The Library
This is a list of books that describe how to make things. These books have existed for as long as anyone can remember, but as the maker movement grows in popularity, have moved back into the limelight. Now, as well as the ever present craft and hobby books, there are also books available on a wide range of project types. Check out some of the newest, and most exciting below. Header Image in the Public Domain
Completely re-written with the most photos and schematics replaced and updated, this new iteration of Charles Platt's seminal beginner's guide to electronics continues the
Maker Dad - Lunch Box Guitars, Antigravity Jars, and 22 Other Incredibly Cool Father-Daughter DIY Projects Maker Dad by Mark Frauenfelder I couldn’t find a book with projects for my daughter and I to build together, so I wrote one.
Fifty Dangerous Things (you should let your children do) is the first book from the people who created Tinkering School. With projects, activities, experiences, and skills ranging from "Superglue Your Fingers Together" to "Play with Fire," along with 48 other great ideas, the book is a manifesto for kids and parents alike to reclaim childhood.
UNBORED | The essential field guide to serious fun. Unbored is the guide and activity book every modern kid needs. Vibrantly designed, lavishly illustrated, brilliantly walking the line between cool and constructive, it's crammed with activities that are not only fun and doable but also designed to get kids engaged with the wider world.
Violet Mackerel loves to make things - especially SMALL things. Let Violet show you how to make some of her favourite SMALL THINGS: SMALL THINGS to WEAR, SMALL THINGS to USE and SMALL THINGS to GIVE. Packed full of crafty ideas and lots of thinking outside the square!
Lena Corwin's Made by Hand: A Collection of Projects to Print, Sew, Weave, Dye, Knit, or Otherwise Create. Lots of ideas for a range of different craft projects; a great way to get a 'taste' of many different crafts before diving more into whichever appeals. Knit a pair of socks, sew an outfit, try screen printing or stamping - this book has it all.
If you're interested in interactive toys, smart accessories, or light-up fashions, this book is for you! Sew Electric is a set of LilyPad Arduino tutorials that brings together craft, electronics, and programming.
Readers will learn to stitch up a Morse Code quilt to send a hidden message, dig out their Perler beads to create a life-like Buffy portrait, or stick to the classics with a Super Mario cross-stitch. With step-by-step instructions, project templates, how-to illustrations, and color photorgraphs, and featuring a variety of techniques and themes, The World of Geekcraft has something for geeks of all persuasions and affiliations
A spectacular interactive guide to aerodynamics that has five fabulous flying machines to make. a spectacular interactive guide to aerodynamics that has five fabulous flying machines to make. There are two specially designed paper planes, a rubber-band-powered single-prop plane, a unique, superspeedy twin-prop plane and a vertical take-off helicopter. Flying hints and tips suggest how to manipulate your machines speed, distance and flight direction, demonstrating the basic aerodynamic principles and helping you to understand the forces that affect flight.
365 Things to Do with Paper and Cardboard by Fiona Watt, Erica Harrison, Antonia Miller. This is a fantastic collection of 365 fun, environmentally friendly activities using paper, card and all manner of materials to be found around the house. There's something to do for every day of the year, including a 3D cardboard city, sock monkeys, loo roll mice, foil birds, sweet wrapper bugs and many, many more. Every activity is clearly and vividly illustrated in an appealing and colourful style, with easy-to-follow step-by-step instructions.
Arduino and LEGO Projects is a new book by developer Jon Lazar that gives detailed instructions on how to build, wire, and code projects like a TARDIS from Doctor Who that lights up and plays sound, a Karotz-inspired LEGO animal that reacts to Twitter, and an RFID-activated crystal ball that reacts when a hand is waved in front of it.
TinkerLab: A Hands-on Guide for Little Inventors (Roost Books, 2014), is a book for families and educators who care about raising creative thinkers. This book is about creative experiments, in all fields, that help kids explore the world.
"As you read this book, let your imagination run wild. What will you create with Scratch?" -Professor Mitchel Resnick, Director, MIT Scratch Team, MIT Media Lab (From the Foreword)"Walks readers through a series of extremely well-designed game-design projects...a gentle learning curve for mastering Scratch's many powerful features."
littleBits are electronic building blocks with over 60 modules and trillions of combinations. With littleBits, anyone can harness the power of electronics, microcontrollers, and the cloud--regardless of age, gender, technical ability, or educational background. You can combine these simple, snap-together, magnetic bricks to make simple electronic circuits, or build robots and devices that combine sensors, microcontrollers, and cloud connectivity.
The official website for the book '15 Dangerously Mad Projects for the Evil Genius' by Simon Monk The book is a mixture of electronics projects some using the Arduino. It also includes a couple of projects with no electronics them - a ping-pong ball minigun and a trebuchet.
Tools and methods for creating electronic puppets. Students learn how to incorporate microprocessors into everyday materials and use them to enhance their language and writing skills with shadow puppet shows featuring their own DIY flashlights.
