Once upon a time, I got to talk with smartest gear dudes in the world about the hand-tools I can’t live without.
Mark Frauenfelder, Kevin Kelly, and I first met on the WELL in the 1980s. My first modem, first community on the internet. I was so green. Well, we all were.
Little did I know what a long and fruitful friendship it would be.
The two of them later produced a podcast called Cool Tools, 100 episodes for 10 Years, where they would interview fascinating people about the 4 tools they can’t live without.
Today’s podcast, above, is our memorable episode. A little more background, below:
My 4 Essential Tools
The Hitachi Magic Wand
The Stainless Steel Ricer
DARE I SAY!— my hosts never laughed harder than the podcast we did together. It was certainly the girly-est: The Hitachi Magic Wand is an essential.
I loved being on such a butch, can-do show. No one else has ever asked me about my tools, and the respect is well-earned.
A little more about my erudite hosts:
Mark, along with his wife Carla Sinclair founded Boing Boing— which changed so many lives, including mine. I remember when they asked if I wanted to be a guest editor for two weeks, it was like being crowned Miss America.
“What do you want me to cover?” I asked.
“Anything you feel like, anything at all. Don’t hold back.”
That is the first and last time a publisher has ever given me that direction.
I would easily call Mark one of the most infectious men alive— everything he wants to do, I want to climb in the hot air balloon and do it with him!1
As for Kevin, he along with Stewart Brand were the founding minds at the Whole Earth Review, and ditto with the WELL. Then he started WIRED, where Mark was also an editor. His life is so vast, you need to see KK’s entire website. An afternoon with Kevin is like a spelunking into the history of the known world.
I know you’ll enjoy this listen. And you know what’s next: What are YOUR four essential tools?
I will join you in comments with my latest faves . . .
(You will fall in love with his Substack. I just ordered the 6x Reading Glasses he was raving about in his oddball “travel essentials.” When you need to seriously magnify things. . .)
