How Things Are Made - by Tim Minshall (Hardcover)

About the Book

"We live in a manufactured world. Unless you are floating naked through space, you are right now in direct contact with multiple manufactured products, including furniture, technology, clothing, and even food. And yet the processes by which these things appear in our lives are virtually invisible. How often do we stop to think: Where do the things we buy actually come from? How are they made, and how do they make their way into our hands? The answers can be found in [in this book], which traces the surprising paths taken by everyday items to reach consumers, from design to creation to delivery"-- Provided by publisher.

Book Synopsis

An illuminating tour through the manufacturing world and its seismic influence on our lives, from internationally renowned expert Tim Minshall

We live in a manufactured world. Unless you are floating naked through space, you are right now in direct contact with multiple manufactured products, including furniture, technology, clothing, and even food. And yet the processes by which these things appear in our lives are virtually invisible. How often do we stop to think: Where do the things we buy actually come from? How are they made, and how do they make their way into our hands?

The answers can be found in How Things Are Made, which traces the surprising paths taken by everyday items to reach consumers, from design to creation to delivery. Innovation expert Tim Minshall takes us on a journey through the manufacturing world, from the smallest job shops to mega-factories, from global shipping hubs to local delivery at your door, revealing the inner workings of the system that runs 24-7-365 to make and deliver the things we need--or want--to live our daily lives, including cars, cakes, phones, planes, drugs, and medical devices. Along the way, he explores how we can improve the fragility of our global manufacturing system and the impact it has on the natural world, presenting a path to a truly sustainable future.

Brimming with energy and lively examples, How Things Are Made maps the awe-inspiring global system of manufacturing that enables virtually every aspect of our existence. By making sense of this surprising and hidden world, we are able to make better choices for ourselves, our communities, and the planet.

Review Quotes

"A timely reminder of the importance of making things and the need to restore the link between maker and consumer." -- Financial Times

"Charming, cheeky, and laugh-out-loud funny are not adjectives commonly applied to a book on manufacturing - but Cambridge professor Tim Minshall somehow achieved all three. Tim's joyous, self-deprecating, and marvelously original book on manufacturing uses stories of quotidian objects like toilet paper to bring the importance of manufacturing to life. How Things Are Made makes a serious subject accessible and fun. If Douglas Adams had decided to write about factories, I suspect it would have sounded a lot like this." -- Dr. Elliott Grant, engineer and entrepreneur, former General Manager of X, Google's "Moonshot Factory," and founder of mineral.ai

"How Things Are Made provides clear examples, discussions, and descriptions of the importance of manufacturing, and how, in an effort to optimize it, we have come very close to rendering our supply chains completely dysfunctional. The lessons learned are wonderfully articulated and provide some excellent insights for experts and novices alike. It is a great read, and absolutely entertaining as well." -- Professor Thomas R. Kurfess, Chief Manufacturing Officer, Georgia Institute of Technology

"A fascinating and informative book, telling you all the things you didn't know you wanted to know about manufacturing. And, just as importantly, how you can do your bit to create a more sustainable future for the planet. Whatever your background, you will find eye-opening, entertaining, and enlightening anecdotes to make the world of manufacturing feel real and close to home." -- Professor Dame Athene Donald DBE FRS, Emeritus Professor of Physics at the University of Cambridge

"Reading this book is like being given a personal tour of the world's factories by a real-life Willy Wonka. Brimming with insight, curiosity and wit, Minshall is a masterful storyteller of the manufactured world; I'll never look at a brownie in the same way again." -- Dr. Anna Ploszajski, materials scientist, storyteller, and author of Handmade: A Scientist's Search for Meaning Through Making