Edison's Concrete Piano: Flying Tanks, Six-Nippled Sheep, Walk-On-Water Shoes, and 12 Other Flops from Great Inventors (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781550228632)

Not even geniuses get it right the first time . . . An "entertaining" look at the failures of great inventors (Booklist)

From Alexander Graham Bell's multi-nippled sheep to Leonardo da Vinci's walk-on-water shoes, these ludicrous ideas and faulty designs will leave you with a smile on your face, and the reminder that even the very best of us make mistakes

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 read 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.

Author: Judy Wearing
ISBN-10: 1550228633
ISBN-13: 9781550228632
Publisher: ECW Press
Language: English
Published: 10/31/2009
Pages: 272
Format: Paperback
Weight: 0.64lbs
Size: 8.48h x 5.50w x 0.73d

Review Citation(s):
Booklist 12/15/2009 pg. 5