Hundreds of 19th- and 20th-century curiosities and contraptions are catalogued in this amusing assembly of more than 1,000 images. The days from the first Great Industrial Exhibition of 1851 to the post-WWII Festival of Britain saw rapid technological advancement throughout the United Kingdom and elsewhere, and countless numbers of products, from the ingenious to the idiotic, appeared on the market. Twenty-two sections divided into time- and money-saving devices, kitchen utensils, gadgets for ladies and gentlemen, trains, bikes, autos, and many more, recall these bygone products. Some, like the moustache spoon, clearly served a need amid polite Victorian society. However, less scrupulous merchants also hawked gizmos like the nose shaper and the asthma-curing necklace. Marvel at the multitude of devices humankind has conceived, some of which could be considered forerunners of modern-day conveniences like smartphones and computers.

Innovative solutions to everyday cooking challenges from our team of test kitchen MacGyvers—the test cooks at Cook’s Illustrated magazine A kitchen hack is an unusual, easier, and/or better way of performing a task that often saves money and time or improves the quality of the outcome. In this wacky but eminently useful collection of kitchen hacks, you will learn how to outsmart tricky tasks and face down kitchen challenges (big and small) with innovative and clever ideas from Quick Tips, the most popular feature in Cook’s Illustrated magazine (900,000 circulation). Kitchen Hacks is a beautifully designed guidebook to hacking your kitchen . . . and beyond!

Climb into your steam-powered time machine aircraft for a tour of the fashion world, steampunk style. This fashion backward collection features hundreds of intricate, creative, and visionary steampunk designs from top names in the business and fans from around the world. Presented in high-quality fashion photography, the looks in this compendium include head-to-toe Victorian-era style coupled with futuristic, sci-fi concepts, as well as hats, jewelry, and other accessories. With fashions from as far away as Europe, New Zealand, and the Americas, this volume celebrates the diversity and innovators of this international phenomena and showcases works by contributors such as G.D. Falksen, Jon Magnificent, Kato of Steampunk Couture, Lex Machina, Lee Ann Farruga, Daniel Proulx, The League of S.T.E.A.M., Cris Ortega, Jema Hewitt, Dim Horizon Studio, Starkall, Empire Art, Abney Park, Brute Force Studios, Veronique Chevalier, and many more. Complete with a foreword and "Steampunk 101" by G.D. Falksen, this is the book for designers, fans, and collectors.

An assortment of over 100 ingenious inventions, from the indispensible to the obsolete. Testament to our limitless capacity for imagination and our tendency to get a little carried away.

THE PUBLISHING SENSATION OF THE YEAR FOR EVERY FILM FAN The never-before-published edition of Francis Ford Coppola’s notes and annotations on The Godfather novel by Mario Puzo reveals the story behind one of the world’s most iconic films. The most important unpublished work on one of the greatest films of all time, The Godfather, written before filming, by the man who wrote and directed it—Francis Ford Coppola, then only thirty-two years old—reveals the intense creative process that went into making this seminal film. With his meticulous notes and impressions of Mario Puzo’s novel, the notebook was referred to by Coppola daily on set while he directed the movie. The Godfather Notebook pulls back the curtain on the legendary filmmaker and the film that launched his illustrious career. Complete with an introduction by Francis Ford Coppola and exclusive photographs from on and off the set, this is a unique, beautiful, and faithful reproduction of Coppola’s original notebook. This publication will change the way the world views the iconic film—and the process of filmmaking at large. A must-have book of the season. Nothing like it has ever been published before