Great Inventions

Nine remarkable men produced inventions that changed the world. The printing press, the telephone, powered flight, recording, and other innovations have made the modern world what it is. But who had these ideas and made realities of them? As David Angus explains, they were very different: quiet, boisterous, confident, or withdrawn. But all had a moment of vision that they combined with single-minded determination to battle through numerous obstacles and produce something that really worked.

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.

🚀 From Idea to Launch Turn Your Brightest Ideas Into Real-World Success Sell Your Invention, Innovation, Brand, Product, Service & Business Idea with Confidence! Have you ever had that “lightbulb moment”? The one where a clever solution pops into your head and you think, "Why doesn’t this exist yet?" Now ask yourself—what if YOU were the one to create it? “Think it. Make it. Launch it. Profit from it.” In From Idea to Launch, I’ll walk you step-by-step through the exciting, messy, and life-changing process of taking a spark of inspiration and turning it into a marketable, ...

Where does DNA come from? What is consciousness? How did the eye evolve? Drawing on a treasure trove of new scientific knowledge, Nick Lane expertly reconstructs evolution's history by describing its 10 greatest inventions - from sex and warmth to death - resulting in a stunning account of nature's ingenuity.

In a captivating tour of cities famous and forgotten, acclaimed historian Ben Wilson tells the glorious, millennia-spanning story how urban living sparked humankind's greatest innovations.

Murder in the 19th century was rare. But murder as sensation and entertainment became ubiquitous, with cold-blooded killings transformed into novels, broadsides, ballads, opera, and melodrama - even into puppet shows and performing-dog acts. Detective fiction and the new police force developed in parallel, each imitating the other - the founders of Scotland Yard gave rise to Dickens's Inspector Bucket, the first fictional police detective, who in turn influenced Sherlock Holmes and, ultimately, even P. D. James and Patricia Cornwell.

When Ben Coates injures his leg and needs to rebuild his strength by walking, he finds himself presented with an exciting opportunity: to rediscover the city he has been working in for over a decade, at a slower pace. He devises ten walks, each demonstrating a different chapter of Amsterdam's history, from its humble beginnings in the early 1200s as a small fishing community through two Golden Ages, fueled by the growth of the Dutch colonial empire, two world wars, and countless reinventions.

The Spark of Genius: 20 Inventions That Changed the World 💡 Explore the fascinating stories behind 20 world-changing inventions, from the wheel to artificial intelligence. 📜 Uncover the human struggles, breakthroughs, and bold ideas that fueled history’s greatest innovations. 🧠 Meet the brilliant minds and unsung heroes who shaped our world through creativity and determination. 🛠️ From the printing press to the internet, learn how each invention redefined what was possible. 🚀 See how innovation drives progress, transforming societies, economies, and daily life. 🔍 ...

Since its publication in 1925, The Great Gatsby has become one of the world's best-loved books, delighting audiences across the world. Careless People tells the true story behind F. Scott Fitzgerald's masterpiece, exploring in newly rich detail the relation of Fitzgerald's classic to the chaotic world he in which he lived. Fitzgerald set his novel in 1922, and Careless People carefully reconstructs the crucial months during which Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald returned to New York in the autumn of 1922.

America is an urban nation. More than two thirds of us live on the three percent of land that contains our cities. Yet cities get a bad rap: they're dirty, poor, unhealthy, crime ridden, expensive, environmentally unfriendly. Or are they? As Edward Glaeser proves in this myth-shattering book, cities are actually the healthiest, greenest, and richest (in cultural and economic terms) places to live.

One thing that hasn't changed much at all in the last 10,000 years is the human brain. The relentless curiosity of the human mind, combined with our ability to solve problems, has resulted in huge innovation and change. Here, then, are some of the most revolutionary ideas of the last 300 years.

Mankind has a distinct advantage over other terrestrial species: we talk to one another. But how did we acquire the most advanced form of communication on Earth? Daniel L. Everett, a "bombshell" linguist and "instant folk hero" (Tom Wolfe, Harper's), provides in this sweeping history a comprehensive examination of the evolutionary story of language, from the earliest speaking attempts by hominids to the more than 7,000 languages that exist today.

In this account of Europe’s rise to world leadership in technology, Frances and Joseph Gies make use of recent scholarship to destroy two time-honored myths. Myth One: that Europe’s leap forward occurred suddenly in the “Renaissance,” following centuries of medieval stagnation. Myth Two: that Europe achieved its primacy through “Western” superiority.

Best-selling author Steven Johnson recounts - in dazzling, multidisciplinary fashion - the story of the brilliant man who embodied the relationship between science, religion, and politics for America's Founding Fathers. The Invention of Air is a title of world-changing ideas wrapped around a compelling narrative, a story of genius and violence and friendship in the midst of sweeping historical change that provokes us to recast our understanding of the Founding Fathers.

In this engrossing, kaleidoscopic history, Fergus Bordewich brings the reader down onto the fairgrounds, animating these converging crises through the lives of four protagonists—Rutherford B. Hayes, Alexander Graham Bell, railroad magnate Tom Scott, and sculptor Edmonia Lewis. Centennial reveals a country in metamorphosis, still striving to live up to the promise of its Founders while bracing for the tidal wave of the twentieth century.

From its earliest incarnations 7,000 years ago to the megalopolises of today, the story of the city is the story of civilisation. Although cities have only ever been inhabited by a tiny minority of humanity, the heat they generate has sparked most of our political, social, commercial, scientific and artistic revolutions. It is these world-changing, epoch-defining moments that are the focus of Ben Wilson's book, as he takes us on a thrilling global tour of the key metropolises of history.

To solve one of the great mathematical problems of his day, Alan Turing proposed an imaginary computer. Then, attempting to break a Nazi code during World War II, he successfully designed and built one, thus ensuring the Allied victory. Turing became a champion of artificial intelligence, but his work was cut short. As an openly gay man at a time when homosexuality was illegal in England, he was convicted and forced to undergo a humiliating "treatment" that may have led to his suicide.

From the computer to the coat hanger, the world is simply unimaginable without certain items. Stop taking all that you enjoy for granted, step behind the curtain of boring, everyday existence, and discover a vibrant realm filled with genius and illumination. Who Made That? brings together history's very best tales of innovation, providing endless inspiration to those who seek to launch their own revolution. With breathtaking storytelling, Who Made That? brings you right inside the minds of humanity's brightest lights, helping you make your own way in the world.

The period of history, known as The Golden Age of Islam, took place between the 8th and 13th Centuries and was located in what is presently known as the Middle East, India and parts of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. The period is also known as the Dark Ages for most of the existing world outside of lands under the control of the Abbasid Caliphate whose capital city was Baghdad in currently day Iraq. For learners of world history, little is known of this period other than the Crusades, the Black Plague and the Dark Ages that consumes most recorded history from this period. This book will ...

Since 2010, Toronto's headlines have been consumed by the outrageous personal foibles and government-slashing, anti-urbanist policies of Mayor Rob Ford. But the heated debate at City Hall has obscured a bigger, decade-long narrative of Toronto's ascendance as a mature global city. Some Great Idea traces how post-amalgamation, and under three very different mayors, Toronto managed to so quickly oscillate from one extreme to another, and how the city might proceed from here.