The Libri GmbH The Science of Everything-The Science of Things We Keep for No Reason

Every home contains at least one object that has survived entirely because nobody has made a firm decision about it. It may be a key that opens nothing, a remote control that controls nothing, or a short piece of electrical wire that looks much too useful to throw away despite having no known purpose. We keep these things because discarding them feels reckless. The moment we throw away the unidentified key, we become convinced that someone will arrive holding a locked steel box containing the deed to a valuable property. Until that happens, the key lives in the kitchen drawer beside a dead battery, three bread ties, and a tiny screwdriver that came with an appliance we no longer own.