Overview
The first in-depth exploration of maintenance and a powerful argument for its civilisational 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 profound: Maintenance is absolutely necessary and maintenance is optional. The first in a multi-volume work, Maintenance: Of Everything, Part One offers a comprehensive overview of the civilisational importance of maintenance. 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 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. Maintenance: 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.
Full Product Details
Author: Stewart Brand
Publisher: Stripe Matter Inc
Imprint: Stripe Press
ISBN: 9781953953490
ISBN 10: 1953953492
Pages: 308
Publication Date: 20 January 2026
Audience:
General/trade
,
General
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming
Availability: Not yet available
This item is yet to be released. You can pre-order this item and we will dispatch it to you upon its release.
Reviews
“The always original mind of Stewart Brand here makes a persuasive case that keeping the human show on the road through well-planned maintenance is as vital and as fascinating a task as innovation and discovery themselves—and that it is, in itself, an art as much as a craft. A deliciously good book.” —Matt Ridley, author of The Rational Optimist “Civilization is maintenance. 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 editor of Wired “No one inspires long-term thinking better than Stewart Brand, and he is in top form with this exploration into what it takes to make things last. Brand masterfully takes us on a journey through the world of the fixers keeping the gears of civilization rolling. If you’re the kind of person who wants to know why things break and how to stop it, you should read this book.” —Kyle Wiens, CEO of iFixit “Once again, Stewart Brand reframes our worldview with a new perspective. You may not imagine you would be interested in rust, Soviet tanks, or tricked-out Model Ts—that is, until Brand reexamines them through the lens of maintenance. He draws you in with tales of heroism and tragedy, brilliant foresight and deep stupidity. Along the way, you’ll discover some surprising information about the hidden umbrellas in Rolls-Royce doors, packing for a sea voyage, and building a stone wall. Maintenance: Of Everything will change the way you look at everything. It is destined to be classic.” —Danny Hillis, cofounder of Applied Invention “Stewart Brand is back with a manifesto on maintenance, the tool that empowers all tools. Preventative maintenance, deferred maintenance, and emergency maintenance: this much-needed, no-nonsense treatise illuminates the difference, and why it counts.” —George Dyson, author of Darwin Among the Machines and Turing’s Cathedral “What a splendid book to read while fixing an old house. I stopped moaning and whining and became a quiet hero of relentless ‘sustainment.’” —Bruce Sterling, author and editor of Mirrorshades: The Cyberpunk Anthology
Author Information
Stewart Brand is the cofounder and president of The Long Now Foundation and cofounder of Global Business Network, the Hackers Conference, and the WELL. He created and edited the National Book Award-winning Whole Earth Catalog from 1968 to 1998. His books include The Media Lab (1987), How Buildings Learn (1994), The Clock of the Long Now (1999), and Whole Earth Discipline (2009). He was the subject of the documentary We Are As Gods (2020). He graduated from Stanford with a degree in biology and served as an infantry officer in the US Army.
