The Book of Ingenious Devices

This was a tremendously influential book describing various inventions of the tenth century House of Wisdom era in what is now Iraq. The Banu Musa (brothers) explored various scientific subject, built public works projects, and, from all accounts, created some inventions that would have put the 1950s cartoonist, Rube Goldberg, to shame. Among them were the mechanical flute and some astonishing things with weights and pendulums and pulleys. The illustrations are worth the read.