MAKE Asks: is a weekly column where we ask you, our readers, for responses to maker-related questions. We hope the column sparks interesting conversation and is a way for us to get to know more about each other.
I think I was fourteen or fifteen when I received my first Lindsay’s catalog, ordered from a print ad in the back pages of Popular Science or Popular Mechanics—I don’t recall which. “Build Lightning Bolt Generators!” it trumpeted. “Melt Metal! Rediscover Lost Technology!” I clipped along the dotted line and sent $3.00, cash, through the US mail. I’ve been a regular buyer ever since.
If you’ve ever used an image editing program, you’ve probably seen the RGB color space represented as a unit cube, with red, green, and blue on the three axes. Now an artist has created a physical representation of that model in book form.
Regular readers will probably recognize Bill Hammack’s name, by now, and require no introduction to him or his work. Engineer Guy series #4 is the first to include a companion book. Bill sent me a copy of Eight Amazing Engineering Stories back in May, shortly after the first video in the new series came out, and I read it more-or-less as intended, following along with each of its eight chapters as the corresponding videos were released.
The second part of a two-part interview with This American Life contributing editor Jack Hitt, about amateurism and the publication of his recent book Bunch of Amateurs.
The first part of a two-part interview with This American Life contributing editor Jack Hitt, about amateurism and the publication of his recent book Bunch of Amateurs.
Bunch of Amateurs by Jack Hitt hits the stands today. A contributing editor to This American Life, Hitt’s book argues that the “DIY impulse” and “amateur collaborations” are rooted in “the soul of America.”
