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Maintenance of Everything: Part One
The first in-depth exploration of maintenance—and a powerful argument for its civilizational importance—from the author of How Buildings Learn and creator of the Whole Earth Catalog.
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 Maintenance is absolutely necessary and maintenance is optional.
The first in a multi-volume work, Of Everything, Part One offers a comprehensive overview of the civilizational importance of maintenance. The book begins with a dramatic contest of maintenance styles under life-critical 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 of the auto industry to the state of electric vehicle manufacturing today, with 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.
Of Everything is a wide-ranging and 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.
“No one else but Stewart Brand is talking about the art and science of maintenance and how to do it well. This will be an instant classic.”
—Kevin Kelly, founding executive editor of Wired
“A deliciously good book.”
—Matt Ridley, author of The Rational Optimist
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 Maintenance is absolutely necessary and maintenance is optional.
The first in a multi-volume work, Of Everything, Part One offers a comprehensive overview of the civilizational importance of maintenance. The book begins with a dramatic contest of maintenance styles under life-critical 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 of the auto industry to the state of electric vehicle manufacturing today, with 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.
Of Everything is a wide-ranging and 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.
“No one else but Stewart Brand is talking about the art and science of maintenance and how to do it well. This will be an instant classic.”
—Kevin Kelly, founding executive editor of Wired
“A deliciously good book.”
—Matt Ridley, author of The Rational Optimist
390 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 20, 2026
About the author
Stewart Brand
57 books344 followersStewart Brand was a pioneer in the environmental movement in the 60s – his Whole Earth Catalog became the Bible for sustainable living, selling more than 10 million copies worldwide. Brand is President of The Long Now Foundation and chairs the foundation's Seminars About Long-term Thinking.
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January 5, 2026This was an enjoyable read (I read it almost in one sitting), but it felt more like a collection of stories than a cohesive book. This book focuses mostly on vehicles (sailboats, motorcycles, and cars) and weapons, which is a much narrower scope than I expected (I didn't realize it would be part one of a series when I preordered it). I appreciated the overarching philosophy of maintenance, and I'm looking forward to seeing that philosophy being applied to other topics.
March 23, 2026
This book promises a new philosophy of maintenance but never delivers one. What you get instead is a loosely organized collection of anecdotes that wander down tangential rabbit holes with no clear structure or throughline connecting them. The ‘maintenance’ thesis isn’t even common to all of these anecdotes - one of the final sections is all about Tesla, but only a paragraph or two at the end of the section lets the reader know that maintenance is actually harder on EVs.
The bigger problem is lack of originality. Nearly every story is lifted wholesale from a different source. The entire middle section is a summary of Simon Winchester’s “The Perfectionists”, and the final stretch dedicates entire pages to direct quotes from random YouTube videos. He does give credit, to be fair, but attribution isn’t a substitute for insight.
A book billing itself as a new framework for maintenance needs to actually synthesize its material into something greater than the sum of its parts. This one never does.
It’s a reading list dressed up as a thesis.
Should have been a blog post.
The bigger problem is lack of originality. Nearly every story is lifted wholesale from a different source. The entire middle section is a summary of Simon Winchester’s “The Perfectionists”, and the final stretch dedicates entire pages to direct quotes from random YouTube videos. He does give credit, to be fair, but attribution isn’t a substitute for insight.
A book billing itself as a new framework for maintenance needs to actually synthesize its material into something greater than the sum of its parts. This one never does.
It’s a reading list dressed up as a thesis.
Should have been a blog post.
November 30, 2025
Great topic, well executed with interesting stories. Overall narrative, however, was clearly lacking.
January 26, 2026
I loved the beginning of the book and found most of it genuinely engaging. However, I did find the Tesla promotion at the end a bit jarring—especially given how closely the right-to-repair movement relates to the book’s themes, yet goes unaddressed.
The first three-quarters of the book are consistently compelling, and while I was hoping for a more comprehensive treatment of the topic, I’ll still be picking up Part Two.
The first three-quarters of the book are consistently compelling, and while I was hoping for a more comprehensive treatment of the topic, I’ll still be picking up Part Two.
February 22, 2026
It is a warm, readable collection that lands its core point well: maintenance is civilization's invisible backbone. Its stories; from the 1968 Golden Globe sailboat race to Model T repair culture to military sustainment doctrine, are genuinely fun.
But its lens is strictly American (Tesla gets pages; BYD gets nothing). It treats the EV transition as pure progress, missing how shifting complexity from owner to manufacturer is itself a maintenance philosophy. It also conflates automating maintenance with simplifying it, and ignores modern realities entirely: the right-to-repair movement, proactive sensor monitoring (like Rolls-Royce), and tech's replacement-over-repair paradigm (k8s, cloud). Most glaringly, it sidesteps the dark side of modern upkeep: vendor lock-in, forced dependency, and the erosion of ownership.
It's part one and it might cover missing pieces later. For now, it makes maintenance feel important, urgent, and interesting.
But its lens is strictly American (Tesla gets pages; BYD gets nothing). It treats the EV transition as pure progress, missing how shifting complexity from owner to manufacturer is itself a maintenance philosophy. It also conflates automating maintenance with simplifying it, and ignores modern realities entirely: the right-to-repair movement, proactive sensor monitoring (like Rolls-Royce), and tech's replacement-over-repair paradigm (k8s, cloud). Most glaringly, it sidesteps the dark side of modern upkeep: vendor lock-in, forced dependency, and the erosion of ownership.
It's part one and it might cover missing pieces later. For now, it makes maintenance feel important, urgent, and interesting.
May 4, 2026
This is a rare book that changed the way I think about everyday life. It shows how deeply our lives depend on maintenance and contrasts what the author calls a “maintenance mind” with a “neglect mind”.
The book is structured more like a set of stories and anecdotes rather than a straight narrative, which makes it harder to follow the author’s thought sometimes. Still worth reading, though.
One story stuck with me: the French invented the standardized, interchangeable weapon parts long before the US, but failed to adopt them, while the Americans scaled the idea quickly, which contributed to their victory in the War of Independence.
The book is structured more like a set of stories and anecdotes rather than a straight narrative, which makes it harder to follow the author’s thought sometimes. Still worth reading, though.
One story stuck with me: the French invented the standardized, interchangeable weapon parts long before the US, but failed to adopt them, while the Americans scaled the idea quickly, which contributed to their victory in the War of Independence.
May 5, 2026
Doesn't deliver the promise. Mostly just old man mumbling, no cohesion and/or storytelling.
February 28, 2026
neat read!
some thoughts: maintaining complex systems should be a first-class citizen, just like implementation; don't be a crowhurst and succumb to delusional optimism sans action; i really appreciate the recommended reading section at the back.
the story of how maintenance was written with the help of stripe's books in progress is pretty interesting too. excited for part two
some thoughts: maintaining complex systems should be a first-class citizen, just like implementation; don't be a crowhurst and succumb to delusional optimism sans action; i really appreciate the recommended reading section at the back.
the story of how maintenance was written with the help of stripe's books in progress is pretty interesting too. excited for part two
February 21, 2026
Felt like reading a Swiss watch. Impressed with the contributions from the community as written. As much about management as maintenance I think I’ll be buying copies for the maintenance managers I work with
March 23, 2026
I have been a long-time follower of Stewart Brand. On my bicycle ride across the US with Spokes America in 2012, I listened to the entire backlog of Long Now talks. I'm still a frequent attendee of the talks in Fort Mason — although Stewart is no longer there often. I love Stewart's book _How Buildings Learn_ and, of course, _The Whole Earth Catalog_.
This book was written as a series of online posts. It is as wide-ranging as _How Buildings Learn_, but on a slightly less sexy yet equally intriguing concept: maintenance. I ripped through the book in two weekends. It weaves together different histories — from the world's first solo around-the-world sailing race, to the Egyptian-Israeli war in 1973, to the ease of repair and customization of the Ford Model T — and in doing so, Brand teaches the lesson that regular maintenance is what keeps things going for a long while.
I love the book both for its message and, all the more so, for the esoteric set of stories told. I am generally a fan of history in snippets through the eyes of a storyteller who's weaving a narrative. The book reminds me in some ways of _The Wizard and the Prophet_, in which Charles C. Mann tells stories of the 20th century through the lens of wizardry versus prophecy (or techno-utopianism vs degrowth).
For anyone who is interested in maintenance — which we should all be — I would highly recommend this book. And as you read it, you might just find yourself inspired to grease your roadbike's chain or service your skis.
Chapter 1: Golden Globe Sailing Race
Moitessier, who sailed the fastest but did not win the race, had a ship for which he could repair every single component. He knew that because he had sailed for 20 years before that.
Chapter 2: Motorcycle Maintenance
Brand explains that in the early 1900s, electric cars actually were favored over gasoline cars. Why did gas cars win? First, the battery didn’t allow to drive far. As paved roads were built to small towns, electric cars didn’t work. Second,
gasoline became cheap.
Rolls-Royce and Ford were pitted against each other. Rolls-Royce had the best craftsmen working on their cars. Ford had the assembly line.
Model Ts were so plentiful that a whole industry of extras emerged. People would buy snow conversion kits and all kinds of things.
Digression 1: on standardization
Brand tells the story of how Blanc, A Frenchman, standardized all components of muskets (a type of gun) so that they could be fixed interchangeably. This approach to standardization made maintenance possible.
There's a section on the three most popular cars of all time: the Ford Model T, the Volkswagen Beetle, and the Lada. What all three had in common was that they were very easy to repair. Also, all three of them ran virtually unchanged for 20 to 40 years. As a result, there were plenty of spare parts available.
There is a beautiful section on self-help manuals. One of them is about the Encyclopedie by Frenchman Diderot. It was published in the 1750s and it was the inspiration for the Encyclopedia Britannica. Stewart Brand points out that this do-it-yourself spirit led to an enlightenment revolution in the US.
He also has a story about the AK-47 and the M-16, two of the most popular weapons in the 20th century. Their stories are very different. The AK-47 is very easy to maintain and consists of only six parts. The M-16 is terrible to maintain, requires a lot of preventative maintenance, and has more than 15 parts.
If you don’t keep up with maintenance, it can be costly. It cost $1.5 billion to restore the Statue of Liberty for the centenarian celebration in 1987, after it had severely rusted.
Maintenance plays a role in war. Israel took possession of the Sinai peninsula in 1967. In 1973, Egypt struck back. With a perfectly executed surprise attack the Egyptians controlled the Bar-Lev line. But 2 days in, they started to stumble. Why? America sent reinforcements. But also, Egyptians were not accustomed to improvise. Israelis, in the other hand, were used to repair their tanks. “80 percent of Israeli damaged tanks would be recovered and sent back to the battlefields”.
This book was written as a series of online posts. It is as wide-ranging as _How Buildings Learn_, but on a slightly less sexy yet equally intriguing concept: maintenance. I ripped through the book in two weekends. It weaves together different histories — from the world's first solo around-the-world sailing race, to the Egyptian-Israeli war in 1973, to the ease of repair and customization of the Ford Model T — and in doing so, Brand teaches the lesson that regular maintenance is what keeps things going for a long while.
I love the book both for its message and, all the more so, for the esoteric set of stories told. I am generally a fan of history in snippets through the eyes of a storyteller who's weaving a narrative. The book reminds me in some ways of _The Wizard and the Prophet_, in which Charles C. Mann tells stories of the 20th century through the lens of wizardry versus prophecy (or techno-utopianism vs degrowth).
For anyone who is interested in maintenance — which we should all be — I would highly recommend this book. And as you read it, you might just find yourself inspired to grease your roadbike's chain or service your skis.
Chapter 1: Golden Globe Sailing Race
Moitessier, who sailed the fastest but did not win the race, had a ship for which he could repair every single component. He knew that because he had sailed for 20 years before that.
Chapter 2: Motorcycle Maintenance
Brand explains that in the early 1900s, electric cars actually were favored over gasoline cars. Why did gas cars win? First, the battery didn’t allow to drive far. As paved roads were built to small towns, electric cars didn’t work. Second,
gasoline became cheap.
Rolls-Royce and Ford were pitted against each other. Rolls-Royce had the best craftsmen working on their cars. Ford had the assembly line.
Model Ts were so plentiful that a whole industry of extras emerged. People would buy snow conversion kits and all kinds of things.
Digression 1: on standardization
Brand tells the story of how Blanc, A Frenchman, standardized all components of muskets (a type of gun) so that they could be fixed interchangeably. This approach to standardization made maintenance possible.
There's a section on the three most popular cars of all time: the Ford Model T, the Volkswagen Beetle, and the Lada. What all three had in common was that they were very easy to repair. Also, all three of them ran virtually unchanged for 20 to 40 years. As a result, there were plenty of spare parts available.
There is a beautiful section on self-help manuals. One of them is about the Encyclopedie by Frenchman Diderot. It was published in the 1750s and it was the inspiration for the Encyclopedia Britannica. Stewart Brand points out that this do-it-yourself spirit led to an enlightenment revolution in the US.
He also has a story about the AK-47 and the M-16, two of the most popular weapons in the 20th century. Their stories are very different. The AK-47 is very easy to maintain and consists of only six parts. The M-16 is terrible to maintain, requires a lot of preventative maintenance, and has more than 15 parts.
If you don’t keep up with maintenance, it can be costly. It cost $1.5 billion to restore the Statue of Liberty for the centenarian celebration in 1987, after it had severely rusted.
Maintenance plays a role in war. Israel took possession of the Sinai peninsula in 1967. In 1973, Egypt struck back. With a perfectly executed surprise attack the Egyptians controlled the Bar-Lev line. But 2 days in, they started to stumble. Why? America sent reinforcements. But also, Egyptians were not accustomed to improvise. Israelis, in the other hand, were used to repair their tanks. “80 percent of Israeli damaged tanks would be recovered and sent back to the battlefields”.
February 6, 2026
Stewart Brand is 87 years old. I became aware of him in 1972 when I first read the "Whole Earth Catalog". I subscribed to the Co-evolution Quarterly for the ten years of its existence. I hadn't seen anything by him for quite a while.
This new book is classic Stewart Brand. His approach has always been to combine high level theories of what a good person should do and what a true good life looks like with hyper practical and useful information about how to do things. He taught his readers how to find out how to build a house, or a yurt. He curated tools for butchering your own meat or how to repair your VW bus. At the same time, he explained why doing these things yourself was noble and would help save you and the planet. He walked a tightrope over empty preaching and home repair books.
I was very pleased to see that he is still at it. This book spirals out from one important idea. Maintenance and repair of our tools make the difference. He acknowledges that maintenance can be boring, expensive and difficult, but it has to be done, and it is possible to enjoy, or, at least, appreciate it.
Brand is a great storyteller, and he makes his case with great examples. He starts with the 1968 London Times contest. They offered a large prize for the first person to sail solo around the world without touching land. There are three famous stories from the race. One is about the winner. One is about a guy who cheated and the third is about a guy who never finished. Brand argues that the key to all three stories is the approach to maintenance and repair taken by each sailor. He makes his case.
Every story perfectly makes a point.
Brand argues that the course of the Russian-Ukraine War and the 1973 Yom Kippur War between Israel and Egypt were the result of the fact that Ukraine and Israel were better at maintaining and repairing equipment that Russia and Egypt were.
He shows that in 1986, $277 million had to be spent to completely rebuild the inside of the Statue of Liberty because the US Park Service never funded for proper maintenance on the Statute.
He has a section on six great manuals, including the Ford Model T service manual and a 1651 English ""Directory for Midwifes". Brand argues they you need to always read the manual and he has very smart suggestions and examples of how the manuals can get better.
This is advertised as Volume One. I look forward to Volume two. Brand is a clear and enthusiastic writer. He conveys his excitement in finding out interesting stuff and figuring out how it all fits together.
This new book is classic Stewart Brand. His approach has always been to combine high level theories of what a good person should do and what a true good life looks like with hyper practical and useful information about how to do things. He taught his readers how to find out how to build a house, or a yurt. He curated tools for butchering your own meat or how to repair your VW bus. At the same time, he explained why doing these things yourself was noble and would help save you and the planet. He walked a tightrope over empty preaching and home repair books.
I was very pleased to see that he is still at it. This book spirals out from one important idea. Maintenance and repair of our tools make the difference. He acknowledges that maintenance can be boring, expensive and difficult, but it has to be done, and it is possible to enjoy, or, at least, appreciate it.
Brand is a great storyteller, and he makes his case with great examples. He starts with the 1968 London Times contest. They offered a large prize for the first person to sail solo around the world without touching land. There are three famous stories from the race. One is about the winner. One is about a guy who cheated and the third is about a guy who never finished. Brand argues that the key to all three stories is the approach to maintenance and repair taken by each sailor. He makes his case.
Every story perfectly makes a point.
Brand argues that the course of the Russian-Ukraine War and the 1973 Yom Kippur War between Israel and Egypt were the result of the fact that Ukraine and Israel were better at maintaining and repairing equipment that Russia and Egypt were.
He shows that in 1986, $277 million had to be spent to completely rebuild the inside of the Statue of Liberty because the US Park Service never funded for proper maintenance on the Statute.
He has a section on six great manuals, including the Ford Model T service manual and a 1651 English ""Directory for Midwifes". Brand argues they you need to always read the manual and he has very smart suggestions and examples of how the manuals can get better.
This is advertised as Volume One. I look forward to Volume two. Brand is a clear and enthusiastic writer. He conveys his excitement in finding out interesting stuff and figuring out how it all fits together.
March 10, 2026
I really enjoyed this book! Stewart Brand is one of those authors from which I care more about what they have to say about a subject more than the subject itself. I read How Buildings Learn last summer and it really changed my world, so I was very excited when this dropped in January.
If I could describe this book in one word, it would be "interesting". Brand has incredible range and knowledge of different topics, and this book explores so many mundane things but made kept me engaged since they were topics that I just never paid that much thought towards (sailboats, interchangeable parts, bicycle manufacturing, AK-47s vs M-16s, mass marketing, all of this and more are packed into this relatively brief reading).
Even the book's format is really cool. It's obvious that Stripe Press just let Brand do whatever the fuck he wanted for 200 pages, and as a result, the book is just two chapters with a bunch of multi-page digressions and footnotes. It might just be because that's how my conversations in real life sound, but I quite enjoyed it.
I don't think I've ever talked about this in a review before, but the book itself is quite beautifully printed. The design is top-notch, with plenty of pictures and a consistent minimalism of beige, black, and blue throughout the whole thing. Also, the physical copy is very light. That has nothing to do with the book, but it was surprising when I first picked it up.
I just have two nitpicks. First, he cites Wikipedia directly multiple times. I personally don't think that's a bad thing, but it's funny that's universally perceived as un-academic, but he does it like four times. Second, and other reviews have pointed this out, but the Tesla/Elon glazing at the end is not really the move in 2026. I'm not saying that there's nothing to learn from Tesla's business model, but the personal glazing of Elon is crazy: "Through Tesla and SpaceX, Musk initiated and directly led a new, accelerated regime in climate-friendly electric vehicles and a new accelerated regime in providing access to Earth orbit. With the success of these projects, Musk may have done more practical world saving than any other business leader of his time." Like, calm down Stewart, let's not fall into Great Man-ism.
Anyway, loved this book, very excited for part two.
If I could describe this book in one word, it would be "interesting". Brand has incredible range and knowledge of different topics, and this book explores so many mundane things but made kept me engaged since they were topics that I just never paid that much thought towards (sailboats, interchangeable parts, bicycle manufacturing, AK-47s vs M-16s, mass marketing, all of this and more are packed into this relatively brief reading).
Even the book's format is really cool. It's obvious that Stripe Press just let Brand do whatever the fuck he wanted for 200 pages, and as a result, the book is just two chapters with a bunch of multi-page digressions and footnotes. It might just be because that's how my conversations in real life sound, but I quite enjoyed it.
I don't think I've ever talked about this in a review before, but the book itself is quite beautifully printed. The design is top-notch, with plenty of pictures and a consistent minimalism of beige, black, and blue throughout the whole thing. Also, the physical copy is very light. That has nothing to do with the book, but it was surprising when I first picked it up.
I just have two nitpicks. First, he cites Wikipedia directly multiple times. I personally don't think that's a bad thing, but it's funny that's universally perceived as un-academic, but he does it like four times. Second, and other reviews have pointed this out, but the Tesla/Elon glazing at the end is not really the move in 2026. I'm not saying that there's nothing to learn from Tesla's business model, but the personal glazing of Elon is crazy: "Through Tesla and SpaceX, Musk initiated and directly led a new, accelerated regime in climate-friendly electric vehicles and a new accelerated regime in providing access to Earth orbit. With the success of these projects, Musk may have done more practical world saving than any other business leader of his time." Like, calm down Stewart, let's not fall into Great Man-ism.
Anyway, loved this book, very excited for part two.
May 7, 2026
Quite interesting, patchy in depth of inquiry and quality of narrative. Chapter one on The Maintenance Race is spectacular reading, full of the storytelling charm and narrative magic that made How Buildings Learn an all-time favorite book.
The remaining 80% of the book contains chapter two: Vehicles (and Weapons), which starts hot, fizzles at points but remains interesting reading, and then falls off precipitously at the end. The initial, denser sections on motorcycle maintenance and general philosophy of complex system maintenance is quite good. The following section on the Model T and its effect on American culture is great. Then a long, gleefully digressing and enjoyable set of chapters on bicycles, weapons technology driving manufacturing process standardization and the advent of precision machine tooling, and maintaining your VW Beetle. The following section on manuals didn’t hit as hard for me, feeling more like short abstracts or blog posts than connected chapters in the narrative. The sustainment section was good though I did feel the writing quality falling off a little here—maybe feeling rushed, or more factual and logistical than engaging. And the final ~20 pages on electric vehicles were not great, both in style and content, missing key details in the contemporary story and frankly glazing Elon Musk in a manner that feels instantly dated.
Some of this an artifact of the book’s writing process, releasing in series and integrating reader comments, but in no way did this feel as monumental and exciting and philosophically coherent as How Buildings Learn.
That said, as I am a precision manufacturing engineer and work with complex machine tools every day, individual sections and snippets of this book are wonderfully applicable and will resonate for some time. I wonder if I’m too close to some of this content in my day-to-day… would a professional architect lack my awe for How Buildings Learn in the same way?
The remaining 80% of the book contains chapter two: Vehicles (and Weapons), which starts hot, fizzles at points but remains interesting reading, and then falls off precipitously at the end. The initial, denser sections on motorcycle maintenance and general philosophy of complex system maintenance is quite good. The following section on the Model T and its effect on American culture is great. Then a long, gleefully digressing and enjoyable set of chapters on bicycles, weapons technology driving manufacturing process standardization and the advent of precision machine tooling, and maintaining your VW Beetle. The following section on manuals didn’t hit as hard for me, feeling more like short abstracts or blog posts than connected chapters in the narrative. The sustainment section was good though I did feel the writing quality falling off a little here—maybe feeling rushed, or more factual and logistical than engaging. And the final ~20 pages on electric vehicles were not great, both in style and content, missing key details in the contemporary story and frankly glazing Elon Musk in a manner that feels instantly dated.
Some of this an artifact of the book’s writing process, releasing in series and integrating reader comments, but in no way did this feel as monumental and exciting and philosophically coherent as How Buildings Learn.
That said, as I am a precision manufacturing engineer and work with complex machine tools every day, individual sections and snippets of this book are wonderfully applicable and will resonate for some time. I wonder if I’m too close to some of this content in my day-to-day… would a professional architect lack my awe for How Buildings Learn in the same way?
January 29, 2026
This book is built around a thesis that feels both obvious and oddly underappreciated: maintenance matters. We tend to celebrate the dramatic act of creation or victory and then quietly ignore the unglamorous work of keeping things functioning. Wars are won not just by brilliant strategies but by supply chains that do not collapse. Boat races are decided by who notices the hairline crack. Bikes, cars, institutions, even civilizations fail less from sudden catastrophe than from accumulated neglect.
That core idea is strong and genuinely useful. Once you notice it, you start seeing maintenance failures everywhere, often hiding behind stories we tell ourselves about incompetence, bad luck, or moral decay. In that sense, the book succeeds at installing a new mental lens, which is usually the highest compliment I can give nonfiction.
Where it struggles is coherence. The examples are interesting in isolation, but they often feel stacked rather than integrated. We move from wars to boats to engines to social systems without a clear sense of progression, and the argument sometimes feels more like a collage than a structure. I kept expecting a tighter framework that would explain when maintenance matters most, how it breaks down, or how incentives reliably fail around it. Those insights are gestured at but not fully developed.
The result is a book that is more suggestive than satisfying. You finish convinced that maintenance is underrated, but less clear on what to do with that knowledge beyond nodding wisely when something breaks. I enjoyed reading it, I underlined passages, and I will probably reference it in conversation. I just wished it had been a bit more disciplined in maintaining its own argument.
That core idea is strong and genuinely useful. Once you notice it, you start seeing maintenance failures everywhere, often hiding behind stories we tell ourselves about incompetence, bad luck, or moral decay. In that sense, the book succeeds at installing a new mental lens, which is usually the highest compliment I can give nonfiction.
Where it struggles is coherence. The examples are interesting in isolation, but they often feel stacked rather than integrated. We move from wars to boats to engines to social systems without a clear sense of progression, and the argument sometimes feels more like a collage than a structure. I kept expecting a tighter framework that would explain when maintenance matters most, how it breaks down, or how incentives reliably fail around it. Those insights are gestured at but not fully developed.
The result is a book that is more suggestive than satisfying. You finish convinced that maintenance is underrated, but less clear on what to do with that knowledge beyond nodding wisely when something breaks. I enjoyed reading it, I underlined passages, and I will probably reference it in conversation. I just wished it had been a bit more disciplined in maintaining its own argument.
January 29, 2026
A book dedicated to the topic of maintenance? Great! Such a potential. Just imagine how many topics can be covered here:
- analysis of entropy (in different context)
- how cost of running depends on the specifics of industry
- right to repair - yay or nay?
- should decommissioning cost be covered in the cost of goods?
- potential consequences of past bad decisions we are yet to face (e.g., asbestos, "large plate" building construction)
- and so on and so forth
I couldn't wait to get my hands on this book, so as soon as it was published, I put it in the front of my reading queue. And? ...
First of all, I was surprised it's just "Part One". I mean - I realize the topic is huge, but ... what was the division criteria? How did the author determine what lands in P1 and what doesn't? Sorry, but it's kinda unclear ;/
The book itself ... well, let's say the composition disappoints. Like hell. Why? Because there's no real structure here, no clear chain of thought, no mental model, no classification. This book feels like a collection of essays (some of them more interesting, some less) dedicated to "maintenance" in general. Some of those stories are quite amusing (M16, Golden Globe award), some are either meh or already exploited (Tesla).
The book itself is actually quite short, so it was over until I started getting impatient :) In the end - the promise was alluring, but I find the execution lacking. To such a degree, that I'm not sure if I reach for the Part 2.
- analysis of entropy (in different context)
- how cost of running depends on the specifics of industry
- right to repair - yay or nay?
- should decommissioning cost be covered in the cost of goods?
- potential consequences of past bad decisions we are yet to face (e.g., asbestos, "large plate" building construction)
- and so on and so forth
I couldn't wait to get my hands on this book, so as soon as it was published, I put it in the front of my reading queue. And? ...
First of all, I was surprised it's just "Part One". I mean - I realize the topic is huge, but ... what was the division criteria? How did the author determine what lands in P1 and what doesn't? Sorry, but it's kinda unclear ;/
The book itself ... well, let's say the composition disappoints. Like hell. Why? Because there's no real structure here, no clear chain of thought, no mental model, no classification. This book feels like a collection of essays (some of them more interesting, some less) dedicated to "maintenance" in general. Some of those stories are quite amusing (M16, Golden Globe award), some are either meh or already exploited (Tesla).
The book itself is actually quite short, so it was over until I started getting impatient :) In the end - the promise was alluring, but I find the execution lacking. To such a degree, that I'm not sure if I reach for the Part 2.
January 27, 2026
This is a delightful, informative discourse on the concept of maintenance and its importance to health, mechanical functioning, mission accomplishment, goal sustainment - all aspects of life and its activities and devices. The author's extensive examples are fascinating - the 1968 sailboat race around the world, the Ford Model-T and in comparison Rolls-Royce, the impetus in national armories to create weapons with inter-changeable parts and the long term explosion of engineering, manufacturing and quality of life advancements that ensued. He relates the Soviet AK47 with the US M16, the re-emergence of electric vehicles (first invented before 1900 and before gas vehicles!) and more. The book contains one delightful revelation after another.
Although predominantly objective in his approach, the author loses objectivity a couple of times - he repeats misconceptions and urban myths about the lethality and wounding characteristics of the cartridge fired in the M16, and he extols the modern electric vehicle as a panacea. Both are emotional aspirations, reflecting personal bias rather than dispassionate discourse. Nevertheless, the book is so interesting, so delightful, in all other aspects that this is more of a quibble than a complaint. I note that the title contains the modifier "Part One" - assuming there is Part Two coming, I will absolutely buy it and read it!!
Although predominantly objective in his approach, the author loses objectivity a couple of times - he repeats misconceptions and urban myths about the lethality and wounding characteristics of the cartridge fired in the M16, and he extols the modern electric vehicle as a panacea. Both are emotional aspirations, reflecting personal bias rather than dispassionate discourse. Nevertheless, the book is so interesting, so delightful, in all other aspects that this is more of a quibble than a complaint. I note that the title contains the modifier "Part One" - assuming there is Part Two coming, I will absolutely buy it and read it!!
March 28, 2026
I’ve been following this book since Stewart brand, creator of the Whole Earth catalog, posted the first interactive chapter to his Twitter.
The book feels a bit disingenuous, a criticism I have for many stripe press books. It’s beautiful kintsugi inspired hardcover, its baby blue captions, and even some social media style comments tucked away in the margins make me feel like it designed to look great on a shelf or a coffee table. Nevertheless that’s exactly where it will go now that I’m finished with it.
Underneath this polished exterior, following the lead of zen and the maintenance of motorcycle maintenance, Brand maps maintenance to deeper human values. Through its first chapters, he traces how our relationship with precision, with machines, and with their upkeep has evolved over time. Brand touches on the philosophy, management science, habits, and state of mind required to sustain complex systems, a practice which despite popular belief is not strictly mechanical.
I thought it was a good read. But what I’m most curious about is why this book came out now.
Brand may be chief among us at attaching himself to important ideas just before they reach maturity. I wonder what in our near future inspired him to latch onto maintenance, sustainment, and machines as what may be one of his last major projects.
The book feels a bit disingenuous, a criticism I have for many stripe press books. It’s beautiful kintsugi inspired hardcover, its baby blue captions, and even some social media style comments tucked away in the margins make me feel like it designed to look great on a shelf or a coffee table. Nevertheless that’s exactly where it will go now that I’m finished with it.
Underneath this polished exterior, following the lead of zen and the maintenance of motorcycle maintenance, Brand maps maintenance to deeper human values. Through its first chapters, he traces how our relationship with precision, with machines, and with their upkeep has evolved over time. Brand touches on the philosophy, management science, habits, and state of mind required to sustain complex systems, a practice which despite popular belief is not strictly mechanical.
I thought it was a good read. But what I’m most curious about is why this book came out now.
Brand may be chief among us at attaching himself to important ideas just before they reach maturity. I wonder what in our near future inspired him to latch onto maintenance, sustainment, and machines as what may be one of his last major projects.
April 12, 2026
Stripe Press again made a book of an enjoyable series of episodic content. Brand published much of this book in the Works in Progress magazine, where it fit quite comfortably. He excitedly tells us how the immediate feedback from readers was constructive.
There are underexplored stories here, like the Golden Globe race and the saga of two weapons in the M16 & AK-47. Brand highlights a lot from a couple of good books, including Simon Winchester's The Perfectionists to draw on the importance of precision manufacturing and tolerances to maintainability.
Those stories entertain. But when multiple headings read "chapter 2, continued," you wonder how tight the big picture is. Brand even tells you he's not sure where the other parts of the book will lead. And that detracts enormously from the structure his thesis stands on. Maintenance of Everything often feels like a hastily put-together collection of anecdotes. That may be an accurate model of how many authors come to conceive of their books, but editors exist for a reason.
There are neat ideas here. The pieces of the bundle, however, are slipping down the rubber band; they would be best experienced as blog posts. Again, the legitimizing force of paper publishing may have pushed this work into existence, in the hopes that movers and shakers will think about resilience to moving and shaking.
There are underexplored stories here, like the Golden Globe race and the saga of two weapons in the M16 & AK-47. Brand highlights a lot from a couple of good books, including Simon Winchester's The Perfectionists to draw on the importance of precision manufacturing and tolerances to maintainability.
Those stories entertain. But when multiple headings read "chapter 2, continued," you wonder how tight the big picture is. Brand even tells you he's not sure where the other parts of the book will lead. And that detracts enormously from the structure his thesis stands on. Maintenance of Everything often feels like a hastily put-together collection of anecdotes. That may be an accurate model of how many authors come to conceive of their books, but editors exist for a reason.
There are neat ideas here. The pieces of the bundle, however, are slipping down the rubber band; they would be best experienced as blog posts. Again, the legitimizing force of paper publishing may have pushed this work into existence, in the hopes that movers and shakers will think about resilience to moving and shaking.
January 29, 2026
Brand tackles essential territory: maintenance as philosophy, not mere upkeep. In our use-once-and-destroy present, his framework for iterative care and anti-fragile systems feels urgent and necessary. The collaborative writing process - open process, iterated online with experts and fans - models the adaptive thinking he advocates.
But the examples reveal troubling blind spots. Boats, motorcycles, guns, wars - Brand shows maintenance filtered almost exclusively through traditionally masculine objects. “Creative genius Elon Musk” and uncritical praise of IDF organization lands very poorly in 2025, not necessarily because the principles are wrong, but because Brand seems unaware of how these choices frame his argument. I expect more width in the next book.
A bit like Richard Dawkins, Brand risks drifting toward being seen as an irrelevant old sod, not because of declining intellect but due to his unexamined defaults. He would benefit from stepping outside his demographic comfort zone. His ideas deserve it. Read the book for the fundamental idea, but be prepared to cut Brand’s choice of examples some slack. The old counterculture hero has earned it.
But the examples reveal troubling blind spots. Boats, motorcycles, guns, wars - Brand shows maintenance filtered almost exclusively through traditionally masculine objects. “Creative genius Elon Musk” and uncritical praise of IDF organization lands very poorly in 2025, not necessarily because the principles are wrong, but because Brand seems unaware of how these choices frame his argument. I expect more width in the next book.
A bit like Richard Dawkins, Brand risks drifting toward being seen as an irrelevant old sod, not because of declining intellect but due to his unexamined defaults. He would benefit from stepping outside his demographic comfort zone. His ideas deserve it. Read the book for the fundamental idea, but be prepared to cut Brand’s choice of examples some slack. The old counterculture hero has earned it.
May 6, 2026
I had big expectations from this book, and I feel a bit disappointed. It was written 'in the open', with the author releasing sections piecemeal like blog posts, and using the discussion and feedback from commenters to improve upon the content. As a result, the book reads like a series of blog posts somewhat based on a theme. There are a whole bunch of digressions and digressions from digressions, and at times I was left wondering what point the author was trying to make. Nevertheless, some chapters are fantastic and an absolute joy to read, especially the one on the Golden Globe race, the one on motorcycle maintenance and the one on the M-16 rifle.
Despite the disappointment, I'm giving this a 4/5 because it has left me with an appreciation of just how important and central to civilization this oft-neglected, oft-maligned activity called maintenance is. I've certainly started trying to develop what the author calls 'maintenance mind' in myself, and I'll definitely be reading the upcoming parts too.
Despite the disappointment, I'm giving this a 4/5 because it has left me with an appreciation of just how important and central to civilization this oft-neglected, oft-maligned activity called maintenance is. I've certainly started trying to develop what the author calls 'maintenance mind' in myself, and I'll definitely be reading the upcoming parts too.
May 9, 2026
Two thirds (largely interesting) mechanical history plus one third US military propaganda. I picked the book based on the author's "How Buildings Learn", but was turned off by a huge section that celebrates US military superiority and Ukraine and Israel as its proxies. Those 50 pages, cleverly disguised in the table of contents as "sustainment", show children in Gaza being trained on AK-47s and describes why "Ukraine is winning the war".
I am not taking sides, but the author clearly is. There is much to be learned from military history (for example, "The Art of Action" is a great read), but when it comes to recent or ongoing conflicts, the writing borders on propaganda and is bound to age poorly. Other sections are similarly US-centric: Ford (US) beats Rolls-Royce (UK) and Tesla gets a huge plug without any mention of BYD. Unsurprisingly, the author's bio ends with the words "infantry officer in the US Army".
As others have commented, a cohesive storyline is hard to find. The main chapters are aptly named "digression". Let's see where Part 2 will go.
I am not taking sides, but the author clearly is. There is much to be learned from military history (for example, "The Art of Action" is a great read), but when it comes to recent or ongoing conflicts, the writing borders on propaganda and is bound to age poorly. Other sections are similarly US-centric: Ford (US) beats Rolls-Royce (UK) and Tesla gets a huge plug without any mention of BYD. Unsurprisingly, the author's bio ends with the words "infantry officer in the US Army".
As others have commented, a cohesive storyline is hard to find. The main chapters are aptly named "digression". Let's see where Part 2 will go.
March 29, 2026
I mostly forgo writing reviews these days but I need to justify the three stars I gave this book. My expectations were likely too high given the author and the subject. Yet I cannot help feeling a bit cheated. The majority of the instructive examples provided to make the incredibly important underscoring of the responsibilities of maintenance are common knowledge. Brand leans heavily on Pirsig and Crawford for his theoretical underpinning and you would be better served by just reading those books instead.
Yet the message of this book is vital. It is the common thread running through the human experiment. This turns a 1.5 star rating into a 3 star rating. If you only read one book on the importance of maintenance, you'd be better served elsewhere. But if you only read this book, hopefully you'll still get the message and grasp the value of and responsibility for maintaining what we have.
Yet the message of this book is vital. It is the common thread running through the human experiment. This turns a 1.5 star rating into a 3 star rating. If you only read one book on the importance of maintenance, you'd be better served elsewhere. But if you only read this book, hopefully you'll still get the message and grasp the value of and responsibility for maintaining what we have.
February 10, 2026
Most would probably describe maintenance as a necessary evil. It doesn't involve flashy creativity. It's often extremely rote manual labor performed repeatedly. However, Brand and many of the subjects of this book seem to have fallen in love with it. There's a primeval beauty to doing routine sailboat, motorcycle, or gun maintenance or the like.
The inherent tradeoff in maintenance is this: giving up significantly more time overall to have fewer and less catastrophic failures. Some could argue that maintenance isn't worth it...the labor hours involved in keeping a motorcycle in tip-top shape could probably pay for a new one. Brand makes a compelling argument for why this tradeoff is worth it...it's far better to be prepared when you're in on a sailboat in the roaring forties than the alternative.
The book doesn't, however, offer much practical advice on how to incorporate maintenance into our daily routines. Instead, it focuses on examples of maintenance going right or going horribly wrong. It's a fun read and I certainly learned a lot, especially about how shit of a gun the M16 is. That isn't exactly the most useful information though.
My takeaway from the book was that I need to do more maintenance. It did not, however, give great advice on the best methods for maintenance. What's the best frequency for maintenance? When does prepping turn into overkill? At what point does maintenance take away from creativity?
I guess those are questions I'll have to grapple with on my own ;)
All reviews:
https://bingham.dev/book-reviews
The inherent tradeoff in maintenance is this: giving up significantly more time overall to have fewer and less catastrophic failures. Some could argue that maintenance isn't worth it...the labor hours involved in keeping a motorcycle in tip-top shape could probably pay for a new one. Brand makes a compelling argument for why this tradeoff is worth it...it's far better to be prepared when you're in on a sailboat in the roaring forties than the alternative.
The book doesn't, however, offer much practical advice on how to incorporate maintenance into our daily routines. Instead, it focuses on examples of maintenance going right or going horribly wrong. It's a fun read and I certainly learned a lot, especially about how shit of a gun the M16 is. That isn't exactly the most useful information though.
My takeaway from the book was that I need to do more maintenance. It did not, however, give great advice on the best methods for maintenance. What's the best frequency for maintenance? When does prepping turn into overkill? At what point does maintenance take away from creativity?
I guess those are questions I'll have to grapple with on my own ;)
All reviews:
https://bingham.dev/book-reviews
February 11, 2026
Such a great thinker. Enjoyed it, but it didn’t meet the hype I had for it in my head. I hoped it would focus on the philosophy/science of maintenance, decay, and change, with some specific examples serving as applications. And then I hoped it would zoom out to larger societal and ecological issues related to maintenance (or lack thereof). Instead it was more of the inverse…deep dives on specific ways people have maintained certain objects (mostly vehicles and weapons) with some sprinkling of the philosophy/science. I think he did mention there would be more ecological issues in the second part.
The formatting was a little awkward, but the book itself is elegantly designed. I’m curious how many volumes he plans; Part 1 wasn’t very long so not sure why it’s split. That said, I will read future releases in the series.
The formatting was a little awkward, but the book itself is elegantly designed. I’m curious how many volumes he plans; Part 1 wasn’t very long so not sure why it’s split. That said, I will read future releases in the series.
May 7, 2026
Maintenance of Everything is off to a great start. I didn’t realize when I learned about the book that it would be part one of a series. I tried not to let that color my reading, but it definitely felt like the first several chapters of a larger work.
While full of great examples of the mindset of maintenance and sustainment, I felt as though the text only broaches the philosophical aspects in passing moments.
I appreciated the physical construction of the book, being representative of the mindset, leaving margins for notes for insets and context, additional pages at the back of the book for notes, so that one can ‘work’ the book over time.
I hope, in the spirit of maintenance and sustainment, that Brand has a plan in place for continuing the legacy of this work, as a man of his age should probably consider, when working from this philosophical perspective.
While full of great examples of the mindset of maintenance and sustainment, I felt as though the text only broaches the philosophical aspects in passing moments.
I appreciated the physical construction of the book, being representative of the mindset, leaving margins for notes for insets and context, additional pages at the back of the book for notes, so that one can ‘work’ the book over time.
I hope, in the spirit of maintenance and sustainment, that Brand has a plan in place for continuing the legacy of this work, as a man of his age should probably consider, when working from this philosophical perspective.
April 4, 2026
Despite being a prolific user of AI I find myself being drawn more and more into the trades. I’m not sure if it’s a defensive mechanism or just a general outlet for my energy now that I’ve been able to automate so many daily tasks but this desire led me to this book. It was an enjoyable set of stories (Golden globe race, the making of the M16, and the Ukraine/Russia war) that displayed the importance of proper maintenance.
The book reframed maintenance in my mind from something one has to do to something one gets to do. To maintain something is to open the door to improving something. It’s only in the constant use and care for something that we can find ways to make them better.
As the saying goes…A farmers footsteps are the best fertilizer
The book reframed maintenance in my mind from something one has to do to something one gets to do. To maintain something is to open the door to improving something. It’s only in the constant use and care for something that we can find ways to make them better.
As the saying goes…A farmers footsteps are the best fertilizer
May 9, 2026
Interesting idea that has some useful information. However, like so many books published after 2020, it is derailed in several spots when Mr Brand can’t resist the urge to apply his revisionist tendencies or to “do social justice.” Such as when he talks about the outcome of the Vietnam War, or interjects his gun control preferences. When will I learn to stop reading new books? I think I will tear out the bibliography and throw the rest away.
The book is also whimsically constructed, and includes comments from people who read it in pre-production. This should never be included in a final product. The “digressions” and “sub digressions” peppered throughout are longer than the units they interrupt. Weird.
The book is also whimsically constructed, and includes comments from people who read it in pre-production. This should never be included in a final product. The “digressions” and “sub digressions” peppered throughout are longer than the units they interrupt. Weird.
February 24, 2026
3.5 -- It's a gorgeous, breezy release from Stripe Press and after the first chapter I thought I would be giving this 5 stars.
Despite the endless ordeal, or maybe because of it, he reported, "I realised I was thoroughly enjoying myself." He loved being at sea. He loved exploring the extreme limits of his competence.
The second half lost momentum with a few weaker examples and digressions that called out "and another thing!" instead of introducing much new.
It's a lovely hardback with fun and interesting formatting decisions, but I think it veers closer to "aesthetic coffee table read" versus something to recommend for the sake of the content.
Despite the endless ordeal, or maybe because of it, he reported, "I realised I was thoroughly enjoying myself." He loved being at sea. He loved exploring the extreme limits of his competence.
The second half lost momentum with a few weaker examples and digressions that called out "and another thing!" instead of introducing much new.
It's a lovely hardback with fun and interesting formatting decisions, but I think it veers closer to "aesthetic coffee table read" versus something to recommend for the sake of the content.
May 15, 2026
"Only the rich can afford to be stupid; for others, ability is a necessity, not an option."
This book has changed my view on everyday life. I learned a lot about the topics I have no particular interest in (now I do), and it inspired me to adjust my approach to not-so-pleasant tasks.
I'm a big fan of the books that combine seemingly random stories of the past and present from many different aspects of life into one cohesive story. It's also a very humbling and kind book. Makes you admire all the people who often do their hard work invisibly, and whose work benefits us all.
The best book of 2026*
*if not for the praise of Musk at the end of the book
This book has changed my view on everyday life. I learned a lot about the topics I have no particular interest in (now I do), and it inspired me to adjust my approach to not-so-pleasant tasks.
I'm a big fan of the books that combine seemingly random stories of the past and present from many different aspects of life into one cohesive story. It's also a very humbling and kind book. Makes you admire all the people who often do their hard work invisibly, and whose work benefits us all.
The best book of 2026*
*if not for the praise of Musk at the end of the book
February 8, 2026
This may be the laziest book i've ever read. Towards the second half all effort is abandoned to tie the different threads into a common theme. This is a sub-par substack being sold as a book by an 87 year old has been. And it's part one? You're almost 90! Just another old man unable to deal with his own mortality, I've read his other books and his biography, like many people of his generation he should have stepped aside and enabled a new generation instead of showcasing rather than concealing the decline of their abilities.
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