In this fun & funny celebration of hardware, Vince Staten answers the burning questions that have plagued humankind from time immemorial, such as: Did monkeys invent the monkey wrench?; Are Swiss Army knives really Swiss?; If cement was invented 7,000 years ago then why isn't the whole planet paved? Yes, in this book Staten reveals the mysterious origins of all the things that hold your house together & all the tools you've ever dreamed of having. And drawing on his years behind the counter of his father's hardware store, he reminds us that there once was a place where like-minded souls could discuss really important things like baseball, bad movies, & box-end wrenches. An amusing trip into the world of hardware.

“A remarkable narrative of a worklife as told to Primo Levi, who is as great a listener as he is a creative artist.” —Studs Terkel A Penguin Classic In this exuberant and wildly funny novel, Primo Levi celebrates the joys of work and the art of storytelling. The magic is worked through the mesmerizing tales told by Libertini Faussone, a construction worker, and by the narrator, a writer-chemist, who share stories of their adventures. Faussone is a life-loving, self-educated philosopher who has built bridges and towers in India, Africa, Alaska, and Russia. His passion for work and travel shines through his stories—of a monkey who wanted to be a man, of a magnificent machine that caught stardust, and of a first love, a girl who drove a bulldozer. The writer-chemist, himself a rigger of words and molecules, listens, patient and amused, and responds with his own fascinating stories and reflections on the similar joys of labor, both physical and intellectual. For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,800 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

A motley crew of saboteurs wreaks havoc on the corporations destroying America’s Western wilderness in this “wildly funny, infinitely wise” classic (The Houston Chronicle). When George Washington Hayduke III returns home from war in the jungles of Southeast Asia, he finds the unspoiled West he once knew has been transformed. The pristine lands and waterways are being strip mined, dammed up, and paved over by greedy government hacks and their corrupt corporate coconspirators. And the manic, beer-guzzling, rabidly antisocial ex-Green Beret isn’t just getting mad. Hayduke plans to get even. Together with a radical feminist from the Bronx; a wealthy, billboard-torching libertarian MD; and a disgraced Mormon polygamist, Hayduke’s ready to stick it to the Man in the most creative ways imaginable. By the time they’re done, there won’t be a bridge left standing, a dam unblown, or a bulldozer unmolested from Arizona to Utah. Edward Abbey’s most popular novel, The Monkey Wrench Gang is an outrageous romp with ultra-serious undertones that is as relevant today as it was in the early days of the environmental movement. The author who Larry McMurtry (Lonesome Dove) once dubbed “The Thoreau of the American West” has written a true comedic classic with brains, heart, and soul that more than justifies the call from the Los Angeles Times Book Review that we should all “praise the earth for Edward Abbey!” “Mixes comedy and chaos with enough chase sequences to leave you hungering for more.”—The San Francisco Chronicle

The author recreates the array of salves, patent medicines, and mysterious lotions packed on drugstore shelves, and brings to life the pharmacist who explained it all.

Inspiration for the Netflix series Chico Bon Bon! Whether you need a beebersaw or a chisel, Chico Bon Bon's your monkey. He can build or fix just about anything—from a dock for the ducks to a clock for the Clucks, even a small roller coaster for local chipmunks. But will his tools and his sharp wit save him when an organ grinder sets his sights on making Chico a circus star? Chris Monroe's quirky hero and detailed illustrations will absorb readers in an entertaining adventure that shows there is an inventive way out of every problem—if you have the right tools.

The All-American game is highlighted in a collection of offbeat baseball lore, from player's tales and statistical delights to crazy groundskeepers and famous onlookers, humorously recounted by author during a day at the ballpark with his son.

Do It Yourself investigates the history behind the current do-it-yourself craze in homebuilding and home repair. The origins of home improvement can be traced to the early part of the century when government loan programs placed home ownership within the reach of growing numbers of families, mass-circulation magazines began providing their readers with information about home remodeling and repair, and increasing numbers of Americans turned to the manual arts and handicrafts as leisure-time pursuits. World War II provided many Americans with the skills and confidence to undertake home-improvement projects on their own, and after the war, changes in the manufacturing and retail of tools and equipment created new possibilities for transforming one's home. As home remodeling became a central feature of domestic life and consumer culture, the "do-it-yourself" movement was born, coming of age in the baby-boomer 1950s and 1960s, when Americans created suburban paradises and reclaimed decaying urban centers. The text of Do It Yourself, which investigates topics ranging from women's roles in home repair to historic preservation, is a lively mix of illustrations -- including period photographs, magazine spreads, and advertisements -- and clearly written analysis of the trends behind these images.

Chicken soup for the baseball lover's soul -- the inimitable Vince Staten takes you out to the ol' ballgame and answers all the baseball questions your dad hoped you wouldn't ask.

A unique study of how the American Dream came to be—and came to be constantly updated and renovated: ”A pleasure to read.”—American Historical Review Each year, North Americans spend as much money fixing up their homes as they do buying new ones. This obsession with improving our dwellings has given rise to a multibillion-dollar industry that includes countless books, magazines, cable shows, and home improvement stores. Building a Market charts the rise of the home improvement industry in the United States and Canada from the end of World War I into the late 1950s. Drawing on the insights of business, social, and urban historians, and making use of a wide range of documentary sources, Richard Harris shows how the middle-class preference for home ownership first emerged in the 1920s—and how manufacturers, retailers, and the federal government combined to establish the massive home improvement market and a pervasive culture of Do-It-Yourself. Deeply insightful, Building a Market is the carefully crafted history of the emergence and evolution of a home improvement revolution that changed not just American culture but the American landscape as well. “An important topic that deserves to be widely read by scholars of business history, urban history, and social history.”—Journal of American History

We all know we're not supposed to judge books by their covers, but the truth is that we do just that nearly every time we walk into a bookstore or pull a book off a tightly packed shelf. It's really not something we should be ashamed about, for it reinforces something we sincerely believe: design matters. At its best, book cover design is an art that transcends the publisher's commercial imperativesto reflect both an author's ideas and contemporary cultural values in a vital, intelligent, and beautiful way. In this groundbreaking and lavishly illustrated history, authors Ned Drew and Paul Sternberger establish American book cover design as a tradition of sophisticated, visual excellence that has put shape to our literary landscape. By Its Cover traces the story of the American book cover from its inception as a means of utilitarian protection for the book to its current status as an elaborately produced form of communication art. It is, at once, the intertwined story of American graphic design and American literature, and features the work of such legendary figures as Rockwell Kent, E. McKnight Kauffer, Paul Rand, Alvin Lustig, Rudy deHarak, and Roy Kuhlman along with more recent and contemporary innovators including Push Pin Studios, Chermayeff & Geismar, Karen Goldberg, Chip Kidd, and John Gall.