The Maker Movement, a social revolution that is altering what gets created, how it’s made, where it’s made, and who creates it, is described as an international phenomenon by Dale Dougherty, the founder of MAKE: magazine and the Maker Faire. The book Free to Make is an invitation to participate in what author Dougherty refers to as the “renaissance of making” and to consider ourselves as world-makers.
People all over the world are migrating away from the passivity of command-and-control paradigms of education and business as the internet expands and paradigm-shifting technologies—like 3D printers and small microcontrollers—become more and more accessible. Free to Make investigates how making revitalizing run-down and neglected metropolitan neighborhoods revitalizes public spaces like libraries and museums and even has an impact on our own personal and social growth by encouraging an active, amusing, and resourceful mindset. Free to Make challenges us to picture a society in which creation frequently happens in our classrooms, businesses, and local communities, grounding us in the real world and enabling us to overcome obstacles.
