Build
An Unorthodox Guide to Making Things Worth Making - The New York Times bestseller
Published on 16. April 2026
Book
Paperback/Softback
288 pages
978-0-552-17775-7 (ISBN)
Description
THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER.
An unorthodox guide to making things worth making, from 'the father of the iPod and iPhone' and the creator of Nest.
Everyone deserves a mentor.
For every career crisis, every fork in the road, you need someone to talk to. Someone who's been there before, who knows exactly how wobbly and conflicted you feel, who can give it to you straight:
Here's how to think about choosing a job.
Here's how to be a better manager.
Here's how to approach design.
Here's how to start a company.
Here's how to run it.
Tony Fadell learned all these lessons the hard way. He spent the first 10 years of his career in Silicon Valley failing spectacularly, and the next 20 building some of the most impactful devices in history - the iPod, iPhone, and Nest Learning Thermostat. He has enough stories and advice about leadership, design, startups, mentorship, decision making, devastating screwups, and unbelievable success to fill an encyclopedia.
So that's what this book is. An advice encyclopedia. A mentor in a box.
But Tony's doesn't follow the standard Silicon Valley credo that you have to radically reinvent everything you do. His advice is unorthodox because it's old school. Because it's based on human nature, not gimmicks.
Tony keeps things simple: he just tells you what works. He gives you exactly what you need to make things worth making.
PRAISE FOR BUILD
This is the most fun - and the most fascinating - memoir of curiosity and invention that I've ever read.'
Malcolm Gladwell,
Host of the Revisionist History podcast. Author of Outliers and Talking to Strangers.
Whether you're looking to build a great product, a creative team, a strong culture, or a meaningful career, Tony's guidance will get you thinking and rethinking.'
Adam Grant,
Author of Think Again & Host of the TED podcast WorkLife
An unorthodox guide to making things worth making, from 'the father of the iPod and iPhone' and the creator of Nest.
Everyone deserves a mentor.
For every career crisis, every fork in the road, you need someone to talk to. Someone who's been there before, who knows exactly how wobbly and conflicted you feel, who can give it to you straight:
Here's how to think about choosing a job.
Here's how to be a better manager.
Here's how to approach design.
Here's how to start a company.
Here's how to run it.
Tony Fadell learned all these lessons the hard way. He spent the first 10 years of his career in Silicon Valley failing spectacularly, and the next 20 building some of the most impactful devices in history - the iPod, iPhone, and Nest Learning Thermostat. He has enough stories and advice about leadership, design, startups, mentorship, decision making, devastating screwups, and unbelievable success to fill an encyclopedia.
So that's what this book is. An advice encyclopedia. A mentor in a box.
But Tony's doesn't follow the standard Silicon Valley credo that you have to radically reinvent everything you do. His advice is unorthodox because it's old school. Because it's based on human nature, not gimmicks.
Tony keeps things simple: he just tells you what works. He gives you exactly what you need to make things worth making.
PRAISE FOR BUILD
This is the most fun - and the most fascinating - memoir of curiosity and invention that I've ever read.'
Malcolm Gladwell,
Host of the Revisionist History podcast. Author of Outliers and Talking to Strangers.
Whether you're looking to build a great product, a creative team, a strong culture, or a meaningful career, Tony's guidance will get you thinking and rethinking.'
Adam Grant,
Author of Think Again & Host of the TED podcast WorkLife
Reviews / Votes
Tony Fadell has made more cool stuff than almost anyone else in the history of Silicon Valley, and in Build he tells us how. This is the most fun - and the most fascinating - memoir of curiosity and invention that I've ever read.Malcolm Gladwell, Host of the Revisionist History podcast. Author of Outliers and Talking to Strangers. * . * Tony Fadell is one of the world's great experts in starting companies and creating insanely great products. He's distilled his wisdom in this book, providing wildly useful mentorship in a delightfully readable set of stories.
Walter Isaacson,
Author & Biographer of Steve Jobs, Albert Einstein & Leonardo DaVinci * . * Tony Fadell distills his epic career into refreshingly candid, often contrarian advice that you can put into practice right away. Whether you're looking to build a great product, a creative team, a strong culture, or a meaningful career, Tony's guidance will get you thinking and rethinking.
Adam Grant,
Author of Think Again & Host of the TED podcast WorkLife * . * Super hacks for building a team, building a company [and] how to spot a good idea. All of the chapters are 10/10 solid gold. This book is fantastic.
Chris Evans * . * Tony Fadell is the legendary technologist, engineer and entrepreneur who's lived so many lives in the pressure-cooker of Silicon Valley bringing visionary ideas into existence, one after another. The chance to now share his insights, instincts and wisdom is essential reading and a precious gift for any inventor hungry to change the world.
Thomas Heatherwick,
Award Winning Designer & Founder Heatherwick Studio * . * Based on hard won, real life lessons as an entrepreneur, Tony Fadell's Build delivers priceless advice for any young person who wants to build something great or change the world for the better. I wish I had this book when I was 21.
Ben Horowitz,
Founding Partner, Andreessen Horowitz * . * A highly personal and sparky guide to building your career and creating cool stuff.
John Thornhill, Financial Times * . * With 30+ years of experience in Silicon Valley and 300 patents to his name, Fadell has been part of epic successes-and failures-and this book is full of stories, insights and lessons related to them
Josh Rubin,
Cool Hunting * . * If you're at all interested in the history of tech and the products that made it so, Build is a must-read. We've not seen anything of this scale published before, so any tech fans should snap it up'
Stuff * . * A Forbes Top 10 Tech Book of 2022. * . *
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Transworld Publishers Ltd
Target group
Professional and scholarly
College/higher education
Product notice
Paperback (UK-B)
Dimensions
Height: 196 mm
Width: 126 mm
Thickness: 30 mm
Weight
286 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-552-17775-7 (9780552177757)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Person
Tony Fadell started his 30+ year Silicon Valley career at General Magic, the most influential startup nobody has ever heard of. Then he went on to make the iPod and iPhone, start Nest and create the Nest Learning Thermostat. Throughout his career Tony has authored more than 300 patents. He now leads the Build Collective where he invests in and mentors the next generation of startups that are changing the world.