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The Seventy Great Inventions of the Ancient World traces the course of human ingenuity and innovation from the first crude stone tools of our earliest ancestors two and a half million years ago up to the early medieval period, drawing on the very latest research and discoveries, and addressing some of the most fundamental questions about our past. The seventy articles take us on an eye-opening and unusual journey through a panoply of inventions, some fundamental, others just intriguing or bizarr...

The colorful true stories of ten monumental feuds in the history of technology The history of technology is full of heated disputes over who, exactly, invented what. In this encore to his international bestsellers Great Feuds in Science and Great Feuds in Medicine, Hal Hellman brings to life ten of technology's most celebrated quarrels. Whether illuminating the battles between Philo Farnsworth and RCA (television), and Samuel Morse and Joseph Henry (telegraph) or the feuds currently raging over...

Patents is covered in bubble wrap, one of man's more ingenious creations. It includes dozens of notable patents, from the airplane, brassiere, chain saw, and fire hydrant to the Internet, parachute, plunger, and zipper. The purpose of each device is explained in accessible language, along with background about the inventor, interesting sidebars and history, and an excerpt from the original patent application. The artwork throughout includes photos of original models and patent diagrams created b...

Ron Mallett was just 10 when his father died suddenly. Devastated, he found solace in the science fiction of H.G. Wells, believing that if he could build a time machine, he could go back into the past, warn his father and perhaps save his life.Ronald Mallett is now a professor of theoretical physics. Remarkably, this working-class African American boy from the Bronx stuck with his vision, overcoming poverty and prejudice in the pursuit of his obsession. This is the story of his extraordinary jou...

From the invention of the electric chair to the less offensive post-it note, "Bollocks! Why Didnt I Think of That?" features 101 clever inventions we could no longer imagine life without. Each ingenious invention comes complete with its history and handy trivia - I bet you you didn't know early Romans used porcupine quills as tooth-picks? Or that 1,000,000,000 Barbies have been sold worldwide? This must-have guide will allow you to impress your mates with your newfound fascinating knowledge of e...

Literary agent John Brockman challenged the array of scientists that he hosts on his website by asking: "What is the most important invention of the past two thousand years?". This book provides a showcase for more than a hundred of their responses, which are as varied as the participants themselves. Gutenberg's printing press wins the most endorsements, but the neuroscientist Colin Blakemore argues for the birth-control pill, biologist Richard Dawkins nominates the spectroscope and physicist Fr...

Countless thousands of men and women around the world have good reason to be thankful that Frank Pantridge survived three and a half years of brutal Japanese captivity. Had he not, they too would in all probability have died too. Taken prisoner at the fall of Singapore in February 1942 Frank was forced to endure appalling deprivation. Conditions on the Burma railway were notorious, and the death rate was horrendous. On returning to Belfast in late 1945 Frank specialised in heart diseases. Conv...

Patent Ease is the new 'How to write your own patent" book for beginners; because you are a beginner...not a dummy! Finally a patent book that anyone can understand, written with words and terms that are easy for common people to understand. As a reader in Bakersfield, California said, "I just loved the little bits of humor that you added throughout the whole book, which helped me to loosen up and enjoy the patent process. You have made this book so easy to understand that I believe even a child...

Gathered in this book is a collection of flawed plans, half baked ideas, and downright ridiculous machines that, with the best and most optimistic intentions, men have constructed throughout history. Included are such military, scientific, commercial, and infrastructure disasters as: The Lead water pipes of Rome; Tacoma Narrows Bridge Collapse; Edison's electrical folly; Betamax; Concorde crash; Hubble - A $2 billion telescope that didn't work; the Mars probe failures due to simple math mistakes...