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There’s a fun 1970s book “Motel of the Mysteries” by the brilliant illustrator David Macaulay with this basic premise. A single motel room is discovered underg
by pavlov 6y ago
There’s a fun 1970s book “Motel of the Mysteries” by the brilliant illustrator David Macaulay with this basic premise.
A single motel room is discovered underground by future archeologists, who proceed to interpret everything as if entering Tutankhamen’s tomb. The dusty motel room and its “treasures” are illustrated with the same precision that Macaulay brought to his classic works like “City” and “Pyramid” (which this 80s child remembers fondly enough that I bought them used for my kids a few years back, along with “Motel”.)
- edoceo 6y agoMacaulay made "the way things work" too https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/304889.The_Way_Things_Work https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/304889.The_Way_Things_Wo... that book really inspired 12yr old me.
- aetherspawn 6y agoAs a child that was my favourite book. I am an electrical engineer now. I only just gifted my copy to a friend with a slightly autistic child.
- edoceo 6y agothis is The Way
- aetherspawn 6y agoAnd I must have spent 500 hours or more as a kid playing The Way Things Work: Pinball Science [1] on my 80Mhz Win 95 PC. [1]: https://macintoshgarden.org/games/the-way-things-work-pinball-science https://macintoshgarden.org/games/the-way-things-work-pinbal...
- lethologica 6y agoHoly moly, that’s a blast from the past! I had borrowed this book from my schools library so many times my name was the only one on the borrowing card at the back!
- moxvallix 6y agoOh damn, I loved that book as a kid. It had these wonderful illustrations of mammoths.
- gregmac 6y agoWow, thanks for that nice bit of nostalgia! It also made me think of another book I was fascinated by: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1120818.Stephen_Biesty_s_Incredible_Cross_Sections https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1120818.Stephen_Biesty_s... Now I'm wondering if my parents still have either of these.
- hallarempt 6y agoMy in-laws gave me that for my birthday when I was 24 or 25. They really did know me well -- that, or my wife advised them.
- exhilaration 6y agoThanks, I just bought the book (maybe the last one in stock?) from Amazon for my kids.
- seanhunter 6y agoA similar premise underlies the amazing "Book of Dave" by Will Self. The book has two parallel time streams, one involving a London taxi driver in the present day and then one in the far future in which some writings of his have become the basis for a Taliban-like extremist religious society. It's an incredible book in particular if you know London and have been in a black cab and heard the sorts of banter London taxi drivers use, because in the "future" section everyone speaks in a corrupt English dialect based on this. You can also spot various London landmarks in the post-apocalyptic setting (eg the Centerpoint building).