Collection or curiosity? You decide.

The Cat in the Hat! Green Eggs and Ham! Horton Hatches the Egg!

All may familiar titles to those who pored over Dr. Seuss books as a child.

But none may be more familiar with the man behind the whimsical tales than Dr. Charles Cohen, a dentist based out of Massachusetts who has transformed his small three-day practice into a Seuss database of sorts.

In a video shot by Christopher Ming Ryan, of Wheelhouse Communications, for the the Daily, Cohen explains how his obsessive need for random knowledge led him into the Seuss world. 

"At one time, I wanted to learn who the worst baseball players of all time were, which led to the next obsession, which was can you get baseball cards of baseball players like that in the early 1900s? I went around for six months tasting all the different scotches I could find. After six months, I fulfilled whatever it is that I thought I needed to know."

 Cohen further explained that he did not collect all the items seen in the video, but rather needed them to further his research on the author, who it turns out did a lot more than write books.

This got me thinking about people who collect things. I personally grew up surrounded by the phenomenon and I myself believe I have a somewhat obsessive personality. My mother for all of my life has collected papers. She used to collect barbie dolls and beanie babies - as well as precious moment figurines. Does anyone remember the beanie baby craze?!

One of my fondest memories as a child (hah - not!) is having my mother hand me a present Christmas morning with my name name on it. I tore up the wrapper to find a beautiful blonde Barbie doll in a sparkly, puffy red dress festive of the season. My mother quickly snatched the doll from my little fingers.

"Let mommy hold on to this!"

Needless to say, she never let me take it out of the box.

What's the weirdest thing you've ever found yourself collecting or watched others collect? I don't collect anything myself. I just obsessively watch TV shows for about a week or two...then move onto the next. Much like Mr. Cohen. I wonder if he'll start his own Seuss museum!

Posted in: barbies,beanie babies,books,collecting,Dr. Suess