How Things Are Made

”[HOW THINGS ARE MADE] is anything but a dry tome for engineers. [Minshall] writes with a light touch… . Readers who have never passed through a factory gate–including high-school and college students thinking about their future careers–are likely to find this book an entertaining introduction to a sector of the economy they know only from the headlines. And those who believe the world is moving toward a postindustrial economy will encounter an energetic argument to the contrary.” – Wall Street Journal

“Illuminating… . Readers interested in the hidden workings of the world will be well pleased with Minshall’s explorations.” – Kirkus Reviews

“Entertaining… . The complicated hidden backstories of ordinary items fascinate… . This will satisfy anyone who’s ever wondered where their favorite products come from.” – Publishers Weekly

“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

Tim Minshall is an engineering academic at the University of Cambridge, where he is the inaugural Dr. John C. Taylor Professor of Innovation, head of the Institute for Manufacturing, and Fellow of Churchill College. An award-winning professor, he researches and writes about manufacturing, innovation, and skills, and regularly delivers talks on these topics nationally and internationally. He also delivers outreach programs to raise awareness of manufacturing among primary and secondary schoolchildren and their teachers. Before becoming an academic, he worked in the UK and Japan as a language teacher, program manager supporting tech start-ups, and freelance writer.