The Toaster Project: Or a Heroic Attempt to Build a Simple Electric Appliance from Scratch [Paperback]

Thomas Thwaites (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 28, 2011

Where do our things really come from? China is the most common answer, but Thomas Thwaites decided he wanted to know more. In The Toaster Project, Thwaites asks what lies behind the smooth buttons on a mobile phone or the cushioned soles of running sneakers. What is involved in extracting and processing materials? To answer these questions, Thwaites set out to construct, from scratch, one of the most commonplace appliances in our kitchens today: a toaster. The Toaster Project takes the reader on Thwaites's journey from dismantling the cheapest toaster he can find in London to researching how to smelt metal in a fifteenth-century treatise. His incisive restrictions all parts of the toaster must be made from scratch and Thwaites had to make the toaster himself made his task difficult, but not impossible. It took nine months and cost 250 times more than the toaster he bought at the store. In the end, Thwaites reveals the true ingredients in the products we use every day. Most interesting is not the final creation but the lesson learned. The Toaster Project helps us reflect on the costs and perils of our cheap consumer culture and the ridiculousness of churning out millions of toasters and other products at the expense of the environment. If products were designed more efficiently, with fewer parts that are easier to recycle, we would end up with objects that last longer and we would generate less waste altogether. Foreword by David Crowley, head of critical writing at the Royal College of Art and curator at the Victoria and Albert Museum.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"This fascinating book follows the adventures of Thomas Thwaites as he attempts to build a toaster. from scratch. He molds his own plastic, extrudes his own nickel-chromium wire, and refines iron ore to build the frame. It's an entertaining and well-written book, and I love how Thwaites embraces failure as a part of the story, which is a reality for many "maker" style projects" -- Wired.com

"At once a charming manifesto for the maker movement and a poetic reflection on consumerism's downfall, The Toaster Project is a story of reacquainting ourselves with the origins of our stuff, part Moby-Duck, part The Story of Stuff, part something else made entirely from scratch." -- Brain Pickings

"Funny and thoughtful" -- the Boston Globe

"The Toaster Project raises fascinating questions.... Thwaites's eagerness to learn and his determination to see the project through--not to mention the author's engaging writing and the novelty of the project--makes this book a winner." -- Make online

"One of the most exciting books to come across my desk in the last while.... A hilarious, wonderfully wrought account of how hard it is to really make anything from scratch, much less an electronic device." -- Aaron Britt, Dwell.com

"It's fun, and you'll get a little smarter, and maybe you'll appreciate our ancestors and their smarts a little more." -- Science 2.0

"Incredibly entertaining and well-written." -- International Sculpture Center blog

"I particularly admired his can-do attitude and loved his heroic ignorance-is-bliss abuse of a microwave oven." - ElectronicsWeekly.com

"Easily my favorite book this year, The Toaster Project should be required reading for artists, designers, consumers and anyone who has ever bought or thrown away a toaster. Thomas Thwaites, a graduate student at London's Royal College of Art, sets out to build a toaster from scratch -- not just an object that toasts bread, but one that aesthetically and mechanically replicates the ubiquitous $6 drugstore toaster.... Thwaites is a laugh-out-loud-funny but thoughtful guide through his own adventures, touching provocatively on ideas as far-ranging as medieval metallurgy, sustainability, mass production, and our 'throwaway' consumer culture. You'll buy it as a gift for the title and the concept, but you'll end up keeping it for yourself once you crack the cover -- so take my advice and buy two." -- NPR.org

"As befits the project, the book is hilarious. I never though reading about iron smelting and descents into mines would be so engrossing."-- We Make Money Not Art

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Princeton Architectural Press (September 28, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1568989970
• ISBN-13: 978-1568989976
• Product Dimensions: 5 x 0.6 x 7.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (51 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #322,418 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Entertaining...educational...thought-provoking... August 22, 2011

By 35-year Technology Consumer TOP 100 REVIEWER

Format:Paperback|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)

As one whose elementary school education included tours of a Ford assembly line and the production floor of the Eastern Steel Barrel company in central New Jersey, I've been forever fascinated by what happens between the factory and the retail space. In visits to pre-industrial age museums, I wonder how pioneers or settlers of any age got by in a time and place when you couldn't just go buy a hammer, a screw, or a nail...you needed to have them forged for you. A few years ago, I got hooked on the How It's Made series for the same reasons.

In "The Toaster Project", Thomas Thwaites takes similar curiosity to the limit, as he tries to make --from scratch-- a most mundane piece of modern technology: an electric toaster (a device now into its second century of evolution).

In doing so, Thwaites first deconstructs a common household toaster with a plastic case (the cheapest one currently offered on Amazon (by Rival sells for around $12. He discovers a device containing somewhere between 157 to 404 separate "parts", depending on how you count and how far down you dissect the components. He broadly categorizes these as belonging to either "steel", "mica", "plastic", "copper" and "nickel" subsets and then sets about to fabricate a working one.

The result is an engaging and entertaining mixture of science, economics (especially the economies of scale and distance in the domain of mass production) and consumer technology. Even as Thwaites explores these areas, he never takes himself --or the project-- too seriously....

The end result is a toaster that wouldn't pass muster with even the least demanding of buyers...at more than 100 times the cost of the mass production version that he attempted to reproduce.

Along the way, Thwaites treats us to an amusing romp as he engages academic and industrial subject matter experts to explore the possibility of how to proceed within the constraints of own ground rules. He concludes with well-reasoned insights into the nature of consumption.

If you somehow have managed not to take modern consumer goods for granted: good for you, and you'll enjoy this book. If you aren't part of that group: read this book, and you'll be unlikely to take such things for granted in the future.

A great look at modern consumerism and its underlying technologies. Read more ›

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars A roller toaster journey September 13, 2011

By Jojoleb TOP 500 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)

Thomas Thwaites' book, The Toaster Project, promises a lot and (nearly) delivers a toaster. The book is an interesting look at how complex even simple, every-day technological devices might be. Thwaites uses the pop up toaster as a springboard to discuss topics from metallurgy to the industrial revolution to our ecological footprint. In the end, the book is a short, quick, and mostly successful read.

A second year postgraduate design student at the Royal College of Art, Thwaites begins a nine month 1187.54 pound sterling quest to build a simple pop up toaster. He doggedly pursues this goal and documents his way through it for his masters project as well as his own personal obsession with the idea.

The book is similar to that genre of cheap but entertaining books where the author decides to document a particularly crazy quest. The master of this genre is, of course, A.J. Jacobs (The Year of Living Biblically: One Man's Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible or The Know-It-All: One Man's Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World). The protagonist goes through the kooky committed motions, but amidst the tongue in cheek prose the author eventually discovers some hidden truths that make the ridiculous romp somehow worthwhile. The writing and the contrived epiphanies keep the reader interested and will thus keep these authors afloat even in the time of a recession.

Thwaites' book is not so different from this genre. His goal is to make a toaster, but refuses to use a kit.... Instead, he sets up some rules to make sure that the quest is damn near impossible: he must make everything from scratch, he must obtain all products from overland travel (no airplanes or boats), and he insists on making a pop-up variety of toaster.

For the most part Thwaites delivers what he promises. He does cheat a bit on some of the rules, eventually obtaining plastic from post consumer waste, nickel from coins, and never quite delivered on the pop-up feature. Still, his foray into metallurgy, his traipsing about England to obtain raw materials, and his attempts to brew up a little plastic make for an interesting read.

Sometimes the book falls short. We get a thorough going over of how to obtain iron from ore and obtain mica from the mountains. However, he never completely describes the process by which he derived the copper. Nor does he adequately explain how he shaped the metal parts/wiring of the toaster or completed the final assembly.

Still, the whimsy of the idea carries over nicely to the whimsy of the prose. That and Thwaites' infectious enthusiasm keep the book from being dull. It helps that Thwaites has a good sense of humor and never takes himself too seriously regarding the project. It also helps that there are an abundant number of pictures in this book to illustrate Thwaites' trials and tribulations.

I received an uncorrected proof of the book, so all my pictures were in black and white. But according to the accompanying literature, the final edition of the book will have 98 color and 40 black and white images, which I am sure will be more compelling. Sadly, it looks as though the size format will not change--the book will remain 7.5 x 5.1 inches. My guess is that this book might have done better in a larger format, where it could sit on your coffee table and become more of a conversation piece.

In spite of the minor flaws, I found the book to be interesting from a historical and social perspective and really enjoyed Thwaites self-effacing, fresh, and humorous tone. Read more ›

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Quirky and Enjoyable September 21, 2011

By Christopher Mayo TOP 500 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)

In The Toaster Project Thomas Thwaites documents his attempt to build a toaster from scratch. This entails a lot of work, money, and research that produces a compelling narrative about a modern device that usually receives little attention.

The project is impractical and "ridiculous," but the author tells the story well, and I feel like I got something out of reading it. I am not sure it was what he intended for me to take away from it, because I don't share his take on the issues he raises in it about our mass consumer culture. I also don't think the project actually provides much support for the agenda he is trying to advance, and he seems at times to be forcing his quirky endeavor to make arguments that it isn't designed to sustain. Nevertheless, it is an enjoyable story. I'd also like to add that the photography is superb and the text is arranged beautifully; it's nice to see a book receive so much care and attention in its production.

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars A fluffy master's project September 15, 2011

By Erika Mitchell TOP 500 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)

This book relates the story of a design student who attempts to build a toaster from scratch as part of his studies. Thwaites was a 2nd year student at the Royal College of Art in London when he came up with the idea for this project. In this book, he describes the trials and tribulations of purchasing a cheap toaster, taking it apart to examine its materials, then trying to learn how to concoct such materials from raw ingredients. Along the way, he consults with experts from materials science professors to mining historians. He learns a bit about the difficulties of making steel, plastic, and copper wiring at home, and eventually produces a product that might fit in with other 2nd year sculpture projects at his art college.

I found the idea for this book much more engaging than the book itself. When one considers all the products that fill a modern home, their construction and the variety of materials used is both overwhelming and fascinating. What are the raw materials that go into the metals, plastics, and electronics that make up our common appliances? Would it be possible to make even the simplest appliance from scratch? Thwaites attempts to answer these questions, but his investigation is on a rather shallow level. He gets the basic gist of a process, then attempts to make something like the materials that were found in his sample toaster, or something in the same vague category that might have some similar traits. In this book, he presents very little in-depth research of the materials and their sourcing. Instead, he fills out the book with bits of e-mail correspondence with materials science experts or excerpts from transcripts with the experts, or comments posted to his blog on the project.... Thwaites approaches the project with a bit of humor that may appeal to some readers, but overall, this is simply the adventures of a young student attempting an impossible project, rather than an informative exploration of materials. Read more ›