Chapter 1What Is Steampunk?
I see it as a reaction to the utter soullessness and disposability of modern tech. There are only so many garish space-eggs and tech bubbles you can look at before you just stop appreciating them. Steampunk harkens back to a time when technology was still novel and romantic, when the world was still marveling at its own cleverness with childlike pride and wonder, looking hopefully toward a strange and wonderful future.
I’ve seen much debate online about what is and isn’t real Steampunk. My least favorite is this one: “Steampunk is not real, so there are no rules and you can do anything you like and call it Steampunk.” Sweeping definitions like this are not really helpful to the “goggle-curious.” ...
Get Steampunk Gear, Gadgets, and Gizmos: A Maker's Guide to Creating Modern Artifacts now with the O’Reilly learning platform.
O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.
