What makes genuine leather genuine? What makes real things real? In an age of virtual reality, veneers, synthetics, plastics, fakes, and knockoffs, it's hard to know. Over the centuries, men and women have devoted enormous energy to making fake things seem real. As early as the fourteenth century, fabric was treated with special oils to make it resemble leather. In the 1870s came Leatherette, a new bookbinding material. The twentieth century gave us Fabrikoid, Naugahyde, Corfam, and Ultrasuede. Each claims to transcend leather's limitations, to do better than nature itself—or at least to convince consumers that it does. Perhaps more than any other natural material, leather stands for the authentic and the genuine. Its animal roots etched in its pores and in the swirls of its grain, leather serves as cultural shorthand for the virtues of the real over the synthetic, the original over the copy, the luxurious over the shoddy and second-rate. From formica, vinyl siding, and particle board to cubic zirconium, knockoff designer bags, and genetically altered foods, inspired fakes of every description fly the polyester pennant of a brave new man-made world. Each represents a journey of scientific, technical, and entrepreneurial innovation. Faux Real explores this borderland of the almost-real, the ersatz, and the fake, illuminating a centuries-old culture war between the authentic and the imitative.

Basic Manufacturing has already established itself as a core text for manufacturing courses in Further Education. The new edition has been revised to be fully in line with the new Vocational GCSE in Manufacturing from Edexcel, covering the three compulsory units of this scheme, and will continue to act as a core text for Intermediate GNVQ. Coverage of the two schemes is combined throughout the text, yet each chapter clearly illustrates which sections map to which units within the two scheme specifications. The author's approach is student-centred with self-check questions and activities provided throughout. As a result, the book is well suited to independent study. It is also clearly written to appeal to students of all abilities. Review questions are provided at the end of each chapter to consolidate learning and give practice for external assessments. The third edition contains a brand new chapter to cater for the examinable part of the GCSE syllabus (Unit 3), which includes case studies in the six sectors covered in the scheme: food and drink/biological and chemical; printing and publishing/paper and board; textiles and clothing; engineering fabrication; mechanical/automotive engineering; electrical and electronic engineering/computer/process control/telecommunications. The book is an excellent, readable introduction to the technical and business aspects of the manufacturing industry that will be invaluable for students on a wide range of courses, including City and Guilds certificates. It also provides a good grounding for students embarking on higher-level programmes within Manufacturing. Roger Timings is one of the UK's leading authors of textbooks on manufacturing and engineering.