Every Tool's a Hammer: Life Is What You Make It
Adam Savage
Atria Books
Nonfiction, Autobiography/Creativity
Themes: Cross-Genre
*****
Description
Adam Savage became a household name with the hit Discovery Channel show Mythbusters: with co-host Jamie Hyneman and a crew of assistants, they used years of experience in the FX industry to recreate and test various urban legends and Hollywood myths. But long before that, Savage was making things with whatever he had on hand, starting with cardboard and working up to a career that included a stint at Industrial Light and Magic. In this book, he traces his own creative roots and influences through numerous successes and failures, with advice for makers of all kinds.
Review
I always enjoyed watching Savage on Mythbusters; he's one of those people who was doing something he was born to do, something he was so passionate about even on bad builds, that it was a joy to watch in action. With this book, it's clear that wasn't just a persona created for the cameras. He was, and is, enthusiastic about the maker mindset, which to him encompasses everything from model building and set construction through painting or writing or even computer coding: anything creative. The book is broken down roughly by lessons for the current (or aspiring) maker, offering advice and personal anecdotes about topics ranging from general artistic perseverance to shop organization and tool selection. He's a great advocate of sharing and building communities (unlike some who jealously hoard their hard-earned knowledge in the belief that other makers are competition, not collaborators), and freely offers what he's learned over decades of making for fun an profit, with several photographs. It's a fast and enjoyable read, full of inspiration and practical tips. (And it's even formatted well for e-reading; I've read enough poorly formatted e-books to appreciate that.)