The essays collected in Among Other Things reveal the depth and significance of mundane objects—a puzzle, a skillet, an antique cannon, an avocado sandwich. With wry wit and insight, Robert Long Foreman examines small things close-up, casting his eye on what we have in our closets and on our shelves. With the personal and collective histories of everyday touchstones in view, the essays explore ancestry, inheritance, and the implications of ownership. Together they trace the author’s fraught path from adolescence to adulthood, and contemplate the complexities of family and belonging.