A COMPENDIUM OF CURIOUS CONTRAPTIONS

More than two dozen puzzling artifacts from the past await readers’ detective skills.

Introductory pages explain just what archeology and anthropology can tell us about the lives of other cultures, and how objects speak of their makers and users. Clear, colorful, close-up illustrations of each object accompany tantalizing but clearly written clues about it, perhaps focusing on a detail, some information about the artifact’s use, or the materials it was made of. A “Fact File” box adds further information. Some medical inventions, however helpful, are deeply scary, while others, like the stethoscope, are still used in refined versions. Weapons are another frightening group. Objects from around the world and across centuries include Inuit snow goggles, gameboards from Ur, an earthquake detector from China, a Roman lamp, Tipu Sultan’s mechanical tiger, a leech barometer, an elaborate Turkish water clock, an Aztec “death whistle,” Moses Quinby’s 19th-century smoke dispenser for beekeepers, Viking chess pieces, and more. At least one object, the Roman dodecahedron, has not yet disclosed its purpose; readers are invited to speculate. The selection of items is excellent, and the information about them expansive. We’re never too old for guessing games or lift-the-flap books, and here we also enter vividly into the realm of global cultures.

An absorbing trip through an eclectic, fascinating museum of mostly ancient inventions.