Did Monkeys Invent the Monkey Wrench?: Hardware Stores and Hardware Stories

Vince Staten, a man raised in a hardware store is offering not only a tour of that mechanical mecca but answers to the questions that have plagued humankind from time immemorial as well. Here, you'll finally discover whether or not the Swiss Army knife is really Swiss. You'll find the answers to essential questions like if cement is 7,000 years old why isn't the entire planet paved? Can you cook a duck in duck tape? Did monkeys invent the monkey wrench? And is there anything that Super Glue won't stick to? Yes, in this book you'll discover the secret history of all the things that hold your house together, and where all the tools that you ever dreamed of having came from.

"The hardware store is to the average man what the dress or hat shop is to a woman," we are told here, but even men who are not average, and women too, will enjoy this compendium. Staten (Can You Trust a Tomato in January?) grew up working in his father's hardware emporium in Tennessee, but here he focuses on the shop of Ronnie Matthews in Winfield, West Virginia, after pointing out that a hardware store is not a do-it-yourself discount outlet or a home improvement center, but rather a place where customers can socialize or buy a single nail if they want. There is etymology in these pages (the monkey wrench was not invented by Charles Moncke or laborer "Monkey" White or monkeys), there is history (the ancient Egyptians invented locks) and there are dozens of amusing anecdotes. The reader will learn such interesting minutiae as the fact that 90% of Americans call duct tape "duck tape." There are also some clever sketches, and it all adds up to fun.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

To do-it-yourselfers, hardware stores are sacred ground, comfortable places to shoot the breeze and ocassionally buy a screw or two. Staten, who grew up working in his father's store, conveys the traditional "general store" quality of hardware stores (not to be confused with home centers). Staten alternates short sections discussing the history of a variety of tools and products with anecdotes about hardware stores and their employees. While there are some interesting stories, most are not particularly insightful (many involving a particularly individual would be interesting only if one knew him or her personally). This is unfortunate because, like the diner and the general store, old-time hardware stores seem to be destined to disappear, pushed aside by the newcomers. There is definitely a need for an interesting book on the subject, but librarians can pass on this title.?Jonathan N. Hershey, Akron-Summit Cty. P.L., Akron, Ohio
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Appealing to the crowd that makes Home Improvement a TV hit, Staten combines the reminiscences of a son of mom-and-pop hardware-store owners (himself) with anecdotal histories of nearly everything you can find in such an establishment. He arranges the book by hardware-store department--paint and decorating, plumbing, tools, etc.--and then by item. Under "Drills," we learn that Duncan Black (of "and Decker" fame) started business with $600 from selling his car and in 1914 got the idea of the pistol-grip electric drill from a Colt revolver; under "Drill Bits," that Howard Hughes' father, Bo, made his first fortune buying oil-field drill-bit patterns--and lost it in a poker game; under "Paint," that Captain Robert Fergusson's Rust-Oleum came out of its inventor's experiences with the reddened U.S. World War I victory fleet moored in New Orleans. Public libraries well might put this title on a revolving rack to attract practically minded patrons who don't expect to find light reading about their avocation. Mike Tribby