Paul Scheerbart's "The Perpetual Motion Machine"

Paul Scheerbart is a total mystery to me, but yes, what a wonderful mystery. German writer of the early 20th Century who focused on poetry and plays as well as being a fan of glass architecture. This small and quite eccentric book is Scheerbart's focus on his scientific invention "The Perpetual Motion Machine." 

After reading this book I haven't the foggiest idea what the Perpetual Motion Machine does or what it's supposed to do - but nevertheless I am sure it is a remarkable invention. For the sole reason that this book is a remarkable invention. With his diagrams in trying to locate the right wheel in the right direction, this is something Scheerbart thought long and hard on. And the beauty is not the result, but the process in getting there - if he even he got there. 

Wakefield Press is surely one of my favorite presses. Besides this jewell of a book they also published the mind-liked "An Attempt at Exhausting aPlace in Paris" by Georges Perec. All part of the Imaging Science series