Stewart Brand is one of those individuals
who always thinks differently. Trying to encapsulate his opus would be
futile, but to get just a taste of Brand, the starting point has to be
his monumental work, The Whole Earth Catalog—a catalog, an
assortment of things that serve as useful "tools": books, maps, garden
implements, specialized clothing, carpenters' and masons' tools,
forestry gear, tents, welding equipment, professional journals, early
synthesizers, and personal computers. The catalog also described where
these things could be located or purchased. Its publication coincided
with the great wave of social and cultural experimentation in the 1970s,
the convention-breaking, and the "do it yourself" attitude associated
with the "counterculture." It’s the kind of book Noah might have written
while awaiting the flood.
Brand is 86 but continues to write vigorously. His new,
soon-to-be-released book is already being labelled a 'future classic.'
Titled Maintenance of Everything, it is the first in-depth exploration of maintenance—and a powerful argument for its civilizational importance.
"Maintenance is what keeps everything going. It’s what keeps life going.
Yet it’s also easy to shirk or defer—until the thing breaks, the system
falters, and everything stops. The apparent paradox is profound:
Maintenance is absolutely necessary, and maintenance is optional."
As publisher explains, the book begins with "a dramatic contest of
maintenance styles under life-critical conditions: the Golden Globe
around-the-world solo sailboat race of 1968. It goes on to explore the
insights that can be gleaned from vehicle maintenance, from the zeal of
motorcycle maintainers to the maintenance philosophies that fought for
dominance in the auto industry, to the state of electric vehicle
manufacturing today. There are absorbing detours into the evolution of
precision in manufacturing, the enduring importance of manuals,
sustainment in the military, and the never-ending battle against
corrosion."
Maintenance of Everything is a sophisticated, provocative call to expand
what we mean by "maintenance"—not just the tiresome preventative tasks
but the whole grand process of keeping a thing going. It invites us to
understand not only the profound impact maintenance has on our daily
lives but also why taking responsibility for maintaining
something—whether a motorcycle, a monument, or our very planet—can be a
radical act.
In today’s digital world, buying a paperback may sound retrograde, even
archaically trivial. Yet it’s possible that our grandchildren will one
day need to restart civilization—and in that moment, they will be in
even greater need of thinkers like Brand. The future of humanity is both
terrifying and exhilarating! | |
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