Where Stuff Comes from: How Toasters, Toilets, Cars, Computers, and Many Others Things Come to Be as They Are

by Harvey Molotch

Book Overview

A sparkling tour of how things are created: the everyday objects of our life - paper clips, Post-its, bathtubs, cars and all the other stuff - are a delicate and clever intermingling of design, timing and functionality that mirrors contemporary life.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0415944007
• ISBN13: 9780415944007
• Release Date: March 2003
• Publisher: Routledge
• Length: 336 Pages
• Weight: 1.45 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.2" x 9.5"

Customer Reviews

Why some designs remain the same and some are constantly changing

Where Stuff Comes From: How Toasters, Toilets, Cars, Computers, And Many Other Things Came To Be As They Are isn't just a review of invention history: Molotch spoke with product designs, marketers, and everyone involved in making everyday products part of our lives, surveying design options, the psychology behind consumer choices, and more. The origins of each product involve a life and evolutionary process: Molotch explains why some designs remain the same and some are constantly changing.

A must read

Harvey Molotch gets network thinking. More than that, he does it. In his book, "Where Stuff Comes From", he shows, with brilliant simplicity, the complex web of interactions that lie behind creation and production of the everyday stuff that surrounds us. This is a book that every thinking designer should read. Actually, it's a book that anyone who cares about the world we live in should read. Sensible, humane and thoughtful, it brightened up my day.