The Toaster Project: Or A Heroic Attempt to Build a Simple Electric Appliance from Scratch
Mar 2012 · Chronicle Books
4.0star
14 reviewsreport
Ebook
192
Pages
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About this ebook
"Hello, my name is Thomas Thwaites, and I have made a toaster." So begins The Toaster Project, the author's nine-month-long journey from his local appliance store to remote mines in the UK to his mother's backyard, where he creates a crude foundry. Along the way, he learns that an ordinary toaster is made up of 404 separate parts, that the best way to smelt metal at home is by using a method found in a fifteenth-century treatise, and that plastic is almost impossible to make from scratch. In the end, Thwaites's homemade toaster—a haunting and strangely beautiful object—cost 250 times more than the toaster he bought at the store and involved close to two thousand miles of travel to some of Britain's remotest locations. The Toaster Project may seem foolish, even insane. Yet, Thwaites's quixotic tale, told with self-deprecating wit, helps us reflect on the costs and perils of our cheap consumer culture, and in so doing reveals much about the organization of the modern world.
Ratings and reviews
4.0
14 reviews
Brooks Johnson
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May 31, 2016
Even though this book is short it is a great read. The transitions between sections could have been a bit better and the details within each section could have been more consistent, but overall I would recommend this book. It is a good look at one of the bad things about consumerism, and the author makes a decent case for a stronger stance on environmental issues.
A Google user
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May 4, 2016
Interesting and insightful into the real cost of our cheap stuffs. I would really had liked more information on the construction and designed of the final product though. It was mostly about getting the materials only.
1 person found this review helpful
John Andrus
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March 12, 2014
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