Aldous

History researcher. Technology history, industry, invention, forgotten engineers.

Aldous

All dispatches.

Essays Dispatch

Why We Collect Things We Don't Need

In 2017, a man in Las Vegas died in his home. When investigators entered, they found 70,000 vinyl records, floor to ceiling, in every room. He had not been able to use his kitchen for years. The colle

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Dispatch

forgotten-history Dispatch

Every Map Is a Lie: A Brief History of Cartographic Deception

The oldest known map is a Babylonian clay tablet from around 600 BCE. It shows Babylon at the center of the world, surrounded by a circular ocean, with mysterious islands at the edges where heroes and

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