Make: Tips and Tales from the Workshop: A Handy Reference for Makers

by Gareth Branwyn

Hardwon, handed down, and tightly guarded shop secrets are the hidden currency of making. Like hearing a good joke that's so funny you immediately re-tell it, reinforce it, and never forget it, a great shop tip is immediately put into practice--and the truly invaluable ones are never forgotten. Who doesn't remember, with the fondness of a precious gift, workshop tips you got from a parent, your Industrial Arts teacher, or a fellow maker? Make: Top Shop Tips & Techniques will collect the best working wisdom from ten years of Make: and from some of the most talented and prolific makers who've contributed to the magazine and Maker Faire over the past decade.

Genres: Nonfiction

224 pages, Paperback

Published July 3, 2018

About the author

Gareth Branwyn is a writer, editor, and media critic.

He has covered technology, media, DIY, and cyberculture for Wired, Esquire, the Baltimore Sun, Details, and numerous other publications. He was an editor at Mondo 2000 and Boing Boing (when it was a print zine), founded the personal tech site, StreetTech.com, and worked for MAKE magazine for 8 years, lastly acting as their Editorial Director.

Gareth co-edited The Happy Mutant Handbook (with Boing Boing) and is the author of Jargon Watch: A Pocket Dictionary for the Jitterati, Jamming the Media, The Absolute Beginner's Guide to Building Robots, and Mosaic Quick Tour: Accessing and Navigating the World Wide Web (the first book written about the Web). His most recent book, a collection of his best work, with many new essays, is called Borg Like Me & Other Tales of Art, Eros, and Embedded Systems. The book was crowd-funded and self-published.

Reviews

[Frank D. Hiatt]

Lots of fun and informative tips and tricks.

I am not a big maker, but I found this book not only informative, but actually entertaining.
The level of what my father called "redneck engineering" is very nice to see spreading.
Whether you are a maker or someone who just has to make do with what you have I highly recommend this book.

[Davia · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book did have several good hacks to save you money and time. But much of what was written would be things that most people would already know or figure out on their own fairly quickly with little effort. The book is well put together. There is a specific audience that this would be for, perhaps an ultra beginner to DIY anything. But for a seasoned maker, doer, fixer, it isn't enough.

[Bryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

There’s lots of good stuff in here, but it’s not very tightly edited. There’s a lot of waffle and background chit chat I could have done without, and some repetition. But it’s that sort of book. When I buy a cookery book I don’t expect to like all the recipes. Some just have one really good recipe that makes them worth it. This is that sort of book. It has quite a few good recipes.

[Benjamin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Definitely took some protips from this.

[Gregory Kuchmek · Rating 5 out of 5]

A ton of wonderful info!