Backroom Boys

A rapturous history of British engineering, a vivid love-letter to quiet men in pullovers, Backroom Boys tells the story of how this country lost its industrial tradition and got back something else.

'A wonderful accomplishment - Backroom Boys sharply evokes a lost world of Dan Dare, Look and Learn and Meccano, and goes on to show us how that world was never lost: that it is, in fact, the secret history of today.' Ken MacLeod

'Unreservedly marvellous . . . Francis Spufford is the Tom Wolfe of technology journalism.' Focus

'Provides start-to-finish enjoyment . . . [Spufford] can make the heart leap simply by detailing what engineers do with mild steel or carbon fibre.' Sunday Times

'I don’t want to pretend that Backroom Boys is perfect; It's just as near to it as makes no difference.' Daily Telegraph

'The man writes like a dream - informed, fresh, racy prose . . .
You wouldn't think that a book describing the fall and rise of British technologies since 1945 could be unputdownable, but Spufford shows it can be done.' Guardian