Build
An Unorthodox Guide to Making Things Worth Making - The New York Times bestseller
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4.7 • 9 Ratings
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- $21.99
Publisher Description
THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER (MAY 2022).
An unorthodox guide to making things worth making, from 'the father of the iPod and iPhone' and the creator of Nest.
Everyone deserves a mentor.
For every career crisis, every fork in the road, you need someone to talk to. Someone who's been there before, who knows exactly how wobbly and conflicted you feel, who can give it to you straight:
Here's how to think about choosing a job.
Here's how to be a better manager.
Here's how to approach design.
Here's how to start a company.
Here's how to run it.
Tony Fadell learned all these lessons the hard way. He spent the first 10 years of his career in Silicon Valley failing spectacularly, and the next 20 building some of the most impactful devices in history - the iPod, iPhone, and Nest Learning Thermostat. He has enough stories and advice about leadership, design, startups, mentorship, decision making, devastating screwups, and unbelievable success to fill an encyclopedia.
So that's what this book is. An advice encyclopedia. A mentor in a box.
But Tony's doesn't follow the standard Silicon Valley credo that you have to radically reinvent everything you do. His advice is unorthodox because it's old school. Because it's based on human nature, not gimmicks.
Tony keeps things simple: he just tells you what works. He gives you exactly what you need to make things worth making.
PRAISE FOR BUILD
'This is the most fun - and the most fascinating - memoir of curiosity and invention that I've ever read.'
Malcolm Gladwell,
Host of the Revisionist History podcast. Author of Outliers and Talking to Strangers.
'Whether you're looking to build a great product, a creative team, a strong culture, or a meaningful career, Tony's guidance will get you thinking and rethinking.'
Adam Grant,
Author of Think Again & Host of the TED podcast WorkLife
Customer Reviews
The Industrial Design Bible, nothing less
I’ve been tinkering, building and designing for the better part of the last two decades. Most of what I’ve learned has been little tidbits picked up along the way, a healthy dose of trial and error, and quite a lot of humble pie.
I would occasionally glance up to Diter Rams’ Principles of Good Design, but as far as mentorship goes, that was it.
Always trust an engineer to under-promise and over-deliver, I was expecting a fun book containing silly stories about the design of an MP3 player.
I’ll never be able to design a schematic, model a widget, or write a piece of software ever again for the rest of my life without thinking of this book.
(Not to mention the invaluable advice for navigating the professional world without sacrificing your integrity)
Like all great books, I found myself trying to put it down to savour for later, but the truly exceptional seperate themselves quite easily from the great, in that I’ll happily read the whole thing in one go, knowing full well I’ll be coming back to it time and time again.
A fully charged iPod classic and some runners is all it took, the rest of my day didn’t stand a chance against Build.
So many books leave me filled with questions, which is a dangerous thing in this day and age, considering the author is usually just a tweet or email away.
This book, however, filled me with inspiration, energy, excitement, and an entirely new way of looking at all the problems I faced in design my entire life.
In short, it achieves what it sets out to do, let Tony sleep at night knowing that if anyone needs his wisdom, it’s available at a moments notice, around the clock, and he can still get a good nights rest.
A genuinely exceptional book, one I’ll make sure to keep within arms reach whenever I need a fresh perspective or guidance.