How Products Are Made: An Illustrated Guide to Product Manufacturing, Vol.6

This fascinating book, which launches a series on the manufacturing processes of products from foods to cosmetics to electronics to vehicles, details the manufacture of 101 randomly selected items. The products covered here are a curious mix, including automobiles, blue jeans, chewing gum, jet engines, microwave ovens, pantyhose, salsa, stainless steel, tortilla chips, and zippers. Ranging from four to seven pages, each entry includes the product's description, history, design, manufacturing process, raw materials, by-products, future uses, and a bibliography. The text is nontechnical, and the illustrations are clear, making this book appropriate for YAs as well as adult lay readers. The entries are generally adequate, though some are extremely brief; one can only hope that, as future volumes are compiled, the editor will choose products whose manufacture can be successfully described in a brief space. All in all, however, this is a useful reference tool for school, public, and undergraduate collections.