A review by karend
The Steampunk User's Manual: An Illustrated Practical and Whimsical Guide to Creating Retro-futurist Dreams by Jeff VanderMeer, Desirina Boskovich, Kater Cheek

Did not finish book.

I was intrigued by the thesis in an early essay in the book that Steampunk is a reaction to the increasing sleekness of industrial design; gears and ornamentation to counteract the smooth plastic and glass devices we never have far from our reach in the modern world. I liked some of the descriptions of artistic process. I stopped reading, though, because I wasn't interested in the projects and don't really connect with the aesthetic.