Indhold: Introduction: Engaging with the objects around us ; Life on Pumpkin Creek ; A few words on craft ; The paper challenge ; Being "hands on" ; Tricks of the trade ; Tooling up ; Learning by doing ; Prototyping ; One thing for another ; Face to face ; Communities of respect ; Finding our way ; The contact zone ; The paradise of trust ; The view from the hardware store ; Time to pay attention ; The myth of the dumb object ; Going deep ; The way of tea ; All that is left ; Small worlds ; Fewer, better things ; To have and to hold ; Thinking things through ; Material science ; Handle... with care ; Anchor points ; The view from Tucumcari ; Thinking inside the box ; Material histories ; The itinerary of plastic ; A book of secrets ; Facts, not opinions ; Two castes, one people? ; Epilogue: The virtues of things