Things Come Apart: A Teardown Manual for Modern Living

A geeky adoration of design, disassembly, and tinkering, this collection of photographs and brief es-says draws attention to the aesthetic and practical value of taking objects apart. McLellan's process is straightforward%E2%80%9450 familiar objects are presented in their disassembled states, both arranged in an artful splay that highlights every component of the design, then more chaotically staged in a "drop," falling in front of the camera frame in groups before being digitally layered into one image. The ob-jects cover a range of simplicity and complexity, and of contemporary and classic, including the ele-gant straightforwardness of a mechanical pen, the staggering intricacy of a 1960s typewriter, and the miniscule technology of a modern laptop. The accompanying essays offer glancing (if occasionally trite) praise of disassembly, both for the childlike joy of mechanical experimentation and for the prac-tical environmental and material worth inherent in more accessible design. While a few clear argu-ments are made in favor of Active Disassembly technology and against disposable culture, the book as a whole functions as a celebration rather than a polemic, the photographic project of disassembly able to draw out a sense of wonder from within objects otherwise made familiar and artless by everyday use. Color illustrations. (May)