Nate built this whole thing for collectors. The show, the directory, the site. Then someone pointed at the wall behind him. Hundreds of 1950s and 60s sci-fi paperbacks, floor to ceiling. Does he collect them? He'll tell you he just reads them. That he keeps them because the cover art is extraordinary. That it's not really a collection. We'll let you decide.

Episode one is Nate — his books, his background, and why he wanted to build a home for people who are really into things, even if he's still figuring out whether he's one of them.

Alex Ott owns somewhere north of forty chess boards. Sets from all over the world — wood, marble, glass, hand-carved, museum-quality. He has never played a game of chess in his life. Not one.

His answer when we asked why: "They're just beautiful objects." Which is either the most zen thing anyone has ever said about a collection, or a total dodge. Probably both.

This episode is about what it means to collect something for the look of it, the feel of it — completely divorced from its intended purpose. Alex has thought about this more than most people think about anything. Come find out what he's concluded.

Sarah Greesonbach has a nibsmith. If you don't know what that is, a nibsmith is a person who hand-tunes the tip of a fountain pen nib — grinding it, shaping it, adjusting the tine gap — so that it writes exactly the way you want it to. Yes, that's a real profession. Yes, Sarah has one on retainer.

Her collection spans hundreds of pens and more ink colors than most people know exist. She can tell you the difference between how a flex nib and a stub nib feel on cold-press versus hot-press paper. She has opinions about this. Strong ones.

This episode goes deep into what happens when a hobby becomes a craft, a craft becomes a language, and a language becomes the only way you want to write anything ever again.