Ask “What is steampunk?” and you will receive varied responses: a maker-hacker delight [1], a consumerist fashion statement [2,3], or perhaps an art movement [4]. To the authors of this book, steampunk takes a look at a technologically positive future with a playful lens distorted by an imaginative past.

Many hacktivists, activists, and artists who consider themselves steampunk trace their inspiration to the Victorian era and its often-madcap inventions, and to the science fiction of Jules Verne and H. G. Wells. This distinctly European-flavored sourcing often seems to exclude many ethnicities and cultures, a slant these authors distinctly regret and seek to balance. Brian David Johnson is a self-described futurist and a longtime employee of Intel, and James Carrott, a cultural historian, was an Xbox global product manager who left to become a freelance consultant. They go to great pains to say that corporate connections have no influence on their views, and describe supportive colleagues. Their writing style can be described as gushy, informal, and given to some hyperbole. This can be engaging, especially because the bulk of their writing describes their travels and interviews with those who are at the active heart of the movement.

The index is helpful. While there are neither endnotes nor a bibliography, citations to blogs and web links are scattered throughout the text. The book will not be useful to educators, but could be an entertaining read for computer scientists who feel out of touch with “vintage tomorrows.”

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