Making Stuff and Doing Things: DIY Guides to Just about Everything

Im a big fan of the DIY (do it yourself) lifestyle, and have read almost every DIY book I can get my hands on. Im also a big fan of zines and everyone I know knows that for a great variety of zines you go to microcosm publishing. Well for books I guess its the same. Okay so now for why this is better than any other DIY book... the author or the collector however you want to call him has took the best DIY zines and put them in one book. This book has everything from making your own book to making your own compost. It pumps you up to start doing things rather than sitting there and saying your going to do things. Other books I have bought have all regurgitated the same cool projects and it was refreshing to finally find a book that allows me to DO IT MYSELF. So, yes it has the tape wallet, and an amazing break down of how to play a guitar. But, more importantly it motivates you to do the projects and live the DIY lifestyle that as I can say from experience isn't always the easiest way to live. I've already recommended it to everyone I know, and thought here was the next step. BUY THIS BOOK. If you art just interested in small arts & crafts, a DIY beginner, a DIY veteran, or are just interested in being more self reliant this book is for you.

I just got this book the day before Christmas and opened after. I've read through most of it and find it very fun and useful. There's going to be a coming time when our economy tanks and we need info like this to keep alive. We need a whole new philosophy of life, one based around both surviving and living and enjoying life, not "Working jobs we hate to buy things we don't need."

I was definitely intrigued by the concept. As an author, artist and zine publisher myself, I am always looking for the latest and freshest takes on life in an Arts & Crafts World. This book may be intended for kids getting started in DIY crafts and other projects but it has something to recommend for the more seasoned among us as well - those of us who grew up on books like Be Here Now by Baba Ram Dass, and Living on the Earth by Alicia Bay Laurel. The zine compilation format rocks - no, it isn't a Michael's style Step-by-Step - that's what makes it fun and clever enough to hold almost any (I suspect) dyed in the wool DIYer's attention. Written BY people who like to make stuff, FOR people who like to make stuff. At this price, it will stay on my gift-giving list for the unforeseeable future.

This book is an awesome resource for anyone who is into doing things themselves, from crafting to cooking, and is an inspiration for any would-be DIY-er. Its handwritten and cut and paste content are part of what make it great- you can tell that the contributors to this book really are making stuff and doing things themselves, hence the thrown-together zine aesthetic. If you don't want to get your hands dirty, or can't take looking at something that has not been sanitized by some huge corporate publishing company with an overpaid copy editor, maybe this book isn't for you. But for the rest of us, this is an amusing and inspiring read meant as a catalyst for action and fun!

Typically I do not write reviews, but typically someone isn't as incorrect as that other reviewer. He seems to be bothered by the fact that these articles are "all copies from mostly hand written material." The original material is from ZINES; what did you expect, an illuminated manuscript? Zines are all about doing things yourself, and there's a whole lot of information here that really makes you realize that personally participating in the process is the most empowering way to do something. Don't be turned off by that negative review. Grab this book and start making stuff.