Genius Optical Inventions

by Matt Turner

Published 1 August 2017

Making the Modern World

by Matt Turner

Published 22 June 2017
That Made the Modern World - From the Plough to Robots: shows how human society has benefited from multifarious innovations, from the earliest methods of farming and preserving food, through steam and electric power, and on to wonders of civil engineering and medicine, as well as a host of domestic gadgets and gizmos. Dozens of designs/discoveries include a Roman watermill and flushing loo, the iron-smelting furnace, the flying shuttle and spinning jenny, the tin can, the ice popsicle (invented by 11-year-old Frank Epperson), nylon, fibreglass, anaesthetics, the germ theory, toothpaste and false teeth! Incredible Inventions takes a lively, sweeping look at some of the most important light-bulb moments in history. You ll see how one idea often led to another, and revealed something new and exciting about our world. The four books provide a road map of inventions, divided along the lines of optics; movement; communications; and agriculture/industry. Dotted throughout are inventors hilarious flops and oddities, too. Feeling brave? How about a ride in an aerial steam carriage!

All About Light

by Matt Turner

Published 22 June 2017
All About Light From Lenses to Lazers: covers inventions for communicating, viewing and imaging from ancient lighthouses lit by flames; through the first lenses for spectacles, microscopes and telescopes, and the development of the camera and movie projector; to X-rays, scanners and ultrasound, and sonar, radar and lasers. All these triggered discoveries and practical uses. So, Galileo was the first to see the four big moons of Venus, through his telescope; Marie Curie ordered mobile X-ray units for the World War I battlefield: and Explorer 6 was the first satellite to take pictures of Earth in 1959. Incredible Inventions takes a lively, sweeping look at some of the most important light-bulb moments in history. You ll see how one idea often led to another, and revealed something new and exciting about our world. The four books provide a road map of inventions, divided along the lines of optics; movement; communications; and agriculture/industry. Dotted throughout are inventors hilarious flops and oddities, too. Feeling brave? How about a ride in an aerial steam carriage!

Let's Communicate

by Matt Turner

Published 22 June 2017
Let s Communicate From the First Written Word to the Internet: takes us through the most important human landmark ever: writing, dating from more than 5,000 years ago. We look at scripts from pictorial to alphabet (early ones had no vowels!), paper and writing tools, the invention of movable type by the Chinese (1045), later reinvented by Gutenberg, and methods of signalling. The telephone was actually Italian immigrant Antonio Meucci s invention (ratified in 2002), which gave birth to the cellphone and smart phone. And we round off with a whizz through computers, the internet and the WWW! Incredible Inventions takes a lively, sweeping look at some of the most important light-bulb moments in history. You ll see how one idea often led to another, and revealed something new and exciting about our world. The four books provide a road map of inventions, divided along the lines of optics; movement; communications; and agriculture/industry. Dotted throughout are inventors hilarious flops and oddities, too. Feeling brave? How about a ride in an aerial steam carriage!

On The Move

by Matt Turner

Published 22 June 2017
On the Move From the Wheel to Spacecraft: charts the impact of the wheel around 3500 BCE. Life was never the same again whether you were driving a chariot, a carriage, a Model T Ford or riding a bicycle, of course. On water, we move from dug-out canoes to ships, submarines and hovercraft. Rail encapsulates the first steam, electric and underground locos, and flight includes the earliest Chinese inventions to the Wright brothers story and beyond. Space exploration covers the evolution of rocket power and space travel, with such spinoffs from space research as freeze-dried food and exercise machines. Incredible Inventions takes a lively, sweeping look at some of the most important light-bulb moments in history. You ll see how one idea often led to another, and revealed something new and exciting about our world. The four books provide a road map of inventions, divided along the lines of optics; movement; communications; and agriculture/industry. Dotted throughout are inventors hilarious flops and oddities, too. Feeling brave? How about a ride in an aerial steam carriage!