How To: How Would You Explain the Kindle to Charles Dickens?

Everyone knows who Charles Dickens is—the famous English author responsible for such iconic novels as Great Expectations, A Christmas Carol and The Adventures of Oliver Twist. But what if this Victorian era novelist (who died in 1870) was resurrected into today's futuristic world? How would you explain the concept of a technology he's never seen before? Even something that perfectly fits his area of expertise—books? How would you elucidate the Amazon Kindle?

I'm sure he'd be surprised to see his favorite iron gall ink replaced by virtual E Ink—something that could possibly send him right back into his grave. But illustration student Rachel Walsh from the Cardiff School of Art & Design came up with a heartened technique sure to ease Dickens into eBooks and eReaders.

She masterfully crafted 40 miniature books (the eBooks) inside a regular-sized hardcover book (the eReader) to explain the workings of the Kindle, which took her about 35 hours over a 5-day period.

The 40 mini-books include many of Dickens' own novels, along with some of his childhood favorites—and some of Walsh's favorites, too. They're all bound like actual books, and while she waited for the glue to dry, she designed all the front covers to be identical to their real-life versions.

Walsh also mentioned that it was painstakingly difficult to cut out all of the 40 gaps inside the larger book, something that makes the hollowed out Kindle "book" cover seem like child's play.

If you were to tasked with explaining a piece of technology from today's world to someone who lived and died before 1900, what would it be and how would you do it?