The Lost Knowledge column explores the possible technology of the future in the forgotten ideas of the past (and those just slightly off to the side). Every other Wednesday, we look at retro-tech, "lost" technology, and the make-do, improvised "street tech" of village artisans and tradespeople from around the globe. "Lost Knowledge" was also the theme of MAKE Volume 17
One of the perks of this job is unexpectedly getting review copies of books in the mail. A few days ago, a package from Princeton Architectural Press got plunked down on my doorstep (always a joyful sound). I've been absolutely enthralled by its contents ever since I pulled it from the padded envelope.
Cartographies of Time, by Daniel Rosenberg and Anthony Grafton, literally impresses you with its point from the moment you take it in-hand. Subtitled "A History of the Timeline," the book itself is corrugated with horizontally-embossed lines on its covers. The effect is delightful (signaling right up front that this book is something special) and things just keep getting better as you travel deeper into the text.
Those lines on the cover begin the journey of mapping time, which threads its way through the book's surprisingly engaging text and images (the book itself being a meta-timeline). Cartographies of Time is absolutely gorgeous (the NY Times book blog called it possibly the most beautiful book of the year), with lots of illustrations and photographs showing how humans (of the European persuasion, anyway) have chosen to depict the flow of time and the events that we anchor to it. I was shocked to discover that the first evidence of the use of timelines as we know them only dates back 250 years. The book looks at timeline antecedents, in annals, chronologies, and other pre-timeline technologies, and how the emergence of printing, scientific research methods of the 18th century, and the work of timeline pioneers such as Joseph Priestley, helped establish the visual vocabulary of time-mapping that we recognize today.
Sent from James' iPhone
No comments:
Post a Comment