The Burning House: What Would You Take?

“Fascinating….Provocative.”
—New York Times

“Answering this question reveals a great deal about your personality, priorities and interests.”
—The Guardian (UK)

If your house were on fire, what would you take? Foster Huntington has collected answers to this telling question from thousands of responders all over the world to get to the heart of what it is that people truly value. The result is The Burning House, featuring the best of Huntington’s popular website, TheBurningHouse.com along with a wealth of all-new material. Fascinating and remarkably revealing, The Burning House provides a captivating keyhole into people’s lives, feelings, and innermost thoughts that will especially appeal to the many fans of PostSecret, Not Quite What I Was Planning, Found, and Awkward Family Photos. Illustrated with sometimes moving, often unusual photographs of people’s most prized possessions, The Burning House ingeniously celebrates the differences between human beings around the globe—and the surprising similarities that unite us all.

Your house is burning. You have to get out fast. Suddenly you are forced to prioritize, editing down a lifetime of possessions to a mere handful. Now you must decide: Of all the things you own, what is most important to you?

The practical? Your laptop, your smartphone, what you need to keep working and stayin touch?

The valuable? Your money, your jewelry, the limited edition signed poster in the living room?

The sentimental? The watch your late grandfather gave you, the diary you kept as a teenager?

What you choose to bring with you speaks volumes about who you are and what you believe in—your interests, your background, your view of life.

With contributions from all over the world, The Burning House is an eye-opening pictorial meditation on materialism; an in-depth, intensely personal interview contained in a single question; a revealing window into the human heart.

“Fascinating . . . provocative.” - New York Times

“Simple and lovely.” - New York magazine

“Answering this question reveals a great deal about your personality, priorities and interests.” - The Guardian

“This book is what user-generated content can be at its very best: personal, passionate, surprising, and, above all, something that will spark conversation after conversation among friends and strangers alike. Brilliantly curated and endlessly addictive, The Burning House opens your heart and sticks to your soul.” - Larry Smith, editor of Not Quite What I Was Planning: Six-Word Memoirs by Writers Famous and Obscure

“A poignant and revealing series of self portraits told in loving visual haiku.” - Frank Warren, creator of POST SECRET

“The Burning House is brilliant in its ability to remind us that what we value most are not usually possessions but what they stand for. These deceptively simple photographs are powerful biographical portraits.” - Brian Lam, former Gizmodo editorial director