The Things We Make

The Unknown History of Invention from Cathedrals to Soda Cans

By: Bill Hammack

Narrated by: Jonathan Todd Ross

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

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.

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.

A clear and valuable story

Liked the point of the book but was turned off by occasionaly unnessary pc exåressions

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.

A book written to appease his scools DEI dept?

Too much unnecessary diversity talk. Could have been good without this constant distraction. Women and 'colored' people as you put it are well aware they can be engineers... and I work with them everyday. They all have red blood, get over yourself.

Could have been so much better

I really think the author is on to something important, but the different stories and overall message is a bit lost among all the things needed to be told.

I would like to see an editor remove some chunks of it. As an example at the end he claims to end the book and starts with some kind of summary, but decide to tell a rather long story about the microwave oven. That story is interesting by itself but it’s not part of an ending nor a summary… and its message has already been told when discussing the light bulb. I.e there are no one genius, only good marketing stories that obscures understanding of true development.

The important thing that is obscured by the non existing editorial work is visible in the European triple helix thinking, and is utterly wrong - universities discover something, and then they tell companies about it, companies develop products. Repeat. It just doesn’t work like that. I would really like a shorter and edited book to throw onto the politicians here in Europe :-)

Then we have the issue of woke. Universities must tell stories about female engineers to get funded, but I think it should be done in another way. How does the satellite story fit with “the engineering method”? if that’s what the book is about? Rule of thumb? To me it’s just another story about the lone genius that is not understood until after his death (like Tesla!) which is the opposite of what the book is about. I would really like an editor to go through everything and sort out these things and kill some darlings.

I would have recommended the book to a lot of people, since the message is important - science is not engineering is not science.
But now I’m beg for an edited version first…

Blends history and technical method explanations

First off, regarding the 1/5 star review about "political correctness" at the time of this posting, idk what book that person was reading, but I'm not sure why they felt the need to rate it so low and how political correctness contributed to a bad listening experience. So don't let that sway you, prospective listener.

Also, I am an engineer, so my 5/5 might be biased. Some of the things in here may make yours eyes glaze over.

I'm a fan of Bill Hammack's YouTube channel and audiobooks which led me here. This is a great listen for technical people or anyone looking to encourage young potential engineers. I doubt I'd have enjoyed this in high school, but this book gives an educator or parent great implicit direction on how to teach someone who's interested in STE(A)M. If you're looking to engage with a young maker, listen to this and try to replicate some of the methods described in the book through experiments.

On the listening side... The "discoveries" outlined in the book showcase a very real engineering world given human limitations, finite resources, and what seems like little information to tackle a technical challenge. And Hammack does a great job explaining technical concepts and their history even without the help of the diagrams in the text version. Every chapter is an interesting and compelling story with a very real technical lesson you can take with you once it's over. A great science audiobook like this one is hard to find.

Engineering Parts are Good

I listened and loved his Fatal Flight, and eagerly await new Engineer Guy videos. When I heard about his new book via an "engineering method" sample on that YouTube channel, I was thrilled. I have a rational reverence for the scientific method and have never viewed the science and engineering disciplines as adversaries.

The parts that deal with the engineering method and history of engineering are good but they are interleaved with sidebars lamenting the prevalence of white guys—the author seemingly excludes himself from this execrable situation, or at least, neglects a mea culpa—in both. Every included episode of women (cisgenderedness noted by the author) and People Of Color is about successful engineers who practiced their craft, undercutting his bemoaning their exclusion.

Social justice paeans aside, my only other complaint is that he often erected science strawmen and then masterfully set them alight. I am unfamiliar with those scientists who believed that technology was a panacea, that engineers divine solutions to problems in flashes of brilliance, or that everything we see had exactly one genius behind it. If there is in fact anyone who has argued any of those positions, Hammack has a useful counter to each.