Only for country bumpkins?

This book is part of an old series of children's books, covering "fantastic" boats, balloons, birds, dinosaurs, weapons...you name it. I think the series is British. I have some of these slender volumes in Swedish translations. They unexpectedly resurfaced when I was doing some "spring cleaning" in my flat the other day.

"The Book of Fantastic Machines" is actually quite boring, perhaps because most of us are used to having pretty advanced machines all around us. Telescopes, electron microscopes, space exploration vehicles...been there, seen that, done that. This little book even features a Moog synthesizer!

More intriguing is a newspaper printing press powered by solar power...from 1882. It was French, and the newspaper printed on it was naturally called "Sun Magazine". The idea didn't catch on (obviously).

Finally, there's also a description of an idea that never went beyond the drawing room stage. In 1865, an unknown inventor in Baltimore proposed to build a "natural flying machine" propelled by ten eagles! Nobody knows whether the idea was tested in real life - are there any records of inventors eaten by eagles in the vicinity of Baltimore circa 1865? LOL.

All things considered, only three stars for this one. But sure, a six-year old country bumpkin may find it fascinating.