Stack: October

This was much better than I thought it was going to be!

October's Stack delivery was Dirty Furniture, a magazine that will run for just six issues, each one focusing on a different piece of furniture. Previous issues were about the couch and the table, this issue was about the toilet, and future issues will be based on the closet, the telephone and the bed.

When I opened up my Stack envelope to reveal a magazine about toilets I was pretty sceptical that it was going to be a good read, but it turned out to be a great one, using toilets as the starting point for a wide range of articles. An analysis of the appeal of scatological humour, an article about gender neutral bathrooms and a history of Japanese high-tech toilets sit alongside interviews with an engineer who builds sewers, an archaeologist who specialises in faeces and a dairy farmer who uses his cows' dung to provide both bio-gas fuel and building materials. It was smart, funny and interesting. I was genuinely surprised by how much I enjoyed it.

Would I buy it again? No, but only because I think there's a limit to my interest in furniture design. I would recommend it to all designers. I love the concept of a magazine with a planned end-date and can definitely understand the desire to have the complete set.

The Zoo of Tranquility: The Horse

I have just realised that I have been spelling the title of this book incorrectly all this time. It is "The Zoo of Tranquillity", not "The Zoo of Tranquility"!

The Horse has been the best automaton so far - both in terms of making it and its success, although the horse's galloping motion was definitely better before the riders were added. The sticks holding them in place go through the mechanism that transfers movement to the horse's legs and appear to be preventing it from moving as easily as it was prior to adding them.

The whole process of building it was made a lot more enjoyable by the purchase of this hole punch for making all the holes for the sticks. Part of the reason the last one worked so badly was that the holes I cut were too small so nothing pivoted properly. This hole punch solved that problem completely and I loved using it. Process photos after the cut.