About this item
The dazzling success of The Toaster Project, including TV appearances and an international book tour, leaves Thomas Thwaites in a slump. His friends increasingly behave like adults, while Thwaites still lives at home, "stuck in a big, dark hole." Luckily, a research grant offers the perfect out: a chance to take a holiday from the complications of being human - by transforming himself into a goat. What ensues is a hilarious and surreal journey through engineering, design, and psychology, as Thwaites interviews neuroscientists, animal behaviorists, prosthetists, goat sanctuary workers, and goatherds.From this, he builds a goat exoskeleton - artificial legs, helmet, chest protector, raincoat from his mum, and a prosthetic goat stomach to digest grass (with help from a pressure cooker and campfire) - before setting off across the Alps on four legs with a herd of his fellow creatures. Will he make it? Do Thwaites and his readers discover what it truly means to be human?GoatMan tells all in Thwaites's inimitable style, which NPR extols as "a laugh-out- loud-funny but thoughtful guide through his own adventures."
About the Author
Thomas Thwaites, was born in London in 1980 and remains alive at time of writing this.
He studied Human Sciences at University College London and then trained as a designer at the Royal College of Art. He now does speculative design projects that undertake to explore some odd societal impacts of technology. Two of his projects, The Toaster Project, and Goatman, he has written in to book form, so I suppose that makes him an author as well as a designer.
The Toaster Project book is described by Michael Bierut (partner at the renowned design firm pentagram) as 'the 21st century's first masterpiece of design writing', with Thomas extolled by NPR as "a laugh-out-loud-funny but thoughtful guide through his own adventures". It has been translated in to Korean and Japanese. The sculptural installation of the Toaster Project, consisting largely of his mother's pots and pans, has been acquired by the Victoria & Albert Museum for their permanent collection
GoatMan, his recent second book, is about his attempt to take a holiday from being a human, by becoming a goat. The Guardian calls it "an enlightening and funny book" and Vogue calls it "charming, humorous and exceedingly thorough".
His design work is exhibited frequently and internationally, he lectures at various universities in the USA and Europe, and has spoken at a number of conferences across the world, including TED and Design Indaba (Cape Town, SA) as well as having presented a four part TV series for Discovery.
www.thomasthwaites.com
