FACTORY MADE: How Things Are Manufactured

by Leonard Gottlieb ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 25, 1979

Described precisely, intricately, and at length is the process of manufacture of 13 assorted objects: toilet seats, baseballs, buttons, fire hydrants, paintbrushes, matches, rubber bands, nails, plastic bottles, foam rubber, bricks, asphalt concrete, eyeglass frames. If you're interested in how any one of those things is made, you'll more or less find out--more or less because it is not always possible to understand all the steps: there are not enough photos, the photos are not necessarily next to the applicable text, and the photos sometimes show the men and the machines but not the actual processing. Comprehensive picture-sequences, or better coordination between text and pictures, would have made all the difference. Still, if you're interested in the standard mechanical processes, you'll get an idea of what those consist of; and you'll certainly become aware of the massiveness of mass production (e.g., 81 buttons are made a year for each American). Also provided is some incidental information of value and interest--like the qualities of a good paintbrush or rubber band. But only a technical-manual freak would want to sit down and read much of this--at one time or any time.

Pub Date: Oct. 25, 1979

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1979

Categories: NONFICTION