Enjoy this local Chicago TV profile of toy inventor Marvin Glass–if you can. His toy development company created many famous toys and games (Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots, Operation, etc.)… Read the rest of the article: Meet Marvin Glass, the "Troubled King of Toys"

If you were one of the lucky Del Toro fans who got to see the At Home With Monsters show at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art this year… Read the rest of the article: Guillermo del Toro: At Home with Monsters: Inside His Films, Notebooks, and Collections

I didn't appreciate Japan's ubiquitous vending machines until I was on a hike through the countryside outside of Tsumago on a sweltering July afternoon. The bamboo forests and rolling verdant… Read the rest of the article: Pictorial history of vending machines, from Ancient Greece to today

Way back in the early 1970s, during the prior "pre-Photoshop" millennium, my fellow industrial design students and I labored to create photo-realistic renderings of products and cars with old-school, analog… Read the rest of the article: One of a kind book that illustrates in word and art the highlights of the Pontiac

Any fan of Love and Rockets creator Gilbert Hernandez and of Batman, Catwoman, and New Frontier writer and artist Darwyn Cooke will be excited to read The Twilight Children, a… Read the rest of the article: The Twilight Children mixes spunky kids, complicated adults, and government goons with magical realism

One of my most unforgettable travel experiences was visiting the Sedlec Ossuary in Kutná Hora, near Prague. This small 19-century monastery chapel would be unremarkable, except that it is decorated… Read the rest of the article: Memento Mori – Spectacular book of essays and 500 photos of the dead among us

There are lots of books about baby boomer toys, but this fun collection is presented from the viewpoint of the kids who played with the toys and includes lots of… Read the rest of the article: Fun book about toys of the '50s, '60s and '70s

See sample pages from this book at Wink. Industrial Strength Design: How Brooks Stevens Shaped Your World by Glenn Adamson The MIT Press 2003, 300 pages, 9.5 x 11 x… Read the rest of the article: Industrial Strength Design profiles the most famous designer you've never hears of: Brooks Stevens

See more sample pages from this book at Wink. Formica Forever by Formica Corporation Metropolis Books/Formica Corporation 2013, 408 pages, 6.5 x 9.4 x 1.2 inches (softcover) $37 Buy a… Read the rest of the article: Formica Forever celebrates the sleek century-old material and its indestructible beauty

See sample pages from this book at Wink. Where Discovery Sparks Imagination: A Pictorial History of Radio and Electricity by John D. Jenkins American Museum of Radio and Electricity 2009,… Read the rest of the article: Primitive but clever inventions that predate today's smart phones

See sample pages from this book at Wink. Manga Kamishibai: The Art of Japanese Paper Theater by Eric P. Nash Abrams ComicArts 2009, 304 pages, 8.6 x 9.2 x 1.1… Read the rest of the article: Before anime, Japanese paper theater entertained 1-million kids a day

See sample images from this book at Wink. The Collector by Sergio Toppi Archaia 2014, 252 pages, 8.5 x 11 x 1 inches $23 Buy a copy on Amazon I… Read the rest of the article: The Collector follows an 1880's rogue and dandy as he travels in search of treasures

See sample pages from this book at Wink. You may have seen my earlier Wink Fun review of Elenco’s terrific Mini-beest Kit, a working miniature model kit of one of… Read the rest of the article: A book about Theo Jansen's amazing wind-powered creatures

See more photos at Wink Fun. With toys, sometimes simple is best: no batteries, no electronics, all kid-powered. Such is Wrecking Ball, the latest addition to SmartLab’s line of award-winning… Read the rest of the article: Build a 5-story school building, then knock it down with SmartLab's demolition Wrecking Ball

See sample pages from this book at Wink. I was initially reluctant to order this book unseen, given the high list price, but once I had it in my hands… Read the rest of the article: King of the Kustomizers is an enjoyable feast of George Barris' hot rods, customized cars and other kooky creations

If you're a fan of Tintin comics and of Hergé (Georges Remi), this is one book you’ll want to own. Nothing “comic book” or throw away about this beautifully produced… Read the rest of the article: This beautiful Tintin tome is full of all wonderful things Herge

Eames: Beautiful Details by Eames Demetrios AMMO Books 2014, 408 pages, 12.5 x 9.2 x 2.2 inches $41 Buy one on Amazon One of my favorite speakers at San Mateo… Read the rest of the article: Photo book shows Eames' beautiful details

Dutch engineer and artist Theo Jansen has created the most amazing kinematic sculptures, which he refers to as life forms. The incredibly ingenious mechanical linkages are powered by compressed air,… Read the rest of the article: Build a top quality kinetic Rhinoceros Mini-Beest from a kit

Fans of Asian cooking will enjoy this kit for making okonomiyaki at home (Buy a kit on Amazon). It's essentially a frittata made with batter, cabbage, plus whatever you want… Read the rest of the article: Okonomiyaki – A "Japanese pizza" kit that is as fun to make as it is to eat

I was sick of storing my comics in cardboard magazine bins: they're ugly, dusty and don't protect the comics–and worst of all you can't even see the cool comic book covers!