The Things We Make

The Unknown History of Invention from Cathedrals to Soda Cans

By: Bill Hammack

Narrated by: Jonathan Todd Ross

Length: 7 hrs and 43 mins

Publisher's summary

Discover the secret method used to build the world . . .

For millennia, humans have used one simple method to solve problems. Whether it's planting crops, building skyscrapers, developing photographs, or designing the first microchip, all creators follow the same steps to engineer progress. But this powerful method, the "engineering method", is an all but hidden process that few of us have heard of—let alone understand—but that influences every aspect of our lives.

Bill Hammack, a Carl Sagan Award-winning professor of engineering and viral "The Engineer Guy" on YouTube, has a lifelong passion for the things we make, and how we make them. Now, for the first time, he reveals the invisible method behind every invention and takes us on a whirlwind tour of how humans built the world we know today. From the grand stone arches of medieval cathedrals to the mundane modern soda can, Hammack explains the golden rule of thumb that underlies every new building technique, every technological advancement, and every creative solution that leads us one step closer to a better, more functional world. Spanning centuries and cultures, Hammack offers a fascinating perspective on how humans engineer solutions in a world full of problems.

©2023 Bill Hammack (P)2023 HighBridge, a division of Recorded Books

Excellent job

The author does an amazing job of describing how engineering differs from science and impresses on us the creative nature of the engineering process

Hard start, but good overall

Not a fan of the beginning of the book, but after the middle I started enjoying it. My main issue is the rules of thumb. I really do not think they are as prominent as ages passed.

Very interesting book about the engineering method

I really enjoyed how it portrayed the difference between scientists and engineers and their approaches to learning.

Great topic, ok execution

It’s amazing how little has been written about what engineering really is. Hammack enthusiastically explores this topic, and summarizes the answer as (paraphrasing): building solutions using heuristics, given uncertain knowledge of the underlying science, with constraints. Unfortunately, he uses excessively detailed stories to only partially illustrate these points in his definition. Further, he barely touches upon the classes of strategies (types of heuristics), management side of engineering, and all the other things that would really explain to a student how to become a better engineer, or give a layperson ideas on how to apply these ways of thinking to their own life.

Dispels some myth of engineering

using historical examples he shows the struggle that engineers had to give fast solutions with limited knowledge.
Some might think that he enters in political correctness, but he just pin points some blank spots created by not including a more diverse demographic in product design. For examples first bicycles we're created by men using their sizes, and women having different sizes, had difficulties to run men's bicycles

The engineering mindset

I may have retired, but I still love to make things. Thank you for this book celebrating the engineer and the engineering process. I hope lots of younger folks get to read this and get the bug. We’ll written and spoken, with a great explanation of the philosophy of engineering. I wish I’d read it in school.

Solutions before Truth

Enjoyed so much, deserves a 2nd read. But before then will watch the companion videos on YouTube engineerguy.
I happened to see the Microwave Oven Magnetron video before listening to the book. When I got to that chapter, I could see the manufacturing solution as it was explained in the text. Excellent!

Good book.

I like the way it’s written, specifically the way it can pull a non engineer into understanding.

A great message

This book contains a well-considered explanation for the engineering method. The author backs it up with some interesting historical engineering problems and solutions. Some of the anecdotes are less interesting, but there are enough good stories to warrant a 5-star review.

Lots of good information, and lots of really wierd virtue signaling

There's a lot of good information in this book there's also a lot of weird modern verbiage ascribed to 100 years ago, like where the author describes that a female bicycle designer of the early 1900s first starting out by trying to find out the differences between "CIS gendered men and women", which I'd literally bet my life that she absolutely didn't do, because that term wasn't even around back then. It's a really strange thing to need to so show your virtues that you're willing to insert them into the mouth of someone from 100 years ago as if they're quotes, it's also distracting and factually inaccurate.