Jacket design for Mark's new book!

I know Mark will be embarrassed that I posted this, but I just can't resist. Seen here is the fantastic cover for Mark's new book, Made By Hand: Searching For Meaning In A Throwaway World, due out May 27. (And yes, he made those cigar box guitars himself.) Congrats, buddy! We're so proud of you!

David Pescovitz is Boing Boing's co-editor/managing partner. He's also a research director at Institute for the Future. On Instagram, he's @pesco.

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jere7my

That’s not a jacket, it’s a short-sleeved shirt.
Xopher

It’s an adorable picture of Mark. The pure nerdy joy of making cigar-box guitars shines out of him. And I say that with sincere admiration, not sarcasm. Infectious enthusiasm is always attractive.
lolbrandon

Mark, Buddy, I mean this in the most hetero way possible, but gods damn I love your hair. That is some sexy on your scalp. I’m probably just jealous as my father gave me his worthless thinning hair genes, but I don’t care. Jealousy be damned. I love your hair. mmmm.
David Pescovitz

Look at that hair. Just look at it.
Dean Putney

Really great! I like how personal and friendly it looks. Congratulations!
grimc

Heck, I’d be happy if the hair on my head was as thick and luxurious as the hair on his forearms. Good job, mark’s genes.
JIMWICh

What a great photo! I’ve come to think that Mark’s got some sorta Dorian Gray portrait in his closet or chicken coop, or something. He looks like he did 20 years ago!
3x10p8

Imagine how much those Frauenfelder guitars will be worth in 100 years.
- Xopher
  
  Think what they’ll be worth in 100,000 years when they’re petrified and encased in muskovite.
Halloween Jack

Congrats on the book! That hair really is something, the way it sort of swirls around like a hirsute vortex. It’s nearly Conan O’Brien class.
rudegar

Did home-slice make that bucket of hair gel himself too? I want that recipe!
jpixl

Mark, congrats, that’s one excellent cover. -John
benher

Congrats Mark! Keep up the amazing work!
caseyd

The subtitle intrigues. looking forward to examining the book.

So much of the burner/maker culture is so blithely consumerist it’ll be interesting to read Mark’s take on it.
mneptok

You know, if I looked at the cover quickly in a bookstore and processed the Made By Hand title, I’d think it was a book on hairstyling.

“Searching for meaning in a flyaway world.”
Anonymous

Mark is SOOOOO cute that I JUST CAN’T STAND IT ONE MORE MINUTE!
Razzabeth

+1 Hair comment. It really is quite captivating. Like a brunette Super Saiyan.
pinehead

That book cover is aces, man. I can’t comment on the cool hair – I keep mine much more conservative than Mark – but I have to admit I really like his glasses frames. Looking forward to the release date. I like Mark’s updates here, so I imagine his book will be at least as interesting. Thanks for embarrassing him for our viewing pleasure, Pesco. ;)
carsten

the title and subtitle in combination with the picture just make me wonder … just because something is hand made doesn’t mean it is not a throw away product (look at those guitars, how long until they will be tossed).

the real discussion should be about real craft that produces high quality hand made products vs. low quality mass produced throw away products.

all this “make” and etsy culture does in my view is create more things we don’t need. the process of making it is different (and i agree better since it gets people to be creative and do something).
- Anonymous
  
  I see no reason to believe that these guitars will be tossed anytime soon (probably handed down to the next generation because of the care that went into them)
- dculberson
  
  Are you saying that the cigar box, scrap of lumber, and mason’s twine would have had a much more useful life somewhere else?
- Anonymous
  
  I’ve been playing the same cigar box guitar for 16 years…and it’s even more primitive than Mark’s!
  
  Free plans for cigar box guitars are at http://www.cigarboxnation.com
Francesco Fondi

Nice!!!
- Anonymous
  
  You would be surprised how good those instruments can sound. I’ve been making them for thirty years and more, and most of them are well worth keeping. (Much depends upon the cigar box, but they don’t have quality control for this purpose.)
Anonymous

I never knew Mark was part hedgehog :)
Anonymous

Mark dear, you still have that comb I gave you don’t you?

Love, your mother.
MauiMaker

Due out May 27th? That cant be right. Maker Faire Bay Area is May 22-23. Mark has to have a book signing at Maker Faire!!!
Dale Dougherty

Mark, you look fabulous! Yes, you will have sign books and handmade guitars at Maker Faire.
DaveMcJohn

A long time reader, I just now registered with Boing Boing to say how awesome Mark’s hair looks in this picture. Man, I wish I had that hair. Just look at it!
Anonymous

Cool! the book looks exactly what I’ve been wanting to read. Creating relevant and fun products from recycled things.
Pres

This cover is awesome.

And Mark’s hair is too. I suggest we create a fan club for it.

One day science will give me back my full head of hair, until then, looking at this cover will have to do.
Brett Myers

Seriously? That hair is totally photoshopped. There’s no way real hair could do that. Have you guys even seen real hair? That’s obviously some sort of Shatner-hairpiece/fractal/Bucky-hair.
- Antinous / Moderator
  
  That hair is totally photoshopped.
  
  It’s a fractal zoom implant.
DoktorH

it is indeed an awesome book cover conveying the sense of a man who gets a big kick out of making cool things from found materials.

what I wanna know is whether the book is going to be instructions for various projects, musings on being a Maker in the modern world, a blend of both, or something else entirely.
- Mark Frauenfelder
  
  Hi DoktorH. The book is about hanging our with people I consider “alpha makers” and then applying what I learned from them into my own life in a reasonable way that made sense for me and my family.
Dave Faris

His hair does almost look life-like. It’s amazing what they can do with CG these days. We’ve almost bridged the uncanny valley!