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    Made by Hand: Searching for Meaning in a Throwaway World
    Made by Hand: Searching for Meaning in a Throwaway World
    Made by Hand: Searching for Meaning in a Throwaway World
    Audiobook7 hours

    Made by Hand: Searching for Meaning in a Throwaway World

    Written by Mark Frauenfelder

    Narrated by Kirby Heyborne

    3.5/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    From his unique vantage point as editor in chief of Make magazine, the hub of the newly invigorated do-it-yourself (DIY) movement, Mark Frauenfelder takes listeners on an inspiring and surprising tour of the vibrant world of DIY. The Internet has brought together large communities of people who share ideas, tips, and blueprints for making everything from unmanned aerial vehicles to pedal-powered iPhone chargers to an automatic cat feeder jury-rigged from a VCR.

    DIY is a direct reflection of our basic human desire to invent and improve, long suppressed by the availability of cheap, mass-produced products that have drowned us in bland convenience and cultivated our most wasteful habits. Frauenfelder spent a year trying a variety of offbeat projects, such as keeping chickens and bees, tricking out his espresso machine, whittling wooden spoons, making guitars out of cigar boxes, and doing citizen science with his daughters in the garage. His whole family found that DIY helped them take control of their lives, offering a path that was simple, direct, and clear. Working with their hands and minds helped them feel more engaged with the world around them.

    Frauenfelder reveals how DIY is changing our culture for the better. He profiles fascinating "alpha makers" leading various DIY movements and grills them for their best tips and insights.

    Beginning his journey with hands as smooth as those of a typical geek, Frauenfelder offers a unique perspective on how earning a few calluses can be far more rewarding and satisfying than another trip to the mall.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTantor Media, Inc
    Release dateJun 7, 2010
    ISBN9781400187812
    Made by Hand: Searching for Meaning in a Throwaway World

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    Reviews for Made by Hand

    3.5/5

    56 ratings6 reviews

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    • 4/5
      Fun and enlightening to see the journey of a person breaking into the DIY lifestyle. Even though it was painful to hear about his mistakes.
    • 3/5
      Frauenfelder takes an entertaining but shallow look at some of the projects he took on throughout the first decade of the 2000s. I had hoped for more of a critique of the "throwaway world" as hinted in the title. The book peters out in the second half.
    • 3/5
      While the klutzy rambling of the book is endearing, and it’s good to be reminded that a fear of making mistakes is what stifles so much DYI, the reader wishes Frauenfelder would just RTFM.
    • 4/5
      A very simple but enjoyable book. Very motivational at first and then it gets settled in, but is still readable. Would have been better if some DIY plans were included to get people started on projects. I plan to build a cigar box guitar like the author.
    • 5/5
      The best thing about this book is the encouragement to persevere, pointing out that making mistakes is the best way to learn. I have often talked myself out of trying something, convinced I will make mistakes. Mark Frauenfelder assures me I will likely do just that, but that its OK and I'll get something more out of the trying than if I had simply HAP (hired a professional) as opposed to DIY. I loved this book for the freedom it gave me to not let failure crush me. Not everything in the book turns out perfectly but that's the whole point. What does turn out perfectly is the satisfaction of connecting to the world we live in and awakening our sense of possibilities.
    • 3/5
      Mark Frauenfelder's Made by Hand is a good read, with an introduction to the "Maker" culture for those unfamiliar with this movement (if you want to call it that). It gave a very good first hand account of one person's venturing into wanting to make things for himself, produce his own food, and see how really handy people live. I felt however, that Mark was selling himself short, portraying most of his adventures from an almost idiotic point of view. I know that he is smarter than that, I have read his posts on Boing Boing, I have read stuff he edited for Make Magazine, it seems like he is dumbing his perspective down for the audience. I never really considered myself a Maker before reading this, but I guess I am. I was hoping to hear about really out there projects that he witness or tried, or some truths about the overall culture and group-think happenings, but most of the time just found myself thinking, yeah, I knew that, or yeah, that's how I feel when I fix something myself, or build something from scratch. I would recommend this book highly to anyone who is not good with their hands, or thinks that they need to hire someone else to really do it right, because there is lots of wisdom in this for you. If you've ever been too scared to tackle a project you thought you might be able to do, pick this book up and don't feel so intimidated. The biggest lesson Mark teaches us is that failure isn't bad, often times it is very good. I know that I have learned this first hand over the years. Often I break something that I fashioned as a somewhat "final" version, only to break it and discover something that would make it infinitely better. Then the process of breaking it begins again, and you realize that it was just a beta you were building! This is the most rewarding part of DIY, and I discovered it years ago for myself. If you are building homebrew robots on Arduino or building brackets and fixtures by hand already, then this book is not for you, but if you are a little scared about DIY, this is a great read, and will fill you with confidence to try and fix it/build it/do it yourself.