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.' THE TIMES
'Intensely readable.' IRISH TIMES
'Well-observed and enjoyably written.' FINANCIAL TIMES

'An extraordinarily good read.'
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.