“Nice photographs, nice essays. The one problem with the large format is that the photos look great, but it’s a little unwieldy when it comes to the reading portions. It feels like trying to hold a tombstone in your lap and read the inscription.
I have fond memories of childhood times when we would go to the thrift store, buy some old electronics or appliances, and then take them apart. It was interesting. You got to see what was inside, but more importantly you had the chance as a kid to use real tools and actually do something.
I’m not a parent. In fact, I don’t know if there’s a way for me to be LESS a parent. But if you have kids at home, I can’t recommend enough that you take them to the ARC, let them pick out an old alarm clock or phone, and then let them take it apart. It costs you five bucks, it’ll keep them busy for a while, and they’ll actually learn something. Because believe me, when they get to school nobody is handing them a socket wrench at ANY point. They’ll hold kids back who can’t write their name in Kindergarten, but a kid can sail through high school and college having never used a saw in his life.
This book is also a sort of manifesto. Which sounds like a negative word because it usually esouses ideas like “Hey, you know what would fix all of our problems? Killing all of the [ethnicity]!”
This is not that kind of manifesto. I think. Unless there’s a subliminal message in there that will trigger some kind of insane response the next time I see someone from the Azores.
Instead, the idea is that the average person has the power to fix things, learn how things are made, and to customize. That by taking things apart, you’ll become familiar with how things work and start on the road to doing for yourself.
I think that’s a really nice idea. I’m not a handyman. Maybe a semi-approaching-adept-infant-male, if I have to modify the handyman term. But the way I see it, if the toilet is broken, why not try and fix it myself? The goddamn thing is already broken. If I break it a little worse, so be it.
And for the most part, I’ve managed not to break it worse. And then you have more confidence and replace other things. You fix a dripping faucet. You snake a slow drain. You replace little pieces on your car. You maintain your own appliances.
The thing is, you’re reading these words online. There’s a little white bar where you can type in “How to change the oil on a 2000 250cc Honda Rebel” and get comprehensive text and video guides. Everyone says how awesome it is to live in this information age. Well, how about we actually USE some of that information? “