Reviews

I just finished reading The Scavengers' Manifesto, a book I stumbled on at a great little book shop in New Hamburg (Upper Case Books).

For makers, this is a really good read. There seems to be a lot of crossover between the maker/diy movement/resurgence that's been gaining popularity for a number of years and the scavengers' movement as described in the book.

The book begins with a few chapters that are quite scholarly... defining and describing the classifications of scavengers (insect, animal and human) in nature, the history of human scavenging and how the "scavenged look" in fashion evolved through the hippie, punk, grunge and other movements. This is interesting and good background for the rest of the book. There is even a chapter devoted to comparing scavenging to major religions. Near the end, the manifesto gets down to the essentials, detailing the many various types of scavenging that are possible and ending with "The Scavenger Code of Ethics".

The text is interspersed with many personal stories of the authors' scavenging adventures. One of my favourite maker-like stories from the book details the scavenging of an old stereo that was brought home only to find that it didn't work. The author, who wasn't trained in electronics repair spends hours attempting to fix it, and describes the success as follows:

I pressed the On button and glorious stereophonic high-fidelity music filled the room. And I could feel the presence of the previous owner and the manufacturer and the designer and everyone back to Michael Faraday and Alessandro Volta standing there with me, smiling.

That is the secret joy of scavenging.

I think makers by nature take what is discarded and make something beautiful out of it. We are always on the look out for a scavenged part, or a deal on some fastener or controller board (finding deals is a form of scavenging too). I recommend this book to any maker that has ever dumpster dived to save a tube radio (or whatever) from the landfill, if only to realize that you are far from alone in your scavenging :)