1960s
The First Do-It-Yourself Novel
Composition No. 1 by Marc Saporta was the first-ever do-it-yourself or interactive novel. It was published in French in 1962, and an English translation followed a year later. The novel came in a box, as a set of looseleaf pages. Readers were instructed to "shuffle them like a deck of cards" before reading, so that chance would decide the order of events in the narrative.
image source: Newsweek - Oct 28, 1963
In 2011, Visual Editions came out with an elegantly boxed new edition of the work (available on Amazon). As well as an iPad version of it that automatically shuffles the pages.
Jonathan Coe, reviewing the new edition for the Guardian in 2011, offered this summary of the book's plot:
Coe noted that the British Library had two copies of the original novel, "both, I'm sorry to say, diligently bound by over-zealous librarians (though at least each copy has the pages bound in a different order)."
Posted By: Alex - Fri Nov 20, 2015 -
Comments (1)
Category: Literature, Books, 1960s
Jerry Lewis & Miss Cartilage
Posted By: Paul - Mon Nov 16, 2015 -
Comments (2)
Category: Humor, Surrealism, Sex Symbols, 1960s, Dance
Morris Cleveland’s Homemade Steam Vehicle
Original article here.
Posted By: Paul - Sat Nov 14, 2015 -
Comments (9)
Category: Eccentrics, Inventions, Regionalism, Technology, 1960s
The Varitone Sax
A more-or-less failed and forgotten 1960s experiment in electrifying the saxophone.
Two good articles here and here.
Posted By: Paul - Fri Nov 13, 2015 -
Comments (4)
Category: Music, Technology, 1960s
The Strange Change Machine
You know, why isn't "mad scientist" an encouraged career path for kids anymore, like it was in the 1960s? I think the foreclosure of this option says a lot about our joyless and grim culture.
Posted By: Paul - Mon Nov 02, 2015 -
Comments (3)
Category: Mad Scientists, Evil Geniuses, Insane Villains, Toys, 1960s
Groovy Gasoline
Posted By: Paul - Tue Oct 27, 2015 -
Comments (11)
Category: Business, Advertising, Motor Vehicles, 1960s
Beatnik Wedding
Posted By: Paul - Sun Oct 25, 2015 -
Comments (6)
Category: Fashion, Husbands, Wives, Bohemians, Beatniks, Hippies and Slackers, 1960s
King Zor
"There has never been a fighting dinosaur like King Zor before!" True, but probably only because this toy was unique!
Posted By: Paul - Fri Oct 23, 2015 -
Comments (6)
Category: Toys, Dinosaurs and Other Antediluvian Creatures, 1960s
The Front Line: Supermarket Checker
Soldiers in the war on shoppers! I mean, soldiers helping shoppers!
Look at how much more intelligence was needed for this job then, compared to this age of scanners and credit cards.
Posted By: Paul - Tue Oct 20, 2015 -
Comments (7)
Category: Food, Work and Vocational Training, Retailing, 1960s
Follies of the Madmen #262
Posted By: Paul - Sat Oct 17, 2015 -
Comments (9)
Category: Annoying Things, Business, Advertising, Products, Death, Insects and Spiders, 1960s, Australia
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| Alex Boese Alex is the creator and curator of the Museum of Hoaxes. He's also the author of various weird, non-fiction, science-themed books such as Elephants on Acid and Psychedelic Apes. Paul Di Filippo Paul has been paid to put weird ideas into fictional form for over thirty years, in his career as a noted science fiction writer. He has recently begun blogging on many curious topics with three fellow writers at The Inferior 4+1. Contact Us |