Reinventing the Wheel

Reinventing the Wheel
Princeton Architectural Press, 2002

As inventive as instructive, information wheels—also known as volvelles—have been used since the fourteenth century to measure, record, predict, and calculate everything form time and space to military history and recipes. This fascinating book offers readers an in-depth look at these unique artifacts, which are not only clever and amusing (where else could you dial-in ingredients to concoct "Creamed Oysters and Celery"?) but remain arguably relevant as a model for modern interactive design. From circular mathematical slide rules to Captain Marvel phonetic decoders; from nuclear bomb blast calculators to gestational breeding planners; and from astronomical planispheres to presidential trivia plotters, Reinventing the Wheel demonstrates the astonishing range and remarkable utility of these ingenious "interactive" tools.