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Inventions: The Legendary Works (A) of America’s (B) Most Honored (C) Cartoonist
Welcome to the world of that archetypal American, Reuben Lucius Goldberg, the dean of American cartoonists for most of the twentieth century. For more than sixty-five years, Rube Goldberg's syndicated cartoons -- he produced more than fifty strips -- appeared in as many as a thousand newspapers annually He was earning a hundred thousand dollars a year...in 1915. He wrote hit songs and stories and was, in succession, a star in vaudeville, motion pictures, newsreels, radio, and, finally, television.
He even, at the age of eighty, began an entirely new career as a sculptor, and, in inimitable Goldberg fashion, was soon selling his work to galleries, collectors, and museums all over the world. Sure, Rube won the Pulitzer Prize. Every year some cartoonist wins the Pulitzer Prize. But the National Cartoonists Society named its award -- the Reuben -- after you-know-who.
But it was Rube's "Inventions," those drawings of intricate and whimsical machines, that earned Rube his very own entry in Webster's New World Dictionary:
Rube Goldberg...adjective...Designating any very complicated invention, machine, scheme, etc. laboriously contrived to perform a seemingly simple operation.
"Inventions," even the earliest ones that date from 1914, are still being republished and recycled today as they have been over the last eighty-five years. New generations rediscover and enjoy them every day, even though their creator cleaned his pens, put the cap on his bottle of Higgins Black India Ink, and cleared his drawing board for the last time almost thirty years ago. The inventions inspired the National Rube Goldberg™ Machine Contest, held annually at Purdue University, an "Olympics of complexity" in which hundreds of engineering students from American universities and colleges -- and even middle and high schools -- compete to build and run Rube Goldberg invention machines that perform, in twenty or more steps, the annual challenge.
In 1970 the Smithsonian Institution hosted a show honoring Rube Goldberg's lifework. In a life filled with superlatives, it hardly needs mentioning that Rube is the only living cartoonist and humorist to have been so honored. In his speech at the show's opening, Rube said, "Many of the younger generation know my name in a vague way and connect it with grotesque inventions, but don't believe that I ever existed as a person. They think I am a nonperson, just a name that signifies a tangled web of pipes or wires or strings that suggest machinery. My name to them is like spiral staircase, veal cutlets, barber's itch -- terms that give you an immediate picture of what they mean..."
So welcome to a collection of spiral staircases and veal cutlets -- to the inventions of an American original, a creative genius named Rube Goldberg.
192 pages, Hardcover
First published October 1, 1996
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
April 29, 2025
Apr 28 ~~ Do you know where to find a sword-beaked inklebird? Or an uffleduff? How about am umpha bird? A palooka hound? Giffik hound? Woozle beast?
Panic not, I will tell you..
All you need to do is read this book and pay close attention to Rube Goldberg's instructions.
To be honest this will not tell you exactly where to find these creatures, but you will see what you can do with them if you happen to stumble across one some day. Don't forget the Boy Scout motto: Be prepared!
I remember seeing Rube Goldberg's cartoons when I was little, but I certainly never knew anything about Rube himself. The biography section which begins this book was fascinating. Hard to believe how the man could keep up with all of his ideas and projects. He was amazing. Daily cartoons on all topics from sports to politics, the Inventions series featured in this book (just one of many series he created), story-telling cartoons that featured characters who became as famous as Rube himself. His name is even an official in-the-dictionary word for an overly complicated solution to any problem.
One example is A Simple Way To Keep You From Forgetting To Mail Your Wife's Letter. You wear a strange contraption which includes a football, a basket, a bird chasing a worm, and a note that (if all goes according to plan) will unroll before your eyes to remind you to MAIL THAT LETTER. Hopefully at the exact moment you pass by a convenient mailbox, of course.
This was a fun book that created plenty of giggles and a few thoughts of 'Gee, I wonder if that would really work?'
Panic not, I will tell you..
All you need to do is read this book and pay close attention to Rube Goldberg's instructions.
To be honest this will not tell you exactly where to find these creatures, but you will see what you can do with them if you happen to stumble across one some day. Don't forget the Boy Scout motto: Be prepared!
I remember seeing Rube Goldberg's cartoons when I was little, but I certainly never knew anything about Rube himself. The biography section which begins this book was fascinating. Hard to believe how the man could keep up with all of his ideas and projects. He was amazing. Daily cartoons on all topics from sports to politics, the Inventions series featured in this book (just one of many series he created), story-telling cartoons that featured characters who became as famous as Rube himself. His name is even an official in-the-dictionary word for an overly complicated solution to any problem.
One example is A Simple Way To Keep You From Forgetting To Mail Your Wife's Letter. You wear a strange contraption which includes a football, a basket, a bird chasing a worm, and a note that (if all goes according to plan) will unroll before your eyes to remind you to MAIL THAT LETTER. Hopefully at the exact moment you pass by a convenient mailbox, of course.
This was a fun book that created plenty of giggles and a few thoughts of 'Gee, I wonder if that would really work?'
August 6, 2015
This is a really funny collection of comics by Rube Goldberg. I did not know his name or his work before finding this book, but I understand he was one of the most popular comic artist in America, and based on the ingenuity and creative power of his art, I can understand why.
Goldberg's comic strips were published on newspapers in the years around 1920 and 1930.
Most of the drawings included in this book are "Rub Glodberg machines": fantastic creations that are supposed to simplify everyday's life, but in reality are impossibly convoluted ways to complete a simple task, like pouring a glass of water, getting out of bed, or even "taking a photograph of oneself" (the grandpa of the selfie).
Today, this cartoonist's work inspired an ongoing educational event: the Rube Goldberg Machine Contest (RGMC) is an annual national competition that challenges teams of students from middle school to college age to compete in building the most elaborate and hilarious Rube Goldberg Machine.
A Rube Goldberg Machine is an overly complex contraption, designed with humor and a narrative, to accomplish a simple task.
Some of these machines are truly hilarious, and I found the written "instructions" next to each machine even funnier.
What I also enjoyed a lot is the sense of everything that was going on in Goldberg's times, as filtered through his drawings, the objects he chose to include, and the tone of his humor (delightfully cheeky and clean).
Phonographs, old radios, hammers, springs, steam-powered machines are everywhere in Goldberg's mechanical world.
Vignettes that would be unacceptably offensive on today's newspapers are also found everywhere in his work: midgets and dwarfs are ever-present as parts of the machines, as something to be laughing at. Animal cruelty abounds as in dogs or birds being strangled or stabbed for the purpose of making the crazy mechanism function.
I enjoyed more the Goldberg machines that might potentially work in reality, rather than the ones based on nonsensical steps, based on abstract concepts or word play. I think that is the same reason why I prefer science fiction to fantasy: I find that creating a certain "believability" is a harder task and requires a bigger mental effort.
Read this book, it will at the very least improve your mood. my blog
Goldberg's comic strips were published on newspapers in the years around 1920 and 1930.
Most of the drawings included in this book are "Rub Glodberg machines": fantastic creations that are supposed to simplify everyday's life, but in reality are impossibly convoluted ways to complete a simple task, like pouring a glass of water, getting out of bed, or even "taking a photograph of oneself" (the grandpa of the selfie).
Today, this cartoonist's work inspired an ongoing educational event: the Rube Goldberg Machine Contest (RGMC) is an annual national competition that challenges teams of students from middle school to college age to compete in building the most elaborate and hilarious Rube Goldberg Machine.
A Rube Goldberg Machine is an overly complex contraption, designed with humor and a narrative, to accomplish a simple task.
Some of these machines are truly hilarious, and I found the written "instructions" next to each machine even funnier.
What I also enjoyed a lot is the sense of everything that was going on in Goldberg's times, as filtered through his drawings, the objects he chose to include, and the tone of his humor (delightfully cheeky and clean).
Phonographs, old radios, hammers, springs, steam-powered machines are everywhere in Goldberg's mechanical world.
Vignettes that would be unacceptably offensive on today's newspapers are also found everywhere in his work: midgets and dwarfs are ever-present as parts of the machines, as something to be laughing at. Animal cruelty abounds as in dogs or birds being strangled or stabbed for the purpose of making the crazy mechanism function.
I enjoyed more the Goldberg machines that might potentially work in reality, rather than the ones based on nonsensical steps, based on abstract concepts or word play. I think that is the same reason why I prefer science fiction to fantasy: I find that creating a certain "believability" is a harder task and requires a bigger mental effort.
Read this book, it will at the very least improve your mood. my blog
August 7, 2020
Rube Goldberg is one of those artists that many people have an idea of their work without ever having actually seen any of it. At a D&D game recently, I elaborated on the "Dwarves are art deco and and elves are art nouveau" meme by adding, "and gnomes are Rube Goldberg". My crew of geeks got exactly what I meant, even though they'd probably never read an actual Rube Goldberg comic strip. Goldberg is iconic. The classic "Rube Goldberg Machine" is a device that does a simple task in the most complicated manner possible, and it has become a fixture of school competitions around the world.
Goldberg wrote and drew his The Inventions of Professor Lucifer Gorgonzola Butts strip for an incredible fifty years from 1914 to 1964. He was a prolific artist with many other published comic strip, some of which rivaled his Inventions in longevity.
This book provides a nice biography of Goldberg, introduces his early and non-Inventions work, and the gives a wide selection of the Inventions cartoons grouped around general themes.
While the style gets a little repetitive, there are some brilliant details, featuring fantastical animals, pop culture and political satire, and just utter ridiculousness to be found throughout the drawings.
Goldberg's references to concepts like suicide and homelessness come of as a bit insensitive by current standards, but a lot of the political humor on topics like the stock market are still spot-on.
This was a nice overview and a good introduction to the works of a artist who is well known by reputation, but not actually read as often as when his work was a fixture of the newspapers.
Goldberg wrote and drew his The Inventions of Professor Lucifer Gorgonzola Butts strip for an incredible fifty years from 1914 to 1964. He was a prolific artist with many other published comic strip, some of which rivaled his Inventions in longevity.
This book provides a nice biography of Goldberg, introduces his early and non-Inventions work, and the gives a wide selection of the Inventions cartoons grouped around general themes.
While the style gets a little repetitive, there are some brilliant details, featuring fantastical animals, pop culture and political satire, and just utter ridiculousness to be found throughout the drawings.
Goldberg's references to concepts like suicide and homelessness come of as a bit insensitive by current standards, but a lot of the political humor on topics like the stock market are still spot-on.
This was a nice overview and a good introduction to the works of a artist who is well known by reputation, but not actually read as often as when his work was a fixture of the newspapers.
July 10, 2019
Am I the only one who thought Goldberg was a scientist or an inventor? Apparently, he was a cartoonist. Fortunately, this book includes a 40 page biography of his life and multimedia work. Then it's all silly inventions and political commentary. If you like complicated single-panel cartoons, Goldberg won't let you down. His humor has also held up well over the past century.
December 10, 2016
Rube Goldberg invented the selfie!
After reading this biography, I realized how utterly I knew about Rube Goldberg. The concept sketches and final artwork were the best parts. Goldberg' perfectionism was not unlike Walt Disney's. Fascinating!
After reading this biography, I realized how utterly I knew about Rube Goldberg. The concept sketches and final artwork were the best parts. Goldberg' perfectionism was not unlike Walt Disney's. Fascinating!
May 13, 2019
It's not much more than a brief biography and page after page of Rube Goldberg machines. While some can be fun to look at, you get the picture pretty soon and it becomes a bit samey. Would make a good day calendar though.
May 7, 2018
Great collection of Goldberg's "Inventions" cartoons but the biographical essay at the beginning wasn't much more than just a list of his accomplishments. Yawn.
January 16, 2024
I ordered this book online, thinking it was a compilation of Rube Goldberg cartoon inventions....
It's that and a lot more. The text is a biography of Rube Goldberg connected to the myriad cartoons he drew over a long and very successful career. I never realized how many (long-running)character-based comic strips he drew besides the famous over-complex inventions
I recommend the book for anyone who enjoys early 20th Century pop-culture history, newspaper comics history, and some pretty funny material.
It's that and a lot more. The text is a biography of Rube Goldberg connected to the myriad cartoons he drew over a long and very successful career. I never realized how many (long-running)character-based comic strips he drew besides the famous over-complex inventions
I recommend the book for anyone who enjoys early 20th Century pop-culture history, newspaper comics history, and some pretty funny material.
December 11, 2022
biographical component is lacking but Goldberg himself still holds up well. 3.5/5, + .5 for being Jewish
June 28, 2015
Not for me but I think Dave will enjoy it.
May 3, 2015
Goldberg's inventions are pretty fantastic and he uses a lot of interesting visuals. Most are just kind of clever though, and it's not something I'd ever feel the need to look at again.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews