Customer Reviews

Accidents May Happen

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This book lists some interesting bits of information, but MANY of the items listed are not inventions at all: They are discoveries. (For example, the discovery that quinine could be used to cure malaria; The story of how our national anthem came about, etc.) The book jacket gushes about the "wonderful assortment of quirky, colorful cartoons..." There are a number of quirky cartoons, but they are ALL black & white drawings. Overall, it's an interesting book, but a book of interesting facts should try to keep its facts straight.

Accidents May Happen is a wonderful book, full of facts about the origins of some of our most commonly used items. Everything in this book has one thing in common - thay were invented by mistake! This book by Carlotte Jones is truly amazing, jam-packed with interesting facts. Who would have thought Ring-around-the-rosie was about the plague? Or that cheese was invented by an Arabian traver, on the back of a camel? Anyone who likes fun facts would enjoy this book. Accidents May Happen is definitaly a good read.
Laura

I read this book and I found some amazing things behind the inventions which are now fads. As the yo-yo is a really cool thing around it used to be a weapon and then it accidently turned into a toy for children. You may think that Nursery Rhymes are not very cool, but the cool part in Nursery Rhymes are stories of old history. For example, Ring Aroud The Rosey used to be a poem about a disease that killed people in the old times. The first line, "Ring Around The Rosey," used to be one of the symptoms of the disease which was a rosey rash on the person's body. "A pocket full of posies," was flowers that would supposedly keeep evil away for the human. The next line, "Ashes, Ashes," was "A-tishoo, a-tishoo," which they would need because they sneezed a ton. "We all fall down," was the last thing that happened to the people that got this, they would fall on to their bed and die. There is the thing behind,"Ring Around The Rosey." There are many other cool inventions in that story and all of them are great. I really liked the book.