I often buy books like this, I look at the pictures, I browse the text, I discover an unreadable level of pretentiousness and I shelve it for future reference. Not so in this case. I read this book with great interest and am impressed by its readability and the quality of research. Despite our almost total dependence on manufactured products this is a minority interest. There is no great curiosity about how the manufacturing process has left its mark on our landscape or about the ways in which factory architecture has influenced mainstream design. Albion Mill, Cromford, Saltaire, Ford, Fiat, Boots, Van Nelle, Spirella and Fagus are all described and placed in cultural and historical context. The idea of the factory as advertising is explored, making clear that the decline in this activity is due mainly to the easy availability of modern publicity media and the practice of outsourcing manufacturing to developing countries. I was reminded of the infamous events of August Bank Holiday, 1980 when the Firestone factory was demolished by the egregious Trafalgar House in an act of Thatcherite opportunist phillistinism. I learned about the Pilkington village of Kirk Sandall near Doncaster and the Menier factory in Noisiel and the Templeton Carpet Factory in Glasgow and whilst I appreciate this is not designed to be a Field Guide, it would have been a bonus if the author had found space for just a line to indicate the fate or visibility of the buildings she describes. Still, it is a rare pleasure to read a book that makes the reader want to explore the subject in more detail and is both lucid and well informed throughout. ( )