Sebastopol, CA—Ask tech DIY enthusiasts, backyard scientists, and makers what their ultimate workshop notebook would look like (as the folks over at Make magazine did recently) and you’ll get a truckload of ideas, opinions, and preferences. So the Make & Craft editors and staffers put their heads together. They boiled down all the feedback, crafted a distinctive design, and devised an ideal wokshop notebook for makers of all ilks.
The result? The all-new Maker's Notebook (O'Reilly Media, $19.99). Created for makers, crafters, backyard scientists, inventors, and engineers--actually anyone with a creative bent--the journal comes with engineering graph paper packed between its sturdy electric blue cover. And in true maker style, this notebook is born/designed to be hacked, inside and out.
"Clearly, lots of DIYers dream of designing their own project notebooks. We incorporated as many ideas from this Notebook Braintrust as possible," explains Gareth Branwyn, a contributing editor to Make.
"The front and back covers of the Maker’s Notebook are a debossed white grid on a cyan blue background. We intentionally left the covers 'blank,'" adds Branwyn. "The grid design on the front and back covers is begging you to storyboard it with your own art."
Other maker and crafter notebook goodies include:
- 150 pages of 1/10” engineering graph paper on a 60# Lynx Smooth Opaque recycled paper which can handle everything from mechanical pencils to fountain pens and sharpies.
- 20 pages of reference material optimized for DIY projects, with everything from instructions on basic circuit testing with a digital multimeter, to how to chose LEDs, to what size needles to use in different sewing projects.
- All pages are pre-numbered and non-removable. There’s a field on each page for project label, date, and designer and witness signatures. There are also “From Page___” and “To Page____” fields for threading project pages together.
- Whimsical geekery packed reference pages, including such as variations on Asimov’s Laws of Robotics, the caffeine dosages of various beverages, how to say “Hello, World” in popular programming languages - things that might surprise people and get them talking to each other--for example, “Did you see the Kenny Rogers Rule of Robot Building?”
There's a saying the folks at Make love: "Keep moving, keep asking questions, keep modeling difference." Now with the Maker's Notebook you have a nifty journal in which to renders those models. So get to work!
About the creators of the Makers Notebook The Maker's Notebook was conceived and published by the Maker Media team behind Make and Craft magazines, Maker Faire, makezine.com, craftzine.com, Make Weekend Projects videos, the Maker Shed store, and Make Project line of DIY books. Maker Media is focused on uniting, inspiring, informing and entertaining a global community of people who pursue DIY projects on their own time. Maker Media is a division of O'Reilly Media, Inc.
Additional Resources:
For more information about the book, including table of contents, index, author bios, and cover graphic, see the catalog page for Maker's NotebookMaker's Notebook
The Staff of Maker Media
ISBN: 9780596519414, 176 pages, $19.99 USD, £12.50 GBP
order@oreilly.com
1-800-998-9938
1-707-827-7000
Maker Media is a division of O'Reilly Media devoted entirely to the growing community of resourceful people who believe that if you can imagine it, you can make it. Consisting of Make Magazine, Craft Magazine, Maker Faire, and the Hacks series of books, Maker Media encourages the Do-It-Yourself mentality by providing creative inspiration and instruction.
For more information about Maker Media, visit us online:
MAKE - makezine.com
CRAFT - http://craftzine.com
Maker Faire - http://makerfaire.com
Hacks - http://hackszine.com
About O’Reilly
O’Reilly Media spreads the knowledge of innovators through its books, online services, magazines, and conferences. Since 1978, O’Reilly Media has been a chronicler and catalyst of cutting-edge development, homing in on the technology trends that really matter and spurring their adoption by amplifying “faint signals” from the alpha geeks who are creating the future. An active participant in the technology community, the company has a long history of advocacy, meme-making, and evangelism.