The case for fixing everything

📰 MIT Technology Review

Learn why maintenance is crucial in tech and beyond, and how it can be a radical act, with steps to apply this mindset in your own work

intermediate Published 17 Apr 2026

Action Steps

Read Stewart Brand's book 'Maintenance: Of Everything, Part One' to understand the concept of maintenance and its impact on daily life
Apply the idea of maintenance as a radical act by taking responsibility for the upkeep and repair of tools and systems in your own work
Join the Maintainers network to learn from others and share your own experiences on maintenance and repair
Consider the honor owed to maintainers and how to recognize their importance in your organization
Reflect on how maintenance can be prioritized in your own projects and daily tasks to improve their overall quality and reliability

Who Needs to Know This

Developers, product managers, and engineers can benefit from understanding the importance of maintenance in their daily work, as it can impact the longevity and reliability of their projects

Key Insight

💡 Maintenance is a crucial aspect of tech and beyond, and recognizing its importance can lead to more reliable and long-lasting projects

Key Takeaways

Learn why maintenance is crucial in tech and beyond, and how it can be a radical act, with steps to apply this mindset in your own work

Full Article

Title: The case for fixing everything

URL Source: https://www.technologyreview.com/2026/04/17/1135408/book-review-stewart-brand-fixing-everything-maintenance/

Published Time: 2026-04-17T06:00:00-04:00

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Book Review

# The case for fixing everything

A new book by Stewart Brand, an architect of modern tech culture, asks: How do we prioritize maintenance? And why? But it doesn’t quite have the answers.

By
* [Lee Vinsel archive page](https://www.technologyreview.com/author/lee-vinsel/)

April 17, 2026

![Image 1: Stewart Brand](https://wp.technologyreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/eyevine03910789.jpg)

WINNI WINTERMEYER/GUARDIAN/EYEVINE/REDUX

The handsome new book _[Maintenance: Of Everything, Part One](https://press.stripe.com/maintenance-part-one)_, by the tech industry legend Stewart Brand, promises to be the first in a series offering “a comprehensive overview of the civilizational importance of maintenance.” One of Brand’s several biographers described him as a mainstay of both counterculture and cyberculture, and with _Maintenance_, Brand wants us to understand that the upkeep and repair of tools and systems has profound impact on daily life. As he puts it, “Taking responsibility for maintaining something—whether a motorcycle, a monument, or our planet—can be a radical act.”

Radical how? This volume doesn’t say. In an outline for the overall work, Brand says his goal is to “end with the nature of maintainers and the honor owed them.”

The idea that maintainers are owed anything, much less honor, might surprise some readers. Actually, maintenance and repair have been hot topics in academia since the mid-2010s. I played some role in that movement as a cofounder of [the Maintainers](https://themaintainers.org/), a global, interdisciplinary network dedicated to the study of maintenance, repair, care, and all the work that goes into keeping the world going.

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The case for fixing everything

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