Zero to Maker: A Beginner's Guide to the Skills, Tools, and Ideas of the Maker Movement (Make: Technology on Your Time)

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Having a son into making things (he owns 2-3D printers) and not being a maker myself, I’m at least on the periphery of this movement. Having worked in manufacturing most of my adult life, this new twist of entrepreneurship has been in my scope for some time. This book promised to give me a more thorough view of what is going on and I have to say, this book does a passable job introducing you into the movement. I have a lot of post-it-note tabs in it for further reference.Makers, are not a new idea. If you are baby boomer we all knew people who were into woodworking or old cars. In many ways this really is that same creature, a person that was passionate about doing something that was other than their primary job. But this generations makers, are taking it up a notch with the new technology. They are not limited by hand tools, machine or wood tools. Instead they have a more fully featured set of tools at their behest, laser cutters, 3d printers, etc. These new tools need not just hands to operate but digital files. So there are two steps to learn. From the sounds of it, much of the software is free and easy to learn. Also many of the pattern files to make things have been made open source as well.The impetus for this book originated when the author lost his job due to common downsizing and contemplated what his skill set allowed him to move on to. He felt he came up short and started pondering what other skills would benefit him. This lead him to investigate the maker scene.The book chapters are:***** Down the Rabbit Hole***** DIT (Do it Together)***** The Maker Mentality***** Access to Tools***** Craftsmanship***** Digital Fabrication***** One to One Thousand***** Makers Going Pro***** Making More Makers***** Making Something that Matters***** EpilogueRather than going chapter by chapter in a nutshell the book chronicles the author’s research into the Maker movement. Down the Rabbit hole talks of this and a project he worked on. He found that rather than being shamed by not having the experience, ignorance is something you need to admit to. Then move on and join a team or find your tribe to educate you. If you join into a project to help, you will walk out with skills to help you on your next project. It is a spirit of cooperation unseen from inventors in the past. Later he talks of patenting and the implications of open source and legalities. But first you must dabble.Key here is buying kits and learning what you want to learn and making what you are passionate about. If you don’t know look what’s out there. Lots of references in this book. I have 9 post it note tabs:***** Magazines and Maker Faires***** Terminology***** Quotes, some real gems here***** NPR features***** Step by step instructions to approach becoming a maker***** Techniques***** TED talks: Three great ones***** CAD software references and a bit on each***** Book references***** Many technology referencesBut, a caveat, I do have a background in engineering, so this sort of stuff really interests me. Thoroughly geeking out here. However, if you are at all interested in starting, this is the book to do it with. Easy to read. Likely the software is easy to learn as the author is not an engineer, so it’s really accessible. You’ve got to start somewhere. I bet you have a project in mind.

"Zero to Maker" is a true beginner's guide to the topic of the Maker Movement. It is less that 250 pages, and you can read the book cover-to-cover in only a few hours, so that should give you an idea of it's depth - it's shallow to say the least. Those interested in continuing down the path to Maker will need siginificantly more resources than what this guide can offer, but it does give you a little something to go on if you think you might be interested, and want to learn more.There is zero in terms of step-by-step or tutorial pieces in this book. Instead, it is a broad level overview of what it takes to become a maker. It covers extreme basics - what is CAD? Why do I need a 3D printer? Many will find this too basic, but for those who are buying the book for it's intended purpose, it is likely a necessary thing. The topic selection, while shallow in depth, is fairly broad, covering how to digitize and fabricate your products, but also how to bring younger makers into the hobby, and how to take your new devices and start a small business with them.Illustrations are few and far between, but the text is well-written and engaging, and broken up into chapters and very short subchapters so that it's easy to skip around if you are only interested in particular elements. Not a bad choice, but not something you'll want to check out if you have any qualms about the limitations of what it offers.

It starts with the author’s story of looking for buried treasure in a cave filled with water using a remote operated vehicle ROV, a mini sub of submarine.I’ve never heard of Makers till this book. It’s a great introduction. Wow, I’m impressed and immediately looked for the closest events. It’s much more than just making things, DIY. It’s more of community, or a DIT, Do it Together. Learning self sufficiency is the drive for some that are attracted to becoming a Maker. At one point he describes a Maker lab as a gigantic adult playpen.Being a Maker is a mindset the author learned, and he describes his process in this book. He also shares tons of interesting stories and resources. Fixing a blender, building a toaster, to deep fried egg yoks. It is an introduction to the varied world of Makers, the events, the tools, and making it as a Maker.Physically this is a beautiful book. It’s in color, has color pictures inside, has a high gloss cover, and beautifully designed pages and layout. However, a few of photos are not high enough resolution to look good. In particular, there is an Amazon review of a Vitamix, that I can barely read, it looks like a screen shot.

This is an almost odd tour of the Maker and Making scenes. Frankly, within a few chapters, it had me looking for a Maker Faire in the Chicago area. Sadly there isn’t one oriented toward adult Makers. Author David Lang recounts his introduction to the Maker Movement ultimately takes the reader on a tour of Maker workshops, introduces us to Makers and the tools used by Makers. The last was fascinating and I have promised myself a visit to local workspaces with the idea of pursuing an idea I’ve had for a long time. No, there are no instructions in this book on how to build anything. It’s rather a guide intended to open the wanderer’s eyes to the unicerse of Makers and Making. It sure succeeded in doing precisely that for me.Jerry

Inspiring and informative, a great read.Arrived on time, in mint condition & well packaged.I wanted to take this direction before reading, now I'm sure!This book not only makes good sense, as it is written in an easy to comprehend language or style but is alsoa brilliant source of further learning via giving (hyper)links and resource locations without expecting further payment.Got to love collaboration for the greater good right? :)

I give the book 5 stars because it is a very thoughtful and thorough peep into the maker movement. I have learned much much more than I even expected to (and sometimes wanted to 😅)