MAKERS The New Industrial Revolution

This optimistic book explains how open-source software and hardware, coupled with the Internet, are remaking manufacturing. Rene Ruiz delivers a rock-solid narration, but the book encourages the mind to wander. It starts with a description of the author's grandfather's lawn-sprinkler invention, moves into a discussion about 3-D printers and the amazing things they can do, and eventually moves on to robotic manufacturing and profiles of individual "Maker" firms and entrepreneurs. Ruiz's narration, fine as it is, cannot disguise the padding--there's a lot to recommend this book, but there's filler, too. Listeners may choose to skip parts for reasons that have absolutely nothing to do with Ruiz's performance. G.S.D. © AudioFile 2012, Portland, Maine [Published: DECEMBER 2012]