Customer Reviews

Did Monkeys Invent The Monkey Wrench

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3 star:		(5)
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1 star:		(2)

 

 

As fewer and fewer of us actually touch anything other than a keyboard in our work, there is a growing fascination with the real stuff of the wrkaday world- the nuts and bolts and tool of those who do what some like to call "real" work. Men in particular seem to be fascinated with the materials and tools of work they once disdained. Perhaps it's something genetic.

The last few years has seen an explosion, it seems, in books that try to tell us about these objects that were once part of everyday experience. Robert Pirsig tapped into something when he wrote "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance". (Beyond stealing the title from Herrigel's "Zen and the Art of Archery", that is). There are books about the Zen of timber framing, the spiritual aspects of homebuiilding, and for all I know, personal growth acheived through snaking out clogged plumbing.

Among these books is a sub-genre that's just about the pure pleasure of stuff. (There is, in fact, a book called "Stuff" that's quite good.) Forget accomplishing something; there's a great deal of enjoyment to be had in just handling tools, hardware and lumber, and that's what Staten's book is about.

Staten grew up in a hardware store and has the easy familiarity with the materials that fill the shleves and bins. He has stories to tell about the store, the people who work there and the people who shop there, and woven through the book is the story of the rise and eventual decline of the neighborhood hardware store- and his father's store.

Mst of the book is roughly organized into departments, so you wander from Tools to Paint to Lawn and Garden and so forth. Within each department you work your way down the aisles, encountering items: 12 inch GE Fluorescent Bulb: $2.98. Stanley Coping Saw: $12.98. Each item listing is followed by a short essay- anywhere from a paragraph to a few pages- with perhaps some history of the object, a discussion of why one might choose one material over another or some other bit of fascinating trivia. Most of it is very good, but I did spot quite a few errors; for example, Edison's incandescent bulb was not invented to be the closest thing to daylight, flint sandpaper doesn't wear by losing large pieces of grit (they fracture, which is actually useful in some ways), it is most certainly not true that "no one knows [how superglue works]", and the "d" used to designate nail sizes didn't mean "pound" in England; it meant, and still means "penny", coming from the Latin "denir", a small coin. And if you think, as Staten writes, that a weed eater won't cut your hand or foot, you're in for a rough surprise. Of course, this is a book for casual reading and not a reference book, so that's not a fatal flaw, but I still would have liked to see a little better error checking.

There's one other thing that annoys me about the book. When he's in the midst of a long discourse about the history of a shovel, or the salemen who worked in his father's store, Staten's writing flows very nicely. It's a pleasure to read. But every so often he falls into the sort of punchy, fragmented style that sports reporters are so fond of. Like this. You know? And I find that exceptionally annoying.

But overall this is an enjoyable read, and the organization makes it easy to dip into it at the odd time to read a paragraph or two. Recommended for all men, of course, and for all those women who wonder why we spend so much time in hardware stores.

I bought this book on a whim in the middle of a major house remodeling project as a bit of a diversion from all the technical reading I was doing on architecture, construction practices and so forth. Like a lot of guys (and some girls) I'm a bit of a tool freak, so what could be better recreational reading?

Well, lots of things, actually. Staten's book isn't bad, and it does have a lot of interesting stories and a few out of the ordinary facts. But it has a few problems, too, like the huge number of factual errors. There are, for example, retellings of long refuted myths, like the one about Thomas Crapper and toilets. And then there are some downright dangerous misstatement, such as the claim that a string-type weed whacker won't cut flesh.

What I found most offputting was Staten's writing style. He likes the short. Punchy. Sentence.
And lots of new paragraphs.
Of one sentence.
Each.

After a while this really starts to grate, as does Staten's idea of what passes for a joke. But taken in small doses- and with a large grain of salt- the book is still reasonably entertaining. Keep it in your toolbox for reading on breaks, or atop the porceline convenience.

Books like this are meant to be read over a period of three-four weeks. There is a proper room in the house where a man can read and enjoy such a book. Staten's history of tools, worked in with tidbits from his days of being in his father's hardware store, especially when it came to describing the characters who worked there, and some of the customers, will delight every handyman who ever got his hands dirty. The fourth member of my family is now reading it.

I've been seeking out and reading books that bring back a sense of nostalgia and "what made America great" type books. I felt the author didn't put the essence of that into this book. One of the reviewers was quoted on the cover of my edition of this book - that Staten provided "odd facts and interesting tales" and there WERE some odd facts but the tales for the most part, left a lot to be desired.
Everyone has a memory of the corner hardware store, all the assorted "stuff", fasteners, paints, stains, ladders and knife display cases. The author grew up in hardware stores, his father owned hardware stores, yet there just wasn't any sense of enjoyment or adventure, nor a sense of excitement of this in the book. I know I would have been there everyday exploring and getting the scoop on everything.

I may have been expecting more out of this book than could be delivered. I recently read Tools of the Earth and Tools of the Trade, both by Jeff Taylor. I think I was looking for what Taylor was able to deliver in his books. You may want to check these titles out if you're interested in the subject.
John Row

This book is wonderful, especially if you love hardware stores, tools, and doing stuff and always wondered why a cotter pin is called that. Humor, pathos, plenty of it, no photos, but who needs a photo of a ten-penny nail? Plenty of books tell you what to buy, but few tell you who were Black and Decker and why tools and gadgets are so important to the world. Etymologists should buy this book as well, a true nuts-and-bolts effort. Great timewaster. More, please. My dad loved tools and would have devoured this book.

I would rather hit myself with a sledgehammer that read Vince Staten write about one.

This is almost certainly the most painfully obnoxious book I have ever read. It is littered here and there with semi-interesting factual tidbits and curious trivia (with varying degrees of accuracy.) However to get to these gems, you have to trudge through page after agonizing page of asinine grammatical structure, and pitiful attempts at humor.

The overall effect is of a fourth-rate "slice of life" column writer for a Podunk, small town newspaper expanding their 'Monday Musings' into a book length catastrophe.

It frightens me to think that Vince Staten might actually believe that his quips and observations about flannel shirt, Americana, hardware store culture (not to mention his plethora of Oprah references) might actually amuse readers. If he does, I'm insulted. In reality, all they do is distract the reader from any enjoyment they might otherwise have gained from interesting informational anecdotes. I'm sure I could have learned much more from this book, but it was hard to concentrate on reading over the sound of my own groans.
Based on this train wreck, I imagine Staten as a devout boor, laughing loudly at his own jokes at a dinner party. I glad someone is laughing, because the rest of the guests smile politely while silently noting that this guy isn't fit to lick mud off of Dave Barry's boot.

I bought this book without browsing it first & without being influenced by other readers who gave negative reviews. In fact, I was more intrigued by the main title. I also had the notion that I could learn a lot about the origins of hardware tools. Sad to say, I was a bit disappointed, although I could read about the apparently incomplete history of tools in a hardware store. Moreover, I found that the writing style was not to my taste, as I kept on encountering seemingly disjointed sentences in many places. (Strangely, I generally don't like books with story telling style!)

Great read, but as others have said, not a reference book. Vince Staten and I share a love of a writer I won't mention ('cause it's a bit of a surprise), and his style is similar.

I've actually been _in_ one drugstore he mentions in another book, and spent some time near his hometown.

Biased? Yeah....

My only real complaint - some of the stranger tools mentioned might have benefited by pictures or sketches. While I only found a few things that I didn't at least know something about, I'm sure not every reader is going to have seen some of this stuff.

I guess I was expecting more humor. It's not there. When they billed this as being enjoyed by people that love Tool Time I thought it would be funny. There's more history than I cared to read about. I'm not saying it's a bad book, just that it didn't meet my expectations.

Mr Staten might have worked in a hardware store but he still lacks some basic knowledge like what the difference is between a stillson wrench, a pipe wrench, or a crescent wrench.