Retro Thing

Core Memory: A high rez look at some classic computers

The Internet is wonderful for what it is, but there are many times I wish it was a truly high resolution medium. Perhaps that's why I still covet glossy magazines and books -- I'm addicted to pretty pictures.

John Alderman (author) and Mark Richards (photographer) share my love of stunning imagery and intelligent prose. Their new book, Core Memory: A Visual Survey of Vintage Computers, is a beautiful ode to 35 vintage computers that shaped the world. The featured machines are part of the world's most renowned computer collection, The Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California.

Over 100 full color photographs (frequently two page spreads) are the next best thing to being able to reach out and touch Eniac, a Cray supercomputer, an old French Minitel network terminal, an Osborne I portable or the incredibly quaint Apple I. Each set of images is accompanied by thoughtful text which offers insight into each machine's unique capabilities and eccentricities.

Core Memory: A Visual Survey of Vintage Computers [Amazon product page]

Retro Gaming Hacks

Somehow I missed the release of Chris Kohler's Retro Gaming Hacks back in October 2005. This clever 502-page tome offers 85 "hard-nosed hacks for reviving the classic games." He takes a look at original hardware alongside modern emulation techniques, but not before starting with a quick look at the history of home gaming consoles such as the Magnavox Odyssey, Atari's Pong, the Mattel Intellivision and a myriad of others (including my all-time favorite, the Vectrex).

While the book touches upon acquiring and using classic systems and boards (for example, Hack #6 focuses on repairing "toaster" style NES consoles), the main focus is emulation. Kohler excels at navigating the minefields of vintage emulation and shows you how go squeeze an authentic vintage gaming experience out of a modern PC. Of course, there are some strange hacks, too, such as emulating an Atari 800 on a Dreamcast console (I'm sure a few of you have one lying around).

"Want to game on an original system? Kohler shows you how to hack ancient hardware, and includes a primer for home-brewing classic software. Rather adapt today's equipment to run retro games? Kohler provides emulation techniques, complete with instructions for hacking a classic joystick that's compatible with a contemporary computer. This book also teaches readers to revive old machines for the original gaming experience: hook up an Apple II or a Commodore 64, for example, and play it like you played before."

Retro Gaming Hacks: Tips & Tools for Playing the Classics

Help us move Retro Thing Intergalactic HQ

My wife and I are in the midst of packing to move to a new house. The only problem is that the new place won't be ready for another month, so everything is going into temporary storage during our "homeless phase."

There are about a dozen copies of my Essential Retro book sitting on my desk. I'd rather not store them, so this is your chance to get a massively discounted copy: Visit the Essential Retro order page and you can get one with free shipping and an additional "moving mania" 20% discount (to get the discount, enter retrothing in the Coupon Code box).

Order Essential Retro: The Vintage Technology Guide

The Dangerous Book For Boys

Perhaps it was evidence of how paltry my local library was, or maybe I was as weird a kid as I am an adult, but I remember reading a lot of really old books full of "dangerous" projects.  I pulled out lots of project books that had their first printings in the 30's, often listing ingredients you couldn't get anymore.  I realize now that perhaps I shouldn't have burned all those holes in the lawn, nor used the toilet & plunger as pestle & mortar.

I did actually learn stuff from those old tomes though.  Those old books had no reservation in teaching amateur chemistry, model rocketry, building things out of scrap lumber, using a knife... knowledge that some parents groups seem to want kept secret nowadays.  Not only is there a conscious effort by some adults to bubble wrap life for their children, but many kids are so embroiled in virtual games and digital experiences that they're not aware of the real magic and adventure that lies in their backyards.

This book collects some of the best of these old projects.  What boy wouldn't like to learn how to make their own timer and tripwire?  A periscope or go-kart?  You'll learn about the greatest paper airplane ever, how to palm a coin, and the five knots every boy should know!  This is the kind of stuff that my father showed me how to do - the kinds of things I thought everybody knew. 

"The Dangerous Book For Boys" is a great title, but it could potentially scare off a lot of parents.  The world isn't made of Nerf, but neither are there monsters around every corner.  This book hit #1 in the UK, and hopefully it can do the same here.  Let's see some enthusiasm around the good ol' non-volatile read-only media we call "book". 

It'll be great to walk in the park this summer and see parents and kids fashioning great new memories by working on these fun old-fashioned projects together.  Now excuse me while I build a submersible from some old jukebox parts.

Order the book HERE and help out Retro Thing!

Extremely Odd Book Titles

I've faced the odious challenge of naming a book, but these fine authors obviously found it much harder than I. These are all genuine titles (I've included links) and I can hardly wait to see if the local library has copies:

People Who Don't Know They're Dead: How They Attach Themselves to Unsuspecting Bystanders and What to Do about It (Gary Leon Hall, Weiser Books) -- Honestly, it sounds like Hall also had the pleasure of dating one of my more memorable ex-girlfriends. Hopefully she didn't microwave his cat, too.

How Green Were the Nazis? (Bruggemeier et al., Ohio University Press) -- You'd think that invading dozens of countries and slaughtering millions of innocent civilians would have been an incredibly messy pastime, but apparently I might be wrong.

The Stray Shopping Carts of Eastern North America: A Guide to Field Identification (Julian Montague, Abrams Image) -- A traumatic incident while bird watching seems to have pushed poor Mr. Montague over the edge. How else can one explain his attempt at an elaborate classification system for ferile, uhh, grocery carts? Remember not to get between them and the chocolate pudding isle during mating season.

Proceedings of the Eighteenth International Seaweed Symposium (Robert Anderson et al., Springer) -- Gosh. This lot puts Harry Potter and his piddly little collection of seven books to shame. Unfortunately, I found the 17th volume a tad too predictable and can't help but feel the plot would have been dramatically improved by the inclusion of some radioactive phytoplankton, or maybe even some devious mammals.

Better Never To Have Been: The Harm of Coming Into Existence (David Benatar, Oxford University Press) -- This one truly makes my head hurt. I can hardly wait for Benatar's follow-up, tentatively titled, "Why You Lot Should All Drop Dead and Leave Me in Bloody Peace."

Judging books by their very odd titles [cbc.ca]

Turntable Optical Illusions Book

This may be the item that fits the most Retro Thing categories ever!  Clearly this is a book, it deals with optics, and it uses a turntable to make the magic work.  The first section of the book details how many popular spinning optical illusions work, the second part having full-page optical illusions that can tear out.  The book has a hole through its center, so once you tear out the full page illusions you can pop them on your turntable.

The book explains that while you can see many of these illusions by spinning the patterns on a pencil tip, they work better with constant rotation like that provided by a turntable.  The part that might be the most surprising is the publishing date of the book: 1992.  That's quite a bit after turntables were on their way out of many households.  The book's intro makes mention of this, joking that this book will help you get some use out of that "obsolete turntable" you didn't throw out yet.

I won't agree that record players are useless - to the contrary, this book is just one more use for your platter spinner!  To think that it used to just be the music I chose to put on the turntable that made me dizzy!

Click HERE to pick up "Turntable Illusions" and help out Retro Thing.

Handcrafted leather journals

Cheap journals are false economy. Spiral bound pads tend to disintegrate with heavy use and looseleaf often flutters around my house like leaves in the wind. Moleskine books are certainly popular, but everyone seems to have one in their pocket these days. A handmade leather book from Renaissance Art is guaranteed to stand out from the crowd, unless you hang with Druids.

These beautiful books feature 5 ounce soft tempered covers and hand-sewn threading. Arches Text Wove paper is included in all of their writing and sketching journals. It's 100% acid-free cotton rag, so your musing will pass the test of time. Each book is kept closed by a flat hand-braided cord. Prices start at around $20, although you'll pay at least $150 for a large sketchbook or music journal.

Renaissance Art handcrafted leather books [via Honky-Tonk Dragon]

New eBook: Essential Retro gadget guide

My Essential Retro book is now available as a $9.95 electronic edition that includes everything from the paperback version. If you prefer the smell and feel of paper, the print version is available with free shipping in the USA and Canada until Christmas (discounted shipping is available for international orders, too).

Visit eSellerate to buy the eBook with instant electronic delivery
Or, drop by the official Essential Retro site for more info

The most beautiful libraries in the world

I love libraries, especially if they contain musty and almost-forgotten texts. I went to university shortly before the arrival of the Internet and the modern onslaught of searchable electronic journals. As a result, I spent many hours lurking in various reading rooms and thumbing through stacks of books. Lest I get overly sentimental, I wasted a lot of time searching for needles in those bibliographic haystacks.

Many libraries - especially ancient ones - share a mystical beauty. Internationally renowned architechtural photographer Guillaume de Laubier's 248 page hardcover captures the elegance of more than 20 of these architectural treasures: "From the dramatic, baroque Library of the Institut de France in Paris, to the splendid Vatican Library in Rome; from the majestic Royal Library in El Escorial, Spain, to the famed New York Public Library, a Beaux-Arts masterpiece-here are some of the most exquisite libraries of the Western world."

The Most Beautiful Libraries in the World

An unlikely book from a rock star

Before Brian May of Queen was a multi-millionaire rock guitarist, he was a shaggy haired graduate student successfully pursuing a doctoral degree in astronomy at Imperial College in London. He abandoned a career in academia to grind out the guitar lines for Bohemian Rhapsody and other bombastic Queen mega-hits.

May has returned to his first love as the co-author of "Bang! The Complete History of the Universe," which takes a look at the goings-on in the Universe from its formation more than 13 million billion years ago through its predicted demise a couple of million billion years from next Thursday.

May doesn't really see anything odd about his dual interests: "I think there's a sort of purity about both of them," he recently told The Guardian. "Because you can immerse yourself in thoughts of the universe, or in music, and you're really abstracted. You're a million miles away from all your worries and personal problems and the dust and smoke of where you are."

Visit the official Bang! web site [via space.com]

World's First Printed Atlas Sells for £2.1m -- Mistakes And All

Sotheby's auction house has sold a copy of the world's first printed atlas -- the Cosmographia -- for the record sum of £2,136,000. The 1478 book was the crown jewel of a 600 piece collection owned by Lord Wardington, who passed away last year. It was one of only two copies still in private hands and went to an unnamed private collector (just look for the befuddled billionaire who can't find New York).

Ptolemy -- a second century Greek-speaking geographer, astronomer and astrologer -- compiled information from the Greeks and Romans to create a 'Geographica' that eventually became the foundation of the 1478 printed work. As you might expect, there are some gross inaccuracies; the undiscovered Americas are entirely absent and familiar landmasses tend to be distorted, resulting in a slightly alien world.

Don't fret if you haven't got a couple of million quid lying around for your own copy; a team of Swiss researchers at Bern University published a complete German version at the end of September, and an annotated translation of the technical chapters can be yours for a mere $32.95.

Old atlas breaks auction record
More on Ptolemy's Cosmographia

Free Solar Water Heater Book

David Bainbridge (now an Associate Professor at Alliant International University) published The Integral Passive Solar Water Heater Book back in 1981. It has been out of print for many years, but is now available again on the 'Net as a downloadable acrobat file. I've only skimmed it, but there are a lot of clever ideas hidden on these 25 year-old pages.

"The water heaters covered in this book make a great DIY solar project.  For a few hundred dollars and a weekend of labor, you can build one of these solar water heaters.  It will pay back its initial cost in a year or two.   One of these water heaters can save about 4000 KWH in a year -- about the same amount of energy that a 1KW PV costing around $10,000 would save!"

The Integral Passive Solar Water Heater Book

Disney comic strip artist's guide

Carson Van Osten is a well known Disney illustrator who inked countless Disney comic books. In the mid 1970s he put together a brilliant panelized how-to guide that encapsulates years of hard-won cartooning knowledge on seven witty pages. After circulating around Disney, it became a runaway underground classic.

Carson recently stumbled across a grainy scanned Xerox of his handout on Mark Kennedy's Temple of the Seven Golden Camels site. Inspired by the positive comments, he forwarded an original copy of the handout to Mark, who posted beautiful high-resolution scans for everyone to enjoy.

Comic Strip Artist's Kit: Redux

Free online issues of Compute! magazine

Compute! was a fantastic computer hobbyist magazine published between 1979 through 1994. Its hallowed pages covered Atari, Apple, Commodore, Texas Instruments, Timex/Sinclair, and many other early personal computers.

It is getting difficult to find vintage copies, but the Classic Computer Magazine Archive features the text of hundreds of vintage articles from this magazine and others. You won't find every issue online, but Kevin Savetz just contacted us to point out that the full text of 21 more issues is now online, including the Fall 1979 premiere.

The only downfall of the archive is that it doesn't include pictures or classic ads (and lusting after ludicriously high-tech gear was half the fun). What's immediately evident is the scope and relative complexity of the articles: "PET Cassette Format Revisited", "Atari Video Graphics And The New GTIA" and page-turners like "Recursive BASIC Subroutines." Definitely worth retrosurfing!

Index of Compute! articles

16 rpm Talking Book of "Treasure Island"

Audio books, books-on-tape, or whatever you choose to call them are a booming business; some estimates as high as 2 billion dollars annually in the US.  Recent interest in audio books has been spiked by iPods and other portable electronic players, but before that audio books were a healthy enterprise on cassette.  They're a great way to lighten a lengthy commute, get some housework done, and catch up on classic literature that you might not otherwise read in book form.

The thing that might surprise some is that audio books go way back.  You could call a lot of children's albums audio books, but unabridged works have long been available on LP (either as a straight reading, or dramatized), many special recordings for the blind, and there was also this Talking Book series of recordings.

This 1958 set of eight 7" records follows the 45rpm form factor right down to the great big hole, but these discs spin at 16rpm.  I estimate that each side of a platter would take some 15 - 20 minutes to play at that speed, so the set lasts for four hours.  Voice giant Hans Conried (Snidely Whiplash, Disney's Captain Hook) reads this unabridged "Treasure Island", and other sets in the series featured Basil Rathbone, John Carradine and Ronald Coleman.

I haven't heard these as my only 16rpm turntable isn't here.  I'd like to give the Talking Book a spin (sorry) as I've never read "Treasure Island", and both Conreid's impeccable diction and sinister growl might be the best way to enjoy it.

Conried's voice credits