definitely need.