The Gadget Inventor Handbook

Opening with an introduction that explains core electronics skills such as stripping wires, soldering and building a simple circuit board, plus a list of essential components, Mike Warren goes on to present fourteen step-by-step projects for aspiring inventors. Graded easy, intermediate or advanced, the designs include a mini vibrating robot, potato clock, LED bookmark and pocket torch. Age 7+

Mike Warren is a designer and inventor based in San Francisco. His work combines electronics, woodworking, and reuse. His open-source work is carefully documented to inspire and encourage others to remix his projects and share the results. Warren won The New York Times Innovation Whiteboard in 2012 for his umbrella light (an illumination device retrofitted into the shaft of an umbrella to indicate location to others in the dark) and was the favorite selected by James Dyson. Warren is also the author of a maker book for young adults, 23 Things to Do Before You are 11 1/2, and served as the technical editor for the young adult fiction Dewey Mac, Kid Detective. His work has been featured in Popular Science, The New York Times, Wired, BoingBoing, Vsauce, and elsewhere. He is currently a designer for Instructables and Autodesk, where he shares DIY tutorials.