This week’s book, “Ingenious Gadgets” by Maurice Collins, is just pure and whimsical fun:

Fascinated by eccentric contraptions powered by anything other than electricity, Collins has been collecting “gadgets” for over 30 years. Most items span the time period starting from the Great Exhibition of 1851 to the Festival of Britain in 1951. Organized in categories with names like “The Working Day” to “The Stuff of Life” to “Body and Soul” and more, this book with inspire and provoke laughter – in equally heavy doses.

Here are three of my favorites:

1. Clockwork fly scarer
With a “wing” span of one meter (3ft), this clockwork propeller revolves at a very slow pace over the dining table to scare away flies. The large spring, when fully wound, has enough energy to keep revolving for 15 minutes!

2. Sight restorer
A late 19th century gadget that proclaims to increase your vision. All you have to do is apply the two cups against the eyes, press the central air puffer and the resulting massage would do the trick. The instructions also suggest that no excessive drinking or eating and plenty of sleep should occur at the same time as the treatment.

3. Bread cutter
This gadget, from the US Great Depression era of the 1930s, was created to help money go a bit further. Place an already thin slice of bread into this cutter and it will cut it in half again. Ingenious, albeit a tad depressing…

What’s the fundamental question of the items in his collection? Does it solve an everyday problem making a task simpler, quicker or easier. Collins is especially keen on gadgets that perform their function better than those sold in the 21st century that do the same thing. All the items in his collection are a testament to those creative minds that spend their time and money trying to solve everyday problems.

If any of this interests you, and you would like to read this book, tell three people about my company’s latest project, WikiReader, and then send me an email. Before next week, I’ll chose a name from random, and send the winner my book.

Shipping, anywhere in the world, is on me.