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Zero To Maker: Learn (Just Enough) To Make (Almost) Anything (2013)

by David Lang(Favorite Author)

3.52 of 5 Votes: 1

ISBN

1449356435 (ISBN13: 9781449356439)

languge

English

genre

Nonfiction

publisher

O'Reilly/Maker Media

review 1: While my middle grades son found this book quite inspiring in his recently bloomed quest to begin being a "maker", for me it was ok. For me, it was a good primer on some of the sites/places/etc. that I can go to look for ideas and projects to help my kids and myself build skills. It's focus on monetizing and making a business (or licensing) out of your making, was just not relevant for us. Our focus is on learning competence and persistence - we have no desire / intent to monetize at this juncture.We like that he included a number of resources, though many we were aware of already. And my son found it motivating in a manifesto-style way. He keeps quoting different parts of it, that are helping him shape his own flavor of the maker ethos. So for getting a 10 year old s... moreo excited about working hard, maybe I should have given more points... but then it would be his review and not my own. :)Upon reflection, I have bumped up the points for the book, because it has had true staying power with my son - 6 months later and he is still engaged by it, telling stories from it and using it to craft his own narrative about his journey as a maker. Not only that, we had the distinct pleasure of meeting David and his Open ROV team at the NYC Maker Faire and they could not have been kinder. He has cemented his place as one of my son's heroes by not only taking a photo with him, but by giving him a signed copy of his book, when asked for a signature on an Open ROV sticker. It made my son's birthday far more memorable than I dared hope. Any book that can get my son so excited about ideas, trying new things, embrace resilience and help him internalize the reality that failure is not permanent and those that get their hands dirty have the most fun is a five star book in my world. Wishing David and Open ROV team success and, if not, lots of wonderful stories on their journey.
review 2: Are you a closet inventor? Have you heard about the strange new thing called 3-D printing and would like to try your hand at it? Do you believe you could create electronic devices to solve problems around the home or office? If any of these sounds like you, then you may be a “maker”. Makers are those among us who dream of better ways to do things and creative uses for the objects around us. They are the tinkerers and programmers, the hackers and explorers. If any of this sounds appealing to you, then the book “Zero to Maker: Learn (Just Enough) to Make (Just About) Anything” by David Lang is a good place for you to start.“Zero to Maker”, published by Maker Media, starts with an overview of the maker phenomena and then gets down to the hands-on nitty-gritty. In contrast to general business style books like “The Maker Movement Manifesto” by Mark Hatch, which stays at a higher more theoretical level, “Zero to Maker” goes in depth with some of the projects and problems that face today’s creators. From the various types of people that you will come in contact with to the different ways of handling specific product problems, the advice given her is concrete and actionable. The next step from here would be actual user manuals for hardware or programming tutorials for system development languages.When it comes to the maker scene, I am definitely into the computer side of things. I am into the Raspberry PI, the Arduino, and TI’s Launchpad. I guess that makes sense since I am a programmer by trade, but I also like the hardware side of these devices. But, since I have been so preoccupied with software for so many years, my knowledge of basic electronics leaves something to be desired. That is where a book such as this comes in. It doesn’t necessarily tell me everything I need to know about electronics, but it helps lay out a path of where I should go to learn more.I found Lang’s style easy to read and almost conversational, without become too casual. Making is an area where the excitement of discovery should show through, and it does in this book. Of particular interest is his relating his own journey with the OpenROV project. The path of that project, dealing with underwater robots, from discovery through fruition is one that all makers hope to enjoy.I would also recommend “Zero to Maker” to parents or teachers who are interested in getting kids interested in engineering, science, or other STEAM fields. (STEAM = Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, Math) This book might give some ideas on how to motivate those kids and also how to deal with the types of personalities that will be encountered. less

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