Museum of Lost Wonder: DIY papercraft cabinet of wonders

By Cory Doctorow at 6:00 am Thursday, May 10

Jeff Hoke's Museum of Lost Wonder probably would have eaten my life if someone had given me a copy when I was 15 or so. It's a hard-to-describe mixture of science, history, and craft book that invites the reader to construct a series of papercraft models as part of the construction of a personal "cabinet of wonders" mated with a "memory palace." The text is grouped into chapters (which are "halls" in the museum/memory palace) derived from alchemy, and it's got that arch, McSweeney's feel of olde tyme science. But there's precious little mysticism here -- instead, readers are shown how creation myths and astrological signs were created and are invited to create their own (there's even a supplied worksheet). The message is clear: mysticism is a game that we play with ourselves, not a revealed truth.

The design of the book is gorgeous, lovely line-art illustrations and papercraft models that look to be a hell of a lot of fun to assemble. I read this book in bed, but I kept wanting to get up and clear the dining room table to glue together its models. Link