Makers

(I'll try not to flog too many of my own projects here in Mad Professor, but when a new book comes out that I'm associated with, I won't be able to help myself.) This past year, I've had the pleasure of being Bob Parks editor on his new book, Makers. Bob's an old friend -- we worked together for a long time in the early days of Wired magazine, and we worked together on a "How Robots Work Book" that was spiked a few days after we started working on it.

I'm happy to say that his new book, Makers, wasn't spiked. Bob profiles close to 100 people who have made incredibly wonderful things in their basements, garages, and backyards. The photos are gorgeous.

Here's the preface that I wrote to the book:

Insects Should Not Read This Book

"Man is a tool-using animal. Nowhere do you find him without tools; without tools he is nothing, with tools he is all." When British historian Thomas Carlyle wrote those words in the 19th Century he was telling like it is. In those days, people were expected to mend their own clothes, fix harness, repair machinery, make wooden toys, and build their dwellings.

Sadly, in these days, most people don't use tools. They don't need to use them, because buying new things or hiring specialists is usually cheaper (both money- and time-wise) than making, modifying, or fixing them yourself. What we've gained in terms of convenience, is offset by a growing sense of disconnectedness with the world and an understanding of how things work. It's hard to learn anything by simply consuming someone elses products all the time.

That's why I find this book -- which was inspired by Make magazine's popular "Made on Earth," section; a kind of "Faces in the Crowd" for amateur tinkerers and inventors -- so exciting and reassuring. There actually are people out there -- not many, perhaps, but enough to give me hope for humankind -- who do use tools, and who use them to create things that are far more useful, ingenious, repairable, and charming than store-bought counterparts. The successful launch of Make magazine lends credence to the idea that there are more makers out there than we know.

The makers profiled here are intensely curious about many subjects. Their areas of interest know no boundaries. This book is full of examples: The guy who built a networked cat door to track his pet's comings and goings also designed and constructed a candle-powered Stirling engine. The woman who hand weaves wire and cloth circuitry into electronic garments also modifies kids' toys to turn them into musical instruments. The fellow who made a coin-operated dog-exercising treadmill is also an accomplished wood carver and furniture maker.

These highly evolved people remind me of a favorite quote, from Robert Heinlein's novel, Time Enough for Love:

"A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects."

Are you a tool-using animal or an insect?

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