TOOLBOX MAKE LOOKS AT BOOKS
Play with Your Food
The Hungry Scientist Handbook by Patrick Buckley and Lily Binns
$17 Collins Living
Ever wonder what the original do-it-yourself handbook was about?
I think it must have been about food. Accordingly, in their new book,
Patrick Buckley and Lily Binns celebrate hackers in the kitchen.
This book is about playing with your food. It’s got recipes for
kitchen- and party-related hardware as well as edibles, and includes
juicy snippets of technical information related to the projects. This
is a bit like how your favorite science textbooks had those little
inset “relevant project” sections that were the best part — except in
reverse, with adventurous projects as the main topics, and tidbits on
the science behind it all in the insets.
The projects can do delightful things that food shouldn’t do
(like blink), and they cover a wide range of complexity and required
tinkering time. The crafty among you will be tempted to try every
project at least once, and some projects may even find their way
into your kitchen ritual. —Kenny Cheung
Kingdom of the Skull
Skulls by Noah Scalin
$15 Lark Books
The genius and arty delight of the Skull-A-Day website can now be
had in a new book! Published by Lark Books, Skulls is sure to be
a coffee table favorite all year long. The book showcases some of
Noah Scalin’s creations during his yearlong adventure in which he
made a new skull each day and posted it on his award-winning blog,
skulladay.com. Scalin’s experimentation knew no bounds; he made
skulls from keyboard keys, pennies, rice, a watermelon, a plastic
bag, a light bulb, pancakes, wire, even a single acorn (one of my
favorites). The book captures the fun and brilliance of the website
— turning the pages is an exercise in oohing and ahhing at one
outrageous skull after another. —Shawn Connally
Stuck on Camping
Don’t Forget the Duct Tape by Kristin Hostetter
$8 Mountaineers Books
This little book should be standard issue with every new piece of
camping equipment sold. It’s a great collection of tips for keeping
outdoor and travel gear in tip-top shape, full of smart advice for
repairing broken zippers, snagged sleeping bags, and sputtering
camp stoves. Even more importantly, it lays out the best way to keep
problems from happening in the first place. Kristin Hostetter is the
gear editor at Backpacker magazine, and you can tell she’s seen a
lot of gear. Heck, it’s a great thing to take with you when shopping
for your stuff in the first place. —Arwen O’Reilly Griffith
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