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Photograph of young Rube Goldberg at his desk

Rube Goldberg: The Subject

If you're Rube curious and want to take a deeper look at the man behind the machines, you're in the right place.

"Two very different pillars mark the edges of the Goldbergian experience. On the one hand, his work delights children, and always will, with the excess and overcharge of his inventions — the simple thing done with absurd yet plausible complexity. on the other, there seems, to adult eyes, to be in his work some fatal, almost unconscious, commentary on the madness of science and the insanity of modern invention."

— Adam Gopnik, The Art of Rube Goldberg, pg. 15

Essays

Adam Gopnick: The Goldberg Variations, The Art of Rube Goldberg

Jennifer George: No Limp Fish, The Art of Rube Goldberg

Paul Tumey: A Brief Biography of Rube Goldberg (Coming Soon)

Historical Articles, Interviews, and Film

  • 1924, American Journal, Interview/profile of Rube Goldberg
  • 1938, Travel Gab, NYC ,Video Tour of NYC, written by and starring Rube Goldberg
  • 1931, College Humor, The Gentile Weekend Guest, written by Rube Goldberg
  • 1971, Smithsonian Interview, recorded before the 1971 show opening
  • 1987, Nemo, The Fantagraphics Classic Comic Library Biography of Rube Goldberg

Enjoy the full collection of essays and cartoons in the Art of Rube Goldberg, available in our shop or wherever you like to buy books.