From the simple wheel to the magical radio to the complex microchip, the seven great inventions presented in this book are benchmarks in the achievements of civilization and testimony to the vision and tenacity of the inventors throughout the world. Full color. 7 pop-up spreads.

Prepare to see a few millennia worth of light bulb moments. Know It All Great Inventions traces 50 of mankinds greatest inventions, from the wheel to in-home air conditioning, and tells their stories. Universal change is often the ultimate result of one individual’s lightbulb moment—an invention that triggers a ripple effect across countries, continents, or even out into space. Know-It-All Great Inventions looks at fifty of these great ideas that really did change the world. This title covers a wide range, from early days (the wheel) through materials (the invention of steel and plastic) to communications (the alphabet, printing press, and Worldwide Web) and the conveniences of—relatively—modern daily life (refrigeration, indoor plumbing, and central heating). It is a sharp reminder that almost every aspect of life in the second decade of the 21st century is the result of someone’s bright idea, one that they actually made work. Along the way you’ll learn the stories behind each and every invention, revealing and intriguing in equal measures.

In this exhilarating celebration of human ingenuity and perseverance—published all around the world—a trailblazing Italian scholar sifts through our cultural and social behavior in search of the origins of our greatest invention: writing. The L where a tabletop meets the legs, the T between double doors, the D of an armchair’s oval backrest—all around us is an alphabet in things. But how did these shapes make it onto the page, never mind form complex structures such as this sentence? In The Greatest Invention, Silvia Ferrara takes a profound look at how—and how many times—human beings have managed to produce the miracle of written language, traveling back and forth in time and all across the globe to Mesopotamia, Crete, China, Egypt, Central America, Easter Island, and beyond. With Ferrara as our guide, we examine the enigmas of undeciphered scripts, including famous cases like the Phaistos Disk and the Voynich Manuscript; we touch the knotted, colored strings of the Inca quipu; we study the turtle shells and ox scapulae that bear the earliest Chinese inscriptions; we watch in awe as Sequoyah single-handedly invents a script for the Cherokee language; and we venture to the cutting edge of decipherment, in which high-powered laser scanners bring tears to an engineer’s eye. A code-cracking tour around the globe, The Greatest Invention chronicles a previously uncharted journey, one filled with past flashes of brilliance, present-day scientific research, and a faint, fleeting glimpse of writing’s future.

If you've ever wondered why the pencil came into existence, or how a steam engine works, or when we started using flushing toilets, this book has all the answers. Based on seven key areas of invention, Adam Hart-Davis tells the stories behind steam power, lighting, toilets, clocks, communication, bikes and flight.

Who wore the first pants? Who painted the first masterpiece? Who first rode the horse? This madcap adventure across ancient history uses everything from modern genetics to archaeology to uncover the geniuses behind these and other world-changing innovations. In this book, writer Cody Cassidy digs deep into the latest research to uncover the untold stories of some of these incredible innovators (or participants in lucky accidents). With a sharp sense of humor and boundless enthusiasm for the wonders of our ancient ancestors, Who Ate the First Oyster? profiles the perpetrators of the greatest firsts and catastrophes of prehistory, using the lives of individuals to provide a glimpse into ancient cultures to show how and why these critical developments occurred, and educate us on a period of time that until recently we've known almost nothing about.

The world is brimming full of incredible inventions - but where did it all begin? How did these incredible inventions come about? Journey back in time, travel across the world and discover incredible inventions from throughout history. Take a ride on the very first wheel, find your way and ensure you'll never get lost again with the compass, let the lights come on with electricity, watch as the world puffs into life with the steam engine and many more astounding inventions. Written with bitesized pieces of text and illustrated with bright and engaging artwork, this is the perfect introduction to some of the most amazing inventions that have helped make history. Learn fascinating facts about the people behind these inventions and how their discoveries changed the world forever. So what are you waiting for? Let's uncover The Story of Inventions! Inventions featured: The wheel, the compass, paper, clocks, gunpowder, steam engines, vaccinations, computers, electricity, the telephone, the car, planes, plastic, nuclear weapons and the internet.

Nature did it first! A beautiful and whimsically illustrated explanation of cool inventions like Velcro and scuba suits that were inspired by the natural world Discover how bats led to the development of radar, whales inspired the pacemaker, and the lotus flower may help us produce indestructible clothing. "Biomimicry" comes from the Greek "bio" (life) and "mimesis" (imitation)." Here are various and amazing ways that nature inspires us to create cool inventions in science and medicine, clothing design, and architecture. From the fireflies that showed inventors how LEDs could give off more light to the burdock plant that inspired velcro to the high speed trains of Japan that take the form of a kingfisher's sleek, aerodynamic head, there are innumerable ways that we can create smarter, better, safer inventions by observing the natural world. Author Seraphine Menu and illustrator Emmanuelle Walker also gently explain that our extraordinary, diverse, and awe-inspiring world is like a carefully calibrated machine and its fragile balance must be treated with extreme care and respect. "Go outside," they say, "observe, compare, and maybe some day you'll be the next person to be struck by a great idea."

A fascinating deep dive on innovation from the New York Times bestselling author of How We Got To Now and Unexpected Life The printing press, the pencil, the flush toilet, the battery--these are all great ideas. But where do they come from? What kind of environment breeds them? What sparks the flash of brilliance? How do we generate the breakthrough technologies that push forward our lives, our society, our culture? Steven Johnson's answers are revelatory as he identifies the seven key patterns behind genuine innovation, and traces them across time and disciplines. From Darwin and Freud to the halls of Google and Apple, Johnson investigates the innovation hubs throughout modern time and pulls out the approaches and commonalities that seem to appear at moments of originality.

This book is a celebration of ideas: how they happen and their sometimes unintended results. Johnson shows how simple scientific breakthroughs have driven other discoveries through the network of ideas and innovations that made each finding possible. He traces important inventions through ancient and contemporary history, unlocking tales of unsung heroes and radical revolutions that changed the world and the way we live in it