Recommended Reading
Every Tool's a Hammer: Life Is What You Make It
by Adam Savage
Sometimes you pick up a book about one thing and it surprises you with something completely unexpected. That was my experience with Adam Savage's book Every Tool's a Hammer.
Most of the world knows Savage from his tenure on the Discovery Channel show Mythbusters. But he's far more than the guy we saw doing crazy stuff on the show. He's one of the mainstays of the maker movement (of which I hope this column is a small part), a talented graphic artist, and an incredibly creative person.
My husband Steve and I are fans of Savage and his work. We have followed his various endeavors and Steve - a maker in his own right - could hardly wait for the release of Savage's book. It was practically guaranteed to be right in his wheelhouse.
Steve shares many of Savage's enthusiasms: robots, sci-fi, tools of all types (including hammers), organizing and equipping a shop, woodworking, space and spacesuits, movie props and modelmaking. The list goes on and on.
Steve got the audiobook as soon as it was released, and listened to it immediately. He raved about it and kept telling me I should listen to it, that I was going to like it.
Knowing Savage's background in film and TV, and his on-screen persona from Mythbusters as well as his public image from on-line podcasts such as Still Untitled: the Adam Savage Project, I figured the book would be entertaining.
What I didn't count on was a deeply moving treatise on creativity, and the role of creativity in living an authentic life.
Don't get me wrong, there are a lot of very practical parts to Savage's exploration of his life so far, and a lot of behind-the-scenes stories about his work and himself. There's an entire chapter devoted to glue, he rhapsodizes over his love for cardboard, and he has a little rant about scissors. But even those seemingly mundane topics are illuminated by both their relationship to making, and by Savage's own interaction with them.
Nick Offerman describes this book as "An imperative how-to for creativity."
I couldn't have said it any better.
Buy it. Read it. I promise it will speak to you.
Every Tool's a Hammer: Life is What You Make It, by Adam Savage
Atria Books (May 7, 2019) 288 pages ISBN 978-1982113476
Also available in ebook and audio