| Description |
1 online resource (272 pages) |
| Access |
Access limited to subscribing institutions. |
| Summary |
Not even geniuses always get it right ... An "entertaining" look at the failures of great inventors ( Booklist ). To achieve great things, you have to be willing to take risks -- and as Edison's Concrete Piano reveals, some of the most famous names in history experienced plenty of flops and face-plants in the course of their careers. Thomas Edison, for example, not only revolutionized the world with the light bulb, but also designed a concrete piano, a nonoperational helicopter made from box kites and piano wire, and a machine to speak to the dead. Alexander Graham Bell, inventor of the telephone, actually devoted most of his time to his sheep farm in Nova Scotia -- devising a multi-nippled sheep somewhere along the way. You'll also learn about Leonardo da Vinci's walk-on-water shoes, George Washington Carver's miracle peanut cure, and much more. The ludicrous ideas, faulty designs, and offbeat hobbies in this volume will inspire laughs -- and serve as a reminder that even the very best minds make mistakes. "Captivating ... This book is full of lessons for inventors and non-inventors alike." -- Henry Petroski, author of Success through Failure. |
| Note |
Print version record. |
| Subject |
TECHNOLOGY & ENGINEERING / Inventions.
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System failures (Engineering)
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Inventions -- Miscellanea.
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Inventors -- Biography.
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| Genre/Form |
Electronic books.
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| Other Form: |
Print version: Wearing, Judy. Edison's concrete piano. Toronto : ECW Press, c2009. 9781550228632 (DLC)2009675182 |
| ISBN |
9781554905515 (epub) |
| Standard No. |
9781554905515 |
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