Where stuff comes from : how toasters, toilets, cars, computers and many other things come to be as they are

No toaster is an island. In fact, as Harvey Molotch demonstrates in this sparkling tour of how things are created, the everyday objects of our life are a delicate and clever intermingling of design, timing and functionality that mirrors contemporary life.

Where Stuff Comes From is about paper clips, post-its, bathtubs, cars and all the other stuff in our lives.

It is about how these items were imagined into existence and made a part of the American material culture.

From the designer to the manufacturer to the business owner to the consumer, Molotch guides us through the worlds of technology, design, corporate culture and popular culture, giving us a sense of how and why we want stuff.

He rolls up his sleeves and goes behind the scenes at trade shows and in design studios to speak with the product-makers who gave us the world's best-selling garlic press, the Nike swoosh and Volkswagen's resurrected Beetle.

A witty and surprising voyage into the aesthetic unconscious of the consumer, Where Stuff Comes From probes the meaning of the objects in our lives and what our possessions say about us. Ultimately, Molotch opens a fascinating window into our economy, society and culture by unlocking the complex strategies behind simple things.