I have been having a great deal of fun with this book, Unscrewed: Salvage and Reuse Motors, Gears, Switches, and More from Your Old Electronics. Even at my, ahem, advanced age, and even though I “know” how most of these things work, I have found intriguing bits of new info in the explanations. It’s fun that he tells you what he expected to find, and how even he was occasionally surprised by what he found.

If you have children who are the curious sort – and you want to encourage that trait – this is a great book for them, provided you can trust them not to stick a screwdriver into anything that is plugged in…or even any device that is still functional. If your child has an interest in ‘how things work’, this book would be a great investment for your family. Heck, you don’t even have to pick up a single tool to learn from these examples, but I do think it would be much more fun if you did 😉

There are several bad reviews of this book on Amazon, but I think those people are completely missing the point. There are other books that more clearly illustrate the actual workings, the author himself has several that do. Why would you expect a book called “Unscrewed” that clearly states it will tell you how to dismantle your electronic goods, to tell you how to fix a broken VCR? Why would you demand it tell you how to reuse the components to build something new? He does toss off a few suggestions on projects you might consider with your salvaged motors, mirrors & magnets – but there are plenty of other books available if you are looking for actual project step-by-steps.

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