When I started Glenn Adamson’s Fewer, Better Things, I was expecting a paean to minimalism. I was surprised, pleasantly, to find that the first half of the book was mostly about craft. Craft and material intelligence (this in 2018, before it was fashionable to stick any old word in front of intelligence).

Hindsight makes it obvious: Quality is the necessary ground. Instead of railing against consumerism and the same tired touting of the benefits of having less stuff (as much as I do enjoy a good tout), Adamson, who’s a museum curator, tries to nurture a reference for the well-made. A more hopeful, abundant approach.

— Jack Cheng, for marty, 2025