Your Life Is Manufactured
How We Make Things, Why It Matters and How We Can Do It Better
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Your Life Is Manufactured
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Narrated by:
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Tim Minshall
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By:
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Tim Minshall
About this listen
From an award-winning and internationally-renowned expert, a wonderfully illuminating journey through the world of manufacturing and its transformational influence on our lives - and the world around us.
'Revelatory.' SUNDAY TIMES
'Fascinating.' FINANCIAL TIMES
'An extraordinarily good read.'
PROFESSOR DAVID SPIEGELHALTER, author of The Art of Statistics
'An illuminating and at times mind-boggling exploration of a global choreography that means I won't look at my kettle the same way again.'
ZOE LAUGHLIN, presenter of BBC Four's How to Make
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We live in a manufactured world. Unless you are floating naked through space, you are right now in direct contact with multiple manufactured products. How often do we stop to think: where do the things we buy actually come from?
There exists a nearly invisible, awe-inspiring global system of manufacturing that enables virtually every aspect of our existence. The things we surround ourselves with take surprising and often byzantine journeys to reach us - be it the thousands of litres of water needed to make a single pair of jeans or the components of our smartphones travelling over six times around the world to reach us.
From mega-factory floors, engineering laboratories and seaports to distribution hubs, supermarkets and our own homes, Tim Minshall traces these journeys to reveal the hidden world of manufacturing.
Charting how this world came to be, Your Life is Manufactured reveals the seismic impact manufacturing has had on our lives and the natural world, exploring how it could offer us a path to a truly sustainable, more equitable future. In doing so, Minshall grants us the ability to make better choices for ourselves, our communities and the planet.
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'This brilliant book shows that manufacturing is foundational to our lives, not only now but also if there is to be any hope for a sustainable future. I learned something new on every page.'
PROFESSOR DIANE COYLE, author of Cogs and Monsters
'Reading this book is like being given a personal tour of the world's factories by a real-life Willy Wonka. Brimming with insight, curiosity and wit, Tim is a masterful storyteller of the manufactured world.'
DR ANNA PLOSZAJSKI, author of Handmade: A Scientist's Search for Meaning Through Making
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What listeners say about Your Life Is Manufactured
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Allan A.
- 30-04-25
Positive and Informative
I enjoyed this book and learned a lot about the manufactured world and systems.
It left me feeling more optimistic that we can and are making progress to a better future.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 22-04-25
Great book, well narrated!
A truly fascinating book that doesn’t talk down to at all and helped me to see what goes on behind the scenes at a global scale! Highly recommended.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Lizzie Dripping
- 12-04-25
Brilliant and thought provoking
Explaining not only the manufacturing processes of objects we use every day but also the history behind the processes is fascinating. How ideas developed and how marketing has developed ideas further is very engaging and thought provoking. Excellent book!
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 12-03-25
Manufacturing is our future, especially in the EU/UK
Optimistic, Realistic, a good entertaining storyline. I never write reviews…this book should be read by politicians and investors as fun facts and mindful introduction to why manufacturing takes time to build and needs local attention to thrive.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Cliff Gillis
- 19-04-25
Why Value-Added Manufacturing Is the Future We Must Build
As someone who has spent my entire career in manufacturing, I found Your Life Is Manufactured both fascinating and deeply affirming. Tim Minshall has written a book that captures, with remarkable clarity, the essential role manufacturing plays in every aspect of our lives. It is insightful, accessible, and quietly urgent in its message.
What resonated most with me was how Minshall reveals the ingenuity behind the objects we so often take for granted. Whether it is the complexity behind a kettle or the story of how an ice cream cone comes to be, he opens the reader’s eyes to the extraordinary systems and people behind the everyday.
This is not a backward-looking celebration of past industrial glory. It is a forward-looking reflection on what manufacturing is becoming and what it must become. His observations on global supply chain fragility, the need for shorter and more sustainable production models, and the undervaluing of practical skills all rang true based on what I have seen and experienced over the years.
Minshall positions manufacturing not just as a set of processes but as a creative, strategic, and profoundly human capability. That distinction is important. It changes the conversation from one of production alone to one of shaping a more resilient and equitable future.
For those of us in the industry, this book is a validation of the work we do and the principles we stand by. For those outside of it, it is a window into the quiet brilliance of the systems that keep society functioning.
I finished it with a renewed sense of pride in the profession I have dedicated my life to, and a strong belief that manufacturing has an even more vital role to play in the years ahead. An outstanding read.
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- Frank
- 11-03-25
Arduous book to listen to
I didn’t enjoy this audio book at all, I have worked in the manufacturing sector for three decades. Not sure who this book is targeted towards , but I can say working in manufacturing is much better than listening to this tedious boring depressing toil!
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