cover image The Great Disruption: Competing and Surviving in the Second Wave of the Industrial Revolution

The Great Disruption: Competing and Surviving in the Second Wave of the Industrial Revolution

Rick Smith, with Mitch Free. St. Martin’s/Dunne, $25.99 (240p) ISBN 978-1-250-09142-0

Maker faire aficionados and other fans of manufacturing innovation are a natural audience for this ode to the glories of 3-D printing; unfortunately, any readers outside this choir of the converted are likely to feel that they’ve stumbled into a book-length advertisement. Coauthors Smith (The Leap) and Free together started a 3-D printing venture in late 2014. They assert that the technology will have a greater impact on production in this century than the Industrial Revolution has in the 300 years since its inception. With the current trend toward mass customization, the book proposes 3-D printing as the means for fulfilling that demand. The coauthors state that, though companies only started experimenting with 3-D printing in the late 1980s, it caught on quickly. Currently, innovators are experimenting with the technology’s application in pharmaceuticals, industrial design, and home construction, among a host of other uses. While the myriad uses of 3-D printing are inarguably fascinating, when the book ends on a note like “The future belongs not to the great prognosticators, but to those willing to innovate,” it’s hard to believe the authors aren’t simply touting themselves. Agent: Al Zuckerman, Writers House. (Oct.)