Collecting records is fundamentally anti-intellectual and, to a large extent, antisocial. You don’t write – or write well – about it, and you certainly don’t bother letting anyone in who isn’t already initiated. So much for anyone telling the story who could.

Collectors as a fraternity (and I say fraternity, not community) do not exist as a part of the greater culture. In fact, they are usually dead-set against it. Their curiosity about the world they live in is limited to occasional cynical observation. They do not give a wet squirt about anything but the music, or sometimes, the records themselves. They are, despite a certain bitter humor, entirely lacking in irony.

Women don’t do it because, due to that singlemindedness, it’s so competitive that you can’t find the good stuff and still care about anything else – such as other people or your world.