A lovely oddball history of Pacific Northwest invention, from the practical to the faintly deranged.

Adam Woog gathers a century of inventions from the Pacific Northwest, giving the book that pleasing “cabinet of curiosities” feeling: part history, part trivia, part design anthropology. We got outdoor gear, fishing tackle, medical devices, logging tools, aircraft ideas, strange household contraptions, and all the local ingenuity that sits somewhere between necessity, boredom, obsession, and regional weather. 

It's a great way to explore how a place can be read through its tools, fixes, patents, eccentric problem-solving, and improbable improvements to daily life. Very good for readers interested in regional history, invention, material culture, quirky Americana, old technology, design oddities, or books that quietly prove people have always been weird little engineers trying to make the world behave.

Sasquatch Books paperback, published 1991. Illustrated/history title on 100 years of invention in the Pacific Northwest. Good second-hand condition from photos, with light cover wear and handling.