Review of
How to Remove the Cotton From a Bottle of
Aspirin, by Rube Goldberg
Five out of five stars
Goldberg at his wacky best
Rube Goldberg
was known for his cartoons where he creates extremely elaborate mechanisms to
perform simple tasks. Those mechanisms are constructed using a sequence of
incongruous and wacky steps, few of which are even possible. This book contains
two of the wildest.
For example, on
page 48 there is the step:
“The fisherman hits a well-padded surface, causing only
a minor dent in his skull. The impact brings two sticks of uranium together thereby
setting up an atomic reaction in a series of steel balls containing a mixture
of plutonium and bad night club air. The resulting explosions propel a boxing
glove into space with great force.”
The nonsensical
nature of these contraptions is what makes them amusing. There is no seriousness
to what is meant to be satire of the modern complex world. As always, Goldberg
succeeds in achieving his goals.
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