Contrary to what some may think, goofy gadgets and outrageous contraptions aren’t exclusive to our modern times. Truth is, people have been rigging peculiar inventions for the longest time. A new book, Bizarre & Outlandish Gadgets & Doohickeys, collects some of the best examples of this questionable creativity from bygone eras.
Covering curiosities created between the Great Industrial Exhibition of 1851 and the post-WWII Festival of Britain in 1951, the book compiles an interesting mix of useful gizmos, eccentric oddities, and outright bogus flimflam – you know, just like browsing through crowdfunding websites on any given day. Except, of course, the book deals with technology from antiquated periods, so there are no LEDs, no CPUs, and no battery modules.
Authored by avid collector, Maurice Collins, Bizarre & Outlandish Gadgets & Doohickeys is a coffee table volume that examines hundreds of these implements, from essential accessories and transport vehicles to kitchen utensils and goofy thingamajigs. You know, things from the Industrial Revolution that were an obvious precursor to other modern day gadget obsession. It looks at a wide swath of objects over 320 pages, from the cleverly brilliant to the mind-numbingly idiotic to the outright scam, capturing them in full glory with over 1,000 images.
Available now, Bizarre & Outlandish Gadgets & Doohickeys is priced at $45.90.