Victorian Technology - Invention, Innovation and the Rise of the Machine

An enlightening history of 19th-century technology, focusing on the connections between invention and cultural values.
In 1822, Charles Babbage unveiled his Difference Engine—a mechanical device made of thousands of hand-tooled parts that could calculate large numbers with unprecedented precision. In other words, it was the prototype of the computer—one of many Victorian-era innovations that foreshadowed the technologies that define our world.

Machine of Death: A Collection of Stories About People Who Know How They Will Die

MACHINE OF DEATH tells thirty-four different stories about people who know how they will die. Prepare to have your tears jerked, your spine tingled, your funny bone tickled, your mind blown, your pulse quickened, or your heart warmed. Or better yet, simply prepare to be surprised. Because even when people do have perfect knowledge of the future, there's no telling exactly how things will turn out.

Encyclopedia of Sewing Machine Techniques

All in color! Beading, fringing, pintucks, and puffing--if the sewing machine can do it, then the technique is here! Want instructions for those indispensible basics? You'll find advice on a variety of ways to do bias binding; buttonholes; edge finishes; gathering; hem finishes (seven of them, from corded to shadow); mitering corners; seam finishes; topstiching; and zippers. Or make any item eye-catching with an array of creative touches.

Wicked Irish for the Traveler

Master the gift of gab with the phrase book that makes Erin go ha!
From Dublin on Five Pints an Hour to Genuflection for Beginners, Wicked Irish helps visitors negotiate the nuances of a country where even trees are considered Protestant or Catholic. Learn to flatter customs agents: "'Tis a grand machine you have there, officer!" Politely decline the heavy Irish breakfast: "I've given up pig entrails/congealed blood for Lent.

Historical Fashion in Detail: The 17th and 18th Centuries

This volume offers the opportunity to see fragile clothes in detail. Perfection is in the detail: decorative seams, exquisite stitching, knife sharp pleats and voluptuous drapery feature alongside more usual techniques such as stamping, pinking and slashing. Many of the skills displayed have been lost to the modern world: such labour-intensive handwork is no longer done and these effects cannot be replicated by machine. Yet many fashion designers take their inspiration from the past, adapting ideas to a more contemporary idiom.