The Best of Make (Make 75 Projects from the pages of MAKE) (Paperback)

~ Mark Frauenfelder (Editor), Gareth Branwyn (Editor)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

After two years, MAKE has become one of most celebrated new magazines to hit the newsstands, and certainly one of the hottest reads. If you're just catching on to the MAKE phenomenon and wonder what you've missed, this book contains the best DIY projects from the magazine's first ten volumes -- a surefire collection of fun and challenging activities going back to MAKE's launch in early 2005. Find out why MAKE has attracted a passionate following of tech and DIY enthusiasts worldwide with one million web site visitors and a quarter of a million magazine readers. And why our podcasts consistently rank in the top-25 for computers and technology. With the Best of MAKE, you'll share the curiosity, zeal, and energy of Makers -- the citizen scientists, circuit benders, homemakers, students, automotive enthusiasts, roboticists, software developers, musicians, hackers, hobbyists, and crafters -- through this unique and inspiring assortment of DIY projects chosen by the magazine's editors. Learn to: Hack your gadgets and toys Program micontrollers to sense and react to things Take flight with rockets, planes, and other projectiles Make music from the most surprising of things Find new ways to take photos and make video Outfit yourself with the coolest tools Put together by popular demand, the Best of MAKE is the perfect gift for any maker, including current subscribers who missed early volumes of the magazine. Do you or someone you know have a passion for the magic of tinkering, hacking, and creation? Do you enjoy finding imaginative and unexpected uses for the technology and materials in your life? Then get on board with the Best of MAKE!

About the Author

Gareth Branwyn is a well-known technology journalist and self-proclaimed "reluctant geek." He is writer and editor for "Wired, ID" and "Esquire" magazines, and has written many books on technology topics, including, "Mosaic Quick Tour" (the first World Wide Web book ever published), "Jargon Watch: A Pocket Dictionary for the Jitterati, Jamming the Media: A Citizen's Guide," and "The Happy Mutant Handbook." He also has contributed material to many technology books, including Que's "Catalog of Tomorrow" and "The Millennium Whole Earth Catalog." He is Editor-in-chief, co-owner, and site designer of Street Tech (www.streettech.com). Gareth also contributed lyrics to Billy Idol's 1993 album Cyberpunk.

Mark Frauenfelder is a writer and illustrator living in Los Angeles, and the editor of MAKE. He is the cofounder of the popular Boing Boing weblog and was an editor at Wired from 1993-1998.

Product Details

• Paperback: 379 pages
• Publisher: Make Books (October 24, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 059651428X
• ISBN-13: 978-0596514280
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #29,538 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Plenty of fun and learning for very little financial outlay..., November 24, 2007

By	Thomas Duff "Duffbert" (Portland, OR United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

I have enjoyed O'Reilly's MAKE magazine a lot, so when you get a full-length book of 75 of the "best" projects, it's worth reading. In The Best of MAKE by Mark Frauenfelder and Gareth Branwyn, you'll find a wide swath of projects and tips that are not only fun to work on, but that have practical purposes. And not all of them involve soldering irons and electronics...

Contents:
Tools; Electronics; Microcontrollers; Toys & Games; Robots; Music; Flight & Projectiles; Photography & Video; Cars & Engines; Index

Chapter 1 - Tools - preps you for what you'll need to get started on DIY projects, such as breadboards, needlenose pliers, lots and lots of wire, etc. Even in this chapter, there are projects you can do, such as planning your own toolbench using Google's SketchUp software, making driver bits to unscrew "tamper-proof" fasteners, and what emergency items you might want to have on a keychain. I really liked the list of items you should include on a USB thumbdrive that you carry around with you. I have a "must do" project right there. The following chapters divide up the projects based on general topic. For instance, Electronics has you making LED "throwies", low-powered LED lamps, adding a rumble-pack to your mouse, and interfacing your digital clock radio to a gaming system gun. Imagine shooting your alarm clock each morning to turn it off... :)

One of my favorite projects did not even require any real tools. The author of this particular project showed how you can use "urban camouflage" to make your car or truck appear to be a corporate fleet vehicle. With some strategically placed numbers, letters, and colored tape, your plain while SUV can become an official motor vehicle that appears to have some level of importance and can cause others to not question its presence. Not a bad ruse if you're needing to stop somewhere for 10 minutes, and the only option is the official "loading zone". Of course, I'm sure you'll never use this information to do anything illegal or wrong, either... :)

If you're at all into off-beat hacks, strange contraptions, and unusual conversation pieces, you'll find plenty to consider in The Best of MAKE. If you're already adept with electronics and soldering irons, there's not much in there that you won't be able to do. And if this is your first foray into that world, you can afford to make plenty of mistakes, as most of the projects use cast-off items you can find in your local junk yard or thrift shop. Either way, you'll have fun and learn a few things in the process.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Tinkerers Outlet!!!, February 15, 2008

By	Daniel McKinnon (Tewksbury, MA USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

MAKE is a magazine for tinkerers and hobbyists that like to build fun projects with their spare time. If you are one of these people you will find 'The Best of MAKE' to be well worth your reading curriculum. With 75 projects that deal with technology, electronics, music, etc there is something in here for everyone!!

This review is going to be short and simple. If you like to play with a variety of things and enjoy playing in your basement or garage building and experimenting, you WILL like this book. If this isn't your cup of tea, well stop reading and go do something else :^)

Seriously, if you are interested in this type of stuff there is no way you won't find this book well worth your time for reading, enjoy!!

***** RECOMMENDED

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Photo on website is wrong- book has 75 projects- not 150, September 12, 2008

By	The Way Life Should Be (Maine) - See all my reviews

The book is great. We subscribed, but moved and misplaced old issues. This collection has the best. My biggest complaint is that the photo here says 150 projects- and is not the cover of the book.