The World of Analog

The perfect antidote to your digital diet, this delightful eulogy of all things analog crosses categories and generations to celebrate the timeless allure of tactile experience and real-time interaction over the evanescence of the virtual. The analog renaissance is underway and growing to encompass not just turntables and film cameras but also transistor radios, camcorders, mercury thermometers, xerox machines and compasses. Beautifully designed and packed with fascinating information and superb illustrations, this timely and uniquely wide-ranging compendium of analog objects celebrates the way we used to communicate with each other ­- how we listened to recorded music, told the time, wrote a letter, watched a film, and took a picture. Organized into broad categories of information, sound, vision, and communication, this nostalgic trip down product design's memory lane profiles 250 objects that revolutionized communication, entertainment, and creative expression in their own time--some of which have been reclaimed in ours. Along the way, it reveals a variety of stories - which companies made the greatest contributions to design - Sony, Braun, Brionvega, and Bang & Olufsen; the evolution of music formats, from vinyl to compact disk; and cameras from Brownie to Instamatic. An inspirational guide for analog aficionados, designers and collectors, this is also a charming cultural history of everyday objects that bridge generations and transcend time.