The true story of a scrappy startup’s quest to build a bricklaying robot and disrupt the giant construction industry.

[Published by Simon & Schuster in 2020]

*** Available NOW! ***
(via Amazon, IndieBound, Books a Million, B&N, Apple, or Audible)

It’s a technology book! It’s a business book! It’s an action-packed drama!

It’s a journey into construction that will change the way you see the dinkiest projects and the largest skyscrapers!

STARRING: a dozen pale, skinny engineers from Rochester, New York who thought they could show America’s experienced mud-slingers a better way to lay bricks.

ALSO STARRING: Fortune 500 companies, the Mafia, the IRS, the Business Roundtable, the Army Corps, OSHA, MIT, and the oldest union in the country. 

WITH SPECIAL APPEARANCES BY: Johnny Carson, Yogi Berra, Ernest Hemingway, David Hasselhoff, Andre the Giant, Michael Jordan, Sam Adams, Snow White, Steve Jobs, Saddam Hussein, Nixon, Emerson, Edison, Jefferson, MacGuyver, the Terminator, and my dad.

WITH STOPS IN: Washington, Wyoming, New York, Missouri, Mississippi, Massachusetts, Tennessee, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Colorado, Virginia, Chicago, Seattle, Baltimore, Buffalo, Indianapolis, Vegas, and Dubai. 

INCLUDING: Harleys, highways, and long-bed pickups; lawnmowers, trailers, and fast-food; Budweiser and barbecues and Best Westerns; baseball, bowling, break-dancing, and pro-wrestling.

ALSO INCLUDING: spinning lasers, nutating discs, high-voltage coronas, magnetorheological polishing paste, hydraulic-powered tentacles, Arduino-powered-homebrew-dispensing machines, and the world’s first on-site bricklaying robot.

FEATURING: birth, marriage, and in-laws; rejection, loss, and failure; bad advice, missed warnings, and botched jobs; ambition, pride, perseverance, frustration, faith, and humility; and world records. 

ALSO FEATURING: fights, fires, infidelity, and tax fraud; inter-office bickering and near-bankruptcy; theft, strikes, suits, and a lot of swearing.

WITH: seasickness, heat stroke, diarrhea, nightmares, panic attacks, heart attacks, ebola, beheading, and rigor mortis.

ALSO WITH: rank portapotties, incompetent subcontractors, tarantulas, the Big Bad Wolf, and sausage-making (literal and figurative).

AND SOMEHOW (YET AGAIN): suction cups, poop jokes, and mustaches.

 

PRAISE

“An awesome tale of grit, endurance, and relentless optimism against almost all odds…. you’ll love it like I did.”
-Brad Feld

“Jonathan Waldman is our next Tracy Kidder.”
-Seth Godin

“Compelling, well-paced, and engaging…”
-Library Journal (*starred review*)

“Lively … Engaging… Waldman has an eye for details that sum up character… and for dramatic end-of-chapter cliffhangers…This gripping story of a ‘scrappy little start-up’ proves its author to be an industrious reporter and natural storyteller.” 
-Publishers Weekly

“[A] gripping tale… As one learns a great deal about geology from John McPhee and computers from Tracy Kidder, Waldman offers a lively, accessible overview of the bricklayer’s art… the author also adds to the literature surrounding the dignity of artful labor. Human meets machine, and both prevail in an engaging story of technology and discovery.” 
-Kirkus

“Waldman’s storytelling draws readers in… Readers interested in business and innovation will find a fascinating insider’s view of a small, ambitious organization in SAM.”
-Booklist

“SAM reveals a world that surrounds us but mostly eludes our notice — and that’s quite a feat.”
-Boston Globe

“Fascinating… lively… intriguing…Waldman’s endless curiosity and lively explanations make the book irresistible for anyone inquisitive about machines and the people who make and use them.”
-Columbus Dispatch

“Waldman follows all the drama like a fly on a brick wall, richly reporting scenes… where both circuitry and civility break down… none of it is boring.”
-Wall Street Journal