Listen free for 30 days
-
Handmade
- A Scientist’s Search for Meaning Through Making
- Narrated by: Anna Ploszajski
- Length: 9 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged Audiobook
- Categories: Science & Engineering, Engineering
Add to basket failed.
Add to wishlist failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Listen with a free trial
Buy Now for £16.99
No valid payment method on file.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
The God Equation
- The Quest for a Theory of Everything
- By: Michio Kaku
- Narrated by: Feodor Chin
- Length: 5 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This is the story of a quest: to find a Theory of Everything. Einstein dedicated his life to seeking this elusive Holy Grail, a single, revolutionary 'god equation' which would tie all the forces in the universe together, yet never found it. Some of the greatest minds in physics took up the search, from Stephen Hawking to Brian Greene. None have yet succeeded. In The God Equation, renowned theoretical physicist Michio Kaku takes the listener on a mind-bending ride through the twists and turns of this epic journey: a mystery that has fascinated him for most of his life.
-
-
A book with a message - and the message is, “Avoid!”
- By George Ballentyne on 16-05-21
-
Unwinding Anxiety
- Train Your Brain to Heal Your Mind
- By: Judson Brewer
- Narrated by: Judson Brewer
- Length: 7 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
We are living through one of the most anxious periods any of us can remember. Whether facing issues as public as a pandemic and political upheaval or as personal as having kids at home fighting the urge to reach for the wine bottle every night, we are feeling overwhelmed and out of control. But in this timely book, Judson Brewer explains how to uproot anxiety at its source using brain-based techniques and small hacks accessible to anyone.
-
-
Game changer for Generalised Anxiety Disorder
- By Kathryn on 18-03-21
-
Mudlarking
- By: Lara Maiklem
- Narrated by: Lara Maiklem
- Length: 8 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Lara Maiklem has scoured the banks of the Thames for over 15 years, in pursuit of the objects that the river unearths: from Neolithic flints to Roman hair pins, medieval buckles to Tudor buttons, Georgian clay pipes to Victorian toys. These objects tell her about London and its lost ways of life. Moving from the river's tidal origins in the west of the city to the point where it meets the sea in the east, Mudlarking is a search for urban solitude and history on the River Thames, what Lara calls 'the longest archaeological site in the world'.
-
-
Unexpectedly fascinating insight into lost London
- By oorkris on 25-08-19
-
Ask a Historian
- 50 Surprising Answers to Things You Always Wanted to Know
- By: Greg Jenner
- Narrated by: Dan Schreiber, Greg Jenner, Janina Ramirez, and others
- Length: 11 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Ask a Historian, the author, BBC podcaster and public historian Greg Jenner provides answers to things you always wondered about but didn't know who to ask. Responding to 50 genuine questions from the public, Greg whisks you off on an entertaining tour through the ages, revealing the best and most surprising stories, facts and historical characters from the past.
-
-
Really entertaining
- By Valerie Bayliss on 08-11-21
-
Two Turtle Doves
- A Memoir of Making Things
- By: Alex Monroe
- Narrated by: Sam Devereaux
- Length: 6 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Growing up in 1970s Suffolk in a crumbling giant of a house with wild, tangled gardens, Alex Monroe was left to wreak havoc by invention. Without visible parental influence, but with sisters to love him and brothers to fight for him, he made nature into his world. Creation became a compulsion, whether it was go-karts and guns, crossbows and booby traps, boats, bikes, or scooters. And then, it was jewelry.
-
Stuff Matters
- By: Mark Miodownik
- Narrated by: Daniel Weyman
- Length: 6 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A unique and inspiring exploration of human creativity from one of the UK's best-known scientists. Everything is made of something.... From the everyday objects in our homes to the most extraordinary new materials that will shape our future, Stuff Matters reveals the inner workings of the man-made world and the miracles of craft, design, engineering and ingenuity that surround us every day. From the teacup to the jet engine, the silicon chip to the paper clip, from the ancient technologies of fabrics and ceramic to today's self-healing metals and bionic implants, this is a book to inspire amazement and delight at mankind's creativity.
-
-
Well written, brilliantly read
- By Sophie Thompson on 27-06-19
-
The God Equation
- The Quest for a Theory of Everything
- By: Michio Kaku
- Narrated by: Feodor Chin
- Length: 5 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This is the story of a quest: to find a Theory of Everything. Einstein dedicated his life to seeking this elusive Holy Grail, a single, revolutionary 'god equation' which would tie all the forces in the universe together, yet never found it. Some of the greatest minds in physics took up the search, from Stephen Hawking to Brian Greene. None have yet succeeded. In The God Equation, renowned theoretical physicist Michio Kaku takes the listener on a mind-bending ride through the twists and turns of this epic journey: a mystery that has fascinated him for most of his life.
-
-
A book with a message - and the message is, “Avoid!”
- By George Ballentyne on 16-05-21
-
Unwinding Anxiety
- Train Your Brain to Heal Your Mind
- By: Judson Brewer
- Narrated by: Judson Brewer
- Length: 7 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
We are living through one of the most anxious periods any of us can remember. Whether facing issues as public as a pandemic and political upheaval or as personal as having kids at home fighting the urge to reach for the wine bottle every night, we are feeling overwhelmed and out of control. But in this timely book, Judson Brewer explains how to uproot anxiety at its source using brain-based techniques and small hacks accessible to anyone.
-
-
Game changer for Generalised Anxiety Disorder
- By Kathryn on 18-03-21
-
Mudlarking
- By: Lara Maiklem
- Narrated by: Lara Maiklem
- Length: 8 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Lara Maiklem has scoured the banks of the Thames for over 15 years, in pursuit of the objects that the river unearths: from Neolithic flints to Roman hair pins, medieval buckles to Tudor buttons, Georgian clay pipes to Victorian toys. These objects tell her about London and its lost ways of life. Moving from the river's tidal origins in the west of the city to the point where it meets the sea in the east, Mudlarking is a search for urban solitude and history on the River Thames, what Lara calls 'the longest archaeological site in the world'.
-
-
Unexpectedly fascinating insight into lost London
- By oorkris on 25-08-19
-
Ask a Historian
- 50 Surprising Answers to Things You Always Wanted to Know
- By: Greg Jenner
- Narrated by: Dan Schreiber, Greg Jenner, Janina Ramirez, and others
- Length: 11 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Ask a Historian, the author, BBC podcaster and public historian Greg Jenner provides answers to things you always wondered about but didn't know who to ask. Responding to 50 genuine questions from the public, Greg whisks you off on an entertaining tour through the ages, revealing the best and most surprising stories, facts and historical characters from the past.
-
-
Really entertaining
- By Valerie Bayliss on 08-11-21
-
Two Turtle Doves
- A Memoir of Making Things
- By: Alex Monroe
- Narrated by: Sam Devereaux
- Length: 6 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Growing up in 1970s Suffolk in a crumbling giant of a house with wild, tangled gardens, Alex Monroe was left to wreak havoc by invention. Without visible parental influence, but with sisters to love him and brothers to fight for him, he made nature into his world. Creation became a compulsion, whether it was go-karts and guns, crossbows and booby traps, boats, bikes, or scooters. And then, it was jewelry.
-
Stuff Matters
- By: Mark Miodownik
- Narrated by: Daniel Weyman
- Length: 6 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A unique and inspiring exploration of human creativity from one of the UK's best-known scientists. Everything is made of something.... From the everyday objects in our homes to the most extraordinary new materials that will shape our future, Stuff Matters reveals the inner workings of the man-made world and the miracles of craft, design, engineering and ingenuity that surround us every day. From the teacup to the jet engine, the silicon chip to the paper clip, from the ancient technologies of fabrics and ceramic to today's self-healing metals and bionic implants, this is a book to inspire amazement and delight at mankind's creativity.
-
-
Well written, brilliantly read
- By Sophie Thompson on 27-06-19
-
Winter
- By: Karl Ove Knausgaard
- Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini
- Length: 5 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The second volume in his autobiographical quartet based on the seasons, Winter is an achingly beautiful collection of daily meditations and letters addressed directly to Knaugsaard's unborn daughter.
-
The Library of Ice
- Readings from a Cold Climate
- By: Nancy Campbell
- Narrated by: Tania Rodrigues
- Length: 10 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Long captivated by the solid yet impermanent nature of ice, by its stark, rugged beauty, acclaimed poet and writer Nancy Campbell sets out from the world’s northernmost museum - at Upernavik in Greenland - to explore it in all its facets. From the Bodleian Library archives to the traces left by the great polar expeditions, from remote Arctic settlements to the ice houses of Calcutta, she examines the impact of ice on our lives at a time when it is itself under threat from climate change. The Library of Ice is a fascinating and beautifully rendered evocation of the interplay of people and their environment on a fragile planet and of a writer’s quest to define the value of her work in a disappearing landscape....
-
-
Is this book actually about something?
- By Andrew D on 07-12-18
-
Material: Making and the Art of Transformation
- By: Nick Kary
- Narrated by: Nick Kary
- Length: 7 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Material, Kary takes listeners along with him to visit some of the places where modern artisans are preserving, and in some cases passing on, the old craft skills. His vivid descriptions and eye for detail make this book a rich and delightful listen, and the natural and cultural history he imparts along the way provides an important context for understanding our own past and the roots of our industrial society. Personal, engaging, and filled with memorable people, landscapes, and scenes, Material is a rich celebration of what it means to imagine and create.
-
-
If you're a maker, read this
- By Samuel de Bruyn on 25-03-22
-
Being You
- A New Science of Consciousness
- By: Professor Anil Seth
- Narrated by: Anil Seth
- Length: 9 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Being you is not as simple as it sounds. Somehow, within each of our brains, billions of neurons create our everyday conscious experience. But how does this happen? Anil Seth's unique and groundbreaking theory of what it means to 'be you' challenges our understanding of perception and reality, doing for brain science what Dawkins did for evolutionary biology. Being You is an accessible, inspiring and eye-opening exploration of consciousness by one of the most remarkable pioneers working in science today.
-
-
A mind bending tour - science of consciousness
- By MR on 13-09-21
-
The Ten Most Beautiful Experiments
- By: George Johnson
- Narrated by: Dion Graham
- Length: 3 hrs and 55 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the acclaimed New York Times science writer George Johnson, an irresistible book on the 10 most fascinating experiments in the history of science - moments when a curious soul posed a particularly eloquent question to nature and received a crisp, unambiguous reply.
-
The Little Book of Humanism
- Universal Lessons on Finding Purpose, Meaning and Joy
- By: Alice Roberts, Andrew Copson
- Narrated by: Karen Cass, Oliver Hembrough
- Length: 2 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
We all want to lead a happy life. Traditionally, when in need of guidance, comfort or inspiration, many people turn to religion. But there has been another way to learn how to live well - the humanist way - and in today's more secular world, it is more relevant than ever. In The Little Book of Humanism, Alice Roberts and Andrew Copson share over 2,000 years of humanist wisdom through an uplifting collection of stories, quotes and meditations on how to live an ethical and fulfilling life, grounded in reason and humanity.
-
-
Short and sweet!
- By Amazon Customer on 22-08-21
-
Brain-Fizzing Facts
- Awesome Science Questions Answered
- By: Emily Grossman
- Narrated by: Emily Grossman
- Length: 2 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Why is your elbow called your funny bone? How could you escape the grip of a crocodile’s jaw? Which animal can breathe through its bottom? And how do these things all link together? This brilliant book will have eyebrows raised and jaws dropping as it uncovers the amazing scientific explanations behind all sorts of questions that can pop into our heads. Can an egg bounce? How can a giraffe’s ridiculously long neck contain the same number of bones as a human’s? How much does the internet weigh?
-
-
Really good
- By sarahnew on 24-06-22
-
Phosphate Rocks
- By: Fiona Erskine
- Narrated by: Robin Laing
- Length: 6 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As the old chemical works in Leith are demolished, a long deceased body encrusted in phosphate rock is discovered. Seated at a card table, he has 10 objects laid out in front of him. Whose body is it? How did he die, and what is the significance of the objects? Phosphate Rocks: A Death in 10 Objects unravels the mystery using a mix of real life anecdote, scientific explanation and a touch of fiction, woven together to create a vivid account of the life and decline of a factory over five decades.
-
-
Wry Fascinating and Funny
- By AW on 27-07-21
-
Oxygen
- The Molecule That Made the World
- By: Nick Lane
- Narrated by: Nigel Patterson
- Length: 16 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Oxygen takes the listener on an enthralling journey, as gripping as a thriller, as it unravels the unexpected ways in which oxygen spurred the evolution of life and death.
-
-
It's a biology book
- By Kindle Customer on 17-12-21
-
Space: 10 Things You Should Know
- By: Rebecca Smethurst
- Narrated by: Rebecca Smethurst
- Length: 1 hr and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Written by Oxford astrophysicist Dr Becky Smethurst and composed of 10 captivating, simple essays, it guides you swiftly through the galaxies, explaining the mysteries of black holes, dark matter and what existed before the big bang, presenting the evidence as to whether we really are alone, illuminating what we still don't know and much more besides. If you have big questions about space, this book will provide you with the answers in an engaging and succinct way.
-
-
Fantastic listen
- By Big P on 23-06-22
-
The Berlin Shadow
- By: Jonathan Lichtenstein
- Narrated by: Jonathan Lichtenstein
- Length: 7 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1939, Jonathan Lichtenstein’s father, Hans, escaped Nazi-occupied Berlin as a child refugee on the Kindertransport. Almost every member of his family died after Kristallnacht and, arriving in England to make his way in the world alone, Hans turned his back on his German Jewish culture. Growing up in post-war rural Wales, where the conflict was never spoken of, Jonathan and his siblings were at a loss to understand their father’s relentless drive and sometimes eccentric behaviour.
-
-
Exquisite
- By Ms Lynda C. Porter on 05-06-21
-
In the Waves
- My Quest to Solve the Mystery of a Civil War Submarine
- By: Rachel Lance
- Narrated by: Rebecca Lowman
- Length: 9 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On the night of February 17, 1864, the tiny Confederate submarine HL Hunley made its way toward the USS Housatonic just outside Charleston harbor. Within a matter of hours, the Union ship’s stern was blown open in a spray of wood planks. The explosion sank the ship, killing many of its crew. And the submarine, the first ever to be successful in combat, disappeared without a trace. For 131 years the eight-man crew of the HL Hunley lay in their watery graves, undiscovered.
Summary
From atomic structures to theories about magnetic forces, scientific progress has given us a good grasp on the properties of many different materials. However, science cannot tell us how to measure the temperature of steel just by looking at it, or how to sculpt stone into all kinds of shapes, or what it feels like to blow up a balloon of glass. Handmade is the story of materials through making and doing. Author and material scientist Anna Ploszajski journeys into the domain of makers and craftspeople to comprehend how the most popular materials really work. Their accumulated knowledge through hands-on trial and error has been gathered by generation after generation of experimenters and tinkerers and they understand the materiality of objects far better than any scientist with a textbook.
Anna’s is the fresh and entertaining perspective of someone at the forefront of the field. Each chapter centres around an everyday material and features Anna’s accounts of learning from masters of their respective crafts. Along the way, she builds a fuller picture of materials and their place in society. She visits a female blacksmith artist to see, hear, smell and strike steel herself, explores how working with one of the most primal of materials, clay, has brought about some of the most advanced technologies and delves down to the atomic scale of glass to find out what makes it ‘glassy’. Handmade affords us a new understanding of the materials we encounter every day and an appreciation for the skills needed to fashion them into objects that are perfectly formed for the jobs they do.