The common injunction "Don't reinvent the wheel," suggesting as it does
the futility of attempting to change something that is already flawless,
points not just to the perfection of the wheel as mechanical component
but also to its pervasiveness as a symbol of simple excellence and
aptness, of eminently reliable functionality. Representing an originary
moment in the narrative of industrial progress, the wheel has also long
been a familiar figure outside the world of work and locomotion, in
contexts as disparate as religion (Buddhist prayer wheels, the biblical
"wheels within wheels" of Ezekiel) and games of chance (wheels of
fortune, roulette wheels). Cabinet issue 51, with a special section on
"Wheels," features Julia Davidson on the history of volvelles, paper
wheels used for measurement and calculation; Adam Lynch on fate and the
wheel of fortune; and Regine Brunner on the birth of Bibendum, the
Michelin Man. Elsewhere in the issue: Brian Dillon on the underwater
illustrations of Philip Henry Gosse; Aaron Schuster on "Anti-Sexus,"
Andrei Platonov's satirical tirade against sexual pleasure; and Margaret
Wertheim in conversation with mathematician Neil Sloane, founder of an
online database of significant integer sequences.
