Dare to Repair
 Sussman & Glakas-Tenet
 (Reviewed by The Editor - Rebecca Brown)
 2002 Harper Resource
  ISBN: 0060959843


A Do-It-Herself Guide to Fixing (Almost) Anything in the Home -- illustrated by Yeorgos Lampathakis.

That being said -- Dare to Repair is a Fix-It book unlike any I've read before. It's like a cookbook of plain & simple home repair projects.

Things break down, & Julie Sussman & Stephanie Glakas-Tenet have collaborated on not only a repair book, they have also done it with a flair! If you're wondering who these authors are, & why it occurred to them to write Dare to Repair -- imagine what your life would be like if your husbands worked for the CIA!

You know how helpless you feel when the toilet clogs, or the washing machine has thumped itself out of alignment, or you've got hot water troubles, or your sink won't drain, or you need to replace an electric socket, fire extinguisher or smoke detector. & you know how grumpy your overworked man can get when you stand there bleating for rescue! Well, Sussman & Glakas-Tenet have organized a useful toolbook that goes about home repairs rather differently -- they've brought along a bit of fun!

Dare to Repair has an interesting Foreword by Linda C. Fuller, one of the Co-Founders of Habitat for Humanity International, & a rousing Introduction that will have us rolling up our sleeves, ready to wield our screwdrivers like pros.

It also has five sections to it:
Plumbing -- in which are discussed & repaired our homes' water supplies, toilets, sinks, bathtubs & faucets, as well as remembering those seasonal repairs.

Electricity -- explains what circuit breakers & fuses are; how to change a lightbulb.

How many women does it take to replace a lightbulb? 4
•  one to turn off the electricity, & know what needlenose pliers are;
•  one to hold the ladder, a paper bag to catch the glass shards, & hand up the new bulb;
•  someone to call when the chore is done,
•  & another to write about it! All kidding aside, electricity & women have a lot to learn about each other, & this section is truly valuable!

Major Appliances -- who, in a home, uses household appliances? Don't you think you should know how to fix them? No, Sussman & Glakas-Tenet are not advocating that we actually repair the machinery -- they're talking about when those machines bodily get into trouble.

Windows, Walls, and Doors -- has tons of useful information, especially when the handlebars of our kids' bicycles just happen to prod through the walls of our halls, or we want to install a peephole to our front doors, or our parents need new door handles because of their arthritis, or it's time to install an automatic garage opener, or the cat has scratched through the screen door. Lots of silly, simple tasks the accomplishment of which will give us much satisfaction.

Home Safety -- installing danger detectors & learning how fire extinguishers work. No, they're not part of the decor -- they are there for very real reasons. How many of us have actually fired-off a fire extinguisher? Dare to Repair has a novel idea about that!

My only complaint about Dare to Repair is that HarperCollins didn't think to produce it like a cookbook, so we can lay it down open at the section in which the recipe for our repair is written!

Dare to Repair teaches us how to look at a problem, what tools we'll need to repair it & then, with Yeorgos Lampathakis' fine illustrations to guide us, we'll be able to follow the instructions & do the job!

Definitely a book to give to everywoman we know who is stuck in her isolated splendor & needs things repaired. A great gift for bridal showers, weddings & housewarmings -- right up there with vacuum cleaners, flower vases, toasters &, perhaps the most important gift of all -- a toolbox!

Mother Editor says: Remember to clean your tools before putting them away neatly so you'll find them the next time you Dare to Repair.
(09/29/02)

Rebecca