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Ask HN: 80s electronics book club; anyone remember this illustrator?
In the early 80's in the US, a popular DIY electronics magazine had a book of the month club that I loved. Most were small and leather bound hardback with topics like: make your own hydrophone; augmented reality (required a full room and a boom arm, sadly); an LCD model rocket launcher ignition; computer vision; lots and lots of robots.
One book I remember (large, softcover, yellow cover) featured black and white, pen and ink illustrations of fantastically complex robots and machines. One that I remember was a water-based machine with video camera eye mounted on a tripod of pontoons. Wow, these illustrations filled my dreams.
Does anyone remember this? Do you remember the name of the illustrator? Anything at all?
- reneberlin 1y agoI tried for you with google gemini: I'm continuing to focus on visually confirming the specific illustration of the water-based machine with a video camera eye on a tripod of pontoons. My previous research has strongly pointed to Edward L. Safford Jr.'s robotics books, 'The Complete Handbook of Robotics' (1978) and 'Handbook of Advanced Robotics' (1982), both published by TAB Books, as the most likely candidates for the remembered book. The descriptions of these books align well with the user's memory of complex, pen-and-ink robot illustrations.
- slackpad 1y agoForrest Mims did a bunch of interesting hand drawings like that back then but I don’t recall the specific book or image you are thinking of. I’m curious to see if you find it - it sounds up my alley too.
- codpiece 1y agoThanks! A bit different, but definitely worth exploring more. Here's a pretty close approximation of the illustrations: https://www.etsy.com/listing/4319242515/testors-robot-plastic-model-kit-destroid https://www.etsy.com/listing/4319242515/testors-robot-plasti...
- Stratoscope 1y agoYou must be thinking of The Forrest Mims Engineer's Notebook or his Engineer's Mini-Notebook or Getting Started in Electronics. The Engineer's Notebook is still in print: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1878707035 https://www.amazon.com/dp/1878707035 If you download the free Kindle sample, it has some of the illustrations, but mostly just individual components. This Reddit post has a couple of pages from Getting Started: https://www.reddit.com/r/ECE/comments/ik1gw4/from_the_book_getting_started_in_electronics_by/ https://www.reddit.com/r/ECE/comments/ik1gw4/from_the_book_g... The Internet Archive has the complete Mini-Notebook: https://archive.org/details/Forrest_Mims-Engineers_Mini-Notebook_-_Communications_Projects_Radio_Shack_Elec/page/n23/mode/2up https://archive.org/details/Forrest_Mims-Engineers_Mini-Note...
- reneberlin 1y agoMaybe you remember the cover, too? Is it one of these? https://imgs.search.brave.com/KLbQPx02Oqq9Fgsg-AzyhQo_Y_FVRAHJ29FObxqSQF0/rs:fit:860:0:0:0/g:ce/aHR0cHM6Ly9pLmVi/YXlpbWcuY29tL2lt/YWdlcy9nL0NRUUFB/T1N3WjBWaFduTk8v/cy1sMTYwMC5qcGc https://imgs.search.brave.com/KLbQPx02Oqq9Fgsg-AzyhQo_Y_FVRA... https://imgs.search.brave.com/ZNxGI_CJ_3QOkgR3dV2MGjIS8OQyE_4iKcM8DyPoJr0/rs:fit:860:0:0:0/g:ce/aHR0cHM6Ly9tLm1l/ZGlhLWFtYXpvbi5j/b20vaW1hZ2VzL0kv/NTFNb1crT1ZNNkwu/anBn https://imgs.search.brave.com/ZNxGI_CJ_3QOkgR3dV2MGjIS8OQyE_...
- codpiece 1y agoSadly, no, but these look like pretty interesting reads! Its around that time period though. I think the book had an illustration of a robot/machine. They were very much non-humanoid, more like piles of mechanical and electronics shaped for a purpose. Cartoony, but cool.
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- bitpush 1y ago[offtopic] TIL that brave rehosts images from the internet onto brave.com, and crucially serve them universally. That cant be .. legal. If I have an image on my website, that cannot be "redistributed" without permission. https://search.brave.com/images?q=apple%20macbook%20pro https://search.brave.com/images?q=apple%20macbook%20pro
- reneberlin 1y ago... and: I've identified several prominent DIY electronics magazines from the early 1980s in the US. The most promising candidates, based on the user's description, are 'Popular Electronics' and 'Byte'. 'Popular Electronics' was a highly circulated magazine that even inspired the founding of Microsoft, and it transitioned into 'Computers & Electronics' in 1982. 'Byte' was a leading computer magazine that often featured electronics content and was known for its distinctive cover art by Robert Tinney. Other magazines like 'Radio Electronics Magazine', 'Nuts and Volts', 'Elektor Electronics Magazine', 'Practical Electronics', 'Circuit Cellar', 'Silicon Chip Magazine', and 'Hobby Electronics' were also noted, but 'Popular Electronics' and 'Byte' seem to be the strongest fits for the US context and time frame.
- codpiece 1y agoI loved Byte magazine! Oh, that was the best. It was likely Popular Electronics where I found the Book of the Month club, but Hobby Electronics is a good path I'll investigate, thank you!
- timthorn 1y agoI bought a 3 year subscription to Byte with my first paycheque. The magazine ceased publication within a couple of months :(
- tiahura 1y agohttps://www.amazon.com/Build-phaser-working-space-age-projects/dp/0830602046 https://www.amazon.com/Build-phaser-working-space-age-projec...
- miner1829 1y agoI don't remember the leather bound books, but popular electronics had a book club: https://archive.org/details/197911PopularElectronics/page/7/mode/1up https://archive.org/details/197911PopularElectronics/page/7/...
- bitwize 1y agoSounds like BASIC Computer Games by David Ahl. Link to book's contents (Ahl released his works into the public domain): https://www.atariarchives.org/basicgames/ https://www.atariarchives.org/basicgames/ Artwork example: https://www.atariarchives.org/basicgames/showpage.php?page=89 https://www.atariarchives.org/basicgames/showpage.php?page=8... (Was this your pontoon bot? I think those are supposed to be ice skates...)
- LarryMade2 1y agoI tink this was the one on pontoons - https://archive.org/details/More_BASIC_Computer_Games/page/n165/mode/2up?view=theater https://archive.org/details/More_BASIC_Computer_Games/page/n...
- codpiece 1y agoThank you both, this is exactly the illustrator!
- codpiece 1y agoOh, these are so great! It really does look like the illustrator! Especially this one: https://www.atariarchives.org/basicgames/showpage.php?page=91 https://www.atariarchives.org/basicgames/showpage.php?page=9... Thank you!
- bitwize 1y agoThese books were classics back in the day, and are fondly remembered by hackers who got their start on micros in the 70s or 80s. Clearly they had an influence on you, too.
- codpiece 1y agoHERE IT IS! HERE IT IS! https://www.atariarchives.org/basicgames/showpage.php?page=17 https://www.atariarchives.org/basicgames/showpage.php?page=1... THANK YOU so much for your help! I remember typing this stuff out on my TRS-80, the one that Dad totally could not afford but he took a chance on a future trend and an excited, troubled young boy. I know that this sounds silly, but I have tears in my eyes now. Thank you. And, thank you for providing so many interesting paths to explore as well. You are the best, and I sincerely appreciate your help.
- codpiece 1y agoHe even has a website: BekerBots http://www.bekerbots.com/thebots.htm http://www.bekerbots.com/thebots.htm
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- fortyseven 1y agoFantastic! I love the art from those books. :)
- ofrzeta 1y agoI got the info on the illustrator from the other comments here, but he even has a homepage http://www.bekerbots.com http://www.bekerbots.com