Retro-Electro: Collecting Technology from Atari to Walkman [Englisch] [Gebundene Ausgabe]

Pepe Tozzo's Retro Electro sounded so cool that I preordered it sight-unseen. A good book on the topic of technostalgia is long overdue and I was eager to see what this self-described "only book to survey the trend" would contain. I now wish I had seen and browsed it beforehand. It's a neatly designed little book with some very nice pictures, but it is just falls too short of my expectations.

There are only one or two items per page in this 8.8 x 8.6, 160 page book and the layout favors large, attractive photos over descriptive text. So in the end there were not as many items as I would have liked to have seen and the descriptions are sometimes not very substantial. I am more interested in obscure facts about the design, creation, function and uniqueness of these things. There are informative and enlightening entries here, but again, more in-depth information on a greater selection of items would have been nice. Also, in a world where collector prices change faster than ink dries, any attempt to print price guides in a hardbound book form seems pointless. So the price guide feature doesn't thrill me.

There are way too many memorable electronic gadgets from our consumer past that are conspicuously absent. Missing are the giant Sylvania entertainment consoles of the 70s, Egg shaped 8-Track players, the Donut Phones, Soundburger (Mr. Disc) portable record players, quadraphonic headphones (yes, they exist) and various other classics. Heck, one could devote several pages to the dozens of groovy Panasonic portable radios and 8-track players of the 70s, but there are no "Dynamite" 8 track players or "Panapets" here... just the Toot-A-Loop is represented.

I'm not particularly excited that items from the 90s and current decade are represented. We can see these kinds of things in retail stores or Sharper Image catalogs today. So I don't see why they should have such equal billing in this book. Though there is probably a good case to leave out items from the well documented 1950s and earlier, I would rather the book included good old Philco Predictas than Sony Playstations. Sure, there are a few things from the early 90s that are interesting, and yes, a cursory mention about what things today may seem retro later might be appealing, but I didn't buy this book to see full page spreads of a 2002 IPOD or a 2004 watch. Other items that seem out of place are things like Smartphones, PDAs, Star Trek Phasers and 2003 Dalek toys. Retro Electronics? Not in my opinion.

The page layouts are attractive, the pictures are very nice and there was a strong effort made here to run the whole gambit of electronic collectables. Retro Electro may be more interesting to folks with only a light interest in this subject and it may serve as a good introduction. Also, if you like calculators there are plenty of neat ones in this book.

Ultimately, there are many cool items in this book. But for every seemingly out of place item in here there are two old standards or obscure treasures missing, which leaves me feeling I should have gotten more out it.

2 1/2 stars

A wonderful look at the electronic marvels we have around the house, along with past playthings long ago left in the dust by ever advancing technologies. My only complaint is that this book barely scratches the surface of what could have / should have been included. Speaking for myself, I would have gladly paid a lot more money to get a book that gave me more to see. As it is, an hour after opening the book, you are done, wishing for more.

The book's descriptions of devices are far too short, and the prices it lists were out of date the moment the book went to print. Useless to true collectors, this book will see only limited use as a conversation starter. It'd be a nice thing to leave for guests in the bathroom.