Eccentric Cubicle: Office Accessories from a Parallel Universe

By Mark Frauenfelder at 12:06 pm Friday, Nov 23

My friend Kaden Harris, a Canadian inventor and artist who makes desktop medieval siege weapons, has a new book out called Eccentric Cubicle: Office Accessories from a Parallel Universe.

It's published by O'Reilly's Make Books imprint (I'm editor-in-chief of MAKE) and contains step-by-step instructions for building 11 wonderfully strange desktop accessories. Throughout, Kaden humorously shares his immense knowledge of the art of making cool things out of scrap materials. There's nothing like this book.

From desktop guillotines and crossbows to mood-enhancing effects and music makers, each project presents a different set of challenges and opens new avenues of Maker lore. There's a strong emphasis on the basic mechanical theories and principles of the devices presented in the book, as well as the fabrication techniques you need to use. But this is far more than a book of project "how-tos." Eccentric Cubicle offers oblique industrial design and fabrication philosophies, countless cultural reference points, and innumerable bad puns.
This book is a dream come true for you office-bound souls who are tech DIY enthusiasts, hobbyist engineers/designers, and Makers at heart. Imagine having your cubicle sport projects such as:
* A mechanical golfer
* Lucid dreaming induction device
* USB-powered bubble blower
* Fog machine
* A desktop guillotine
* And a whole lot more
In the Eccentric Cubicle, Harris starts with classic, time-honored principals, then modernizes and augments his designs with performance enhancements and updated feature sets -- all while precariously balancing form, function, and oddness. Scavenging and repurposing materials and components at every opportunity, he challenges and inspires you to modify and adapt the projects and designs to meet your own scale, performance, and aesthetic requirements. Bring character and life to your office desktop with Eccentric Cubicle!