Cool Tools: A Catalog of Possibilities - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1940689007 ISBN 13: 9781940689005

Publisher: Cool Tools Lab, 2013

Synopsis

Cool Tools is a highly curated selection of the best tools available for individuals and small groups. Tools include hand tools, maps, how-to books, vehicles, software, specialized devices, gizmos, websites -- and anything useful. Tools are selected and presented in the book if they are the best of kind, the cheapest, or the only thing available that will do the job. This is an oversized book which reviews over 1,500 different tools, explaining why each one is great, and what its benefits are. Indirectly the book illuminates the possibilities contained in such tools and the whole catalog serves an education outside the classroom. The content in this book was derived from ten years of user reviews published at the Cool Tools website, cool-tools.org.

About this title

About the Author:

Kevin Kelly is Senior Maverick at Wired magazine. He co-founded Wired in 1993, and served as its Executive Editor from its inception until 1999. He is editor and publisher of the Cool Tools website, which gets half a million unique visitors per month. From 1984-1990 Kelly was publisher and editor of the Whole Earth Review, a journal of unorthodox technical news. He co-founded the ongoing Hackers' Conference, and was involved with the launch of the WELL, a pioneering online service started in 1985. His last book, What Technology Wants (Viking/Penguin October 18, 2010), asserted that technology as a whole is not just a jumble of wires and metal but a living, evolving organism that has its own unconscious needs and tendencies. He also authored the best-selling New Rules for the New Economy and the classic book on decentralized emergent systems, Out of Control.
Kevin Kelly's website is kk.org.

Review:

"Cool Tools is a refreshing antidote to the hype that surrounds the latest hot gadgets. Unimpressed by newness for newness' sake, Kelly is attracted to objects that have withstood the test of time -- and is passing those ideas on to others. It's a habit he learned while editing and publishing the Whole Earth Catalog, the bible of counterculture do-it-yourselfers who wanted in 'tools and ideas for the 21st century.'" (Leander Kahney, Wired News)

"Stewart Brand said that Cool Tools had captured the spirit of the Whole Earth Catalog but without taking on a counterculture and back-to-the-land philosophy. 'It proves that you can restart the essence of something,' he said." (John Markoff, New York Times)

"Cool Tools is what the Whole Earth Catalog always wanted to be." (Peter Schwartz, futurist, Salesforce)

"Jeff Bezos is a fan of e-mail newsletters such as Cool Tools, a compendium of technology tips and product reviews written by Kevin Kelly, a co-founder of Wired." (Brad Stone, author of The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon)

Cool Tools has been featured in "Best of the Web" lists, such as the following:* Forbes Best of the Web Directory* Alltop - Gadgets* New York Times Blogs 101 - Technology Toys & Cool Things

About this edition

• Publisher: Cool Tools Lab
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 1940689007
• ISBN 13: 9781940689005
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 472
• Editor: Kelly Kevin