Your Life Is Manufactured

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What to expect

**A WATERSTONES, FT and TELEGRAPH BOOK OF THE YEAR**
**SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2025 ROYAL SOCIETY SCIENCE BOOK PRIZE**
**LONGLISTED FOR THE 2025 FINANCIAL TIMES & SCHRODER BUSINESS BOOK OF THE YEAR**

From mega-factory floors, engineering laboratories and seaports to distribution hubs, supermarkets and our own homes, embark on an eye-opening guided tour through the world of manufacturing and its transformational influence on our lives - and the planet.

FEATURING A NEW AFTERWORD

'Revelatory.' S UNDAY TIMES
'Fascinating.' TELEGRAPH
'Illuminating.' i
'Intensely readable.' IRISH TIMES
'Well-observed and enjoyably written.' FINANCIAL TIMES

Unless you are floating naked through space, you are right now in direct contact with multiple manufactured products, be it furniture, technology, clothing, and or even food. The processes by which these things appear in our lives are virtually invisible. How often do we stop to think: Where do the things we buy actually come from?

Charting the byzantine journeys taken by everyday items to reach us, Your Life is Manufactured reveals the seismic impact manufacturing has had on our lives and the natural world - and explores 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.

'An extraordinarily good read.'
DAVID SPIEGELHALTER

User Reviews

Book 4.5
Narration 5.0
5.0
5.0
This book is fascinating. 40 years ago I did a degree in Business Studies and then worked for a global manufacturing company, so not all of the information is new. But what we use, how it is made and how it gets to where we want it has changed significantly in the last 25 years.

The author uses examples that everyone can relate to to explain how the manufacturing and movement of goods works, how it has got to where we are now, and how it is changing now to improve our impact on the world we live in.

This is a book that can be understood and enjoyed by anyone with an interest in anything from cakes to cars to jeans to mobile phones and wonders how the current topic of AI will affect them in the future.

It's very easy to listen to and has just the right level of humour to keep it moving along. I wish it had been one of our text books, rather than the tedious volume on Operations Management which never failed to put me to sleep by the end of the third page.
Fenny 25/01/2026
4.0
5.0
Enjoyed this book very much. Very informative, a good balance of amazing information, despair and optimism. I bought it at random (no idea why) but I happily recommend it as a good listen.
firstalto 08/11/2025

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