{"product_id":"the-toaster-project-or-a-heroic-attempt-to-build-a-simple-electric-appliance-from-scratch","title":"The Toaster Project: Or a Heroic Attempt to Build a Simple Electric Appliance from Scratch","description":"\u003cp\u003eWhere 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.  Follow Thomas Thwaites in his newest book GoatMan.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44946598854709,"sku":"ByrdShop_1568989970","price":59.94,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9781568989976.jpg?v=1769956535","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/the-toaster-project-or-a-heroic-attempt-to-build-a-simple-electric-appliance-from-scratch","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}