Invention and Technology (Great Lives) [Hardcover]

Milton Lomask (Author)

Book Description

Series: Great Lives

Brief life stories of twenty-seven persons whose inventions or discoveries have altered the environment to a marked degree. Includes a list of important dates in the history of invention and technology.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 5-8-- This collective biography reads like a conglomeration of the biographies in the old Landmark series (Random), but bound together as one book. The bias seems to be toward 19th-century male inventors--the Thomas Edisons and Alexander Graham Bells that have become cliches of western ingenuity. This makes the inclusion of men such as Galileo and Guttenberg seem somewhat of an anomaly. Sadly, no women are included (although Lomask cites the excellent Mothers of Invention Morrow, 1988 by Vare and Ptacek in his bibliography). Minorities, save George Washington Carver, are similarly scarce. In short, these profiles tread safe ground; Lomask is diligent about quoting sources, such as original biographers, but he doesn't formulate his own interpretations. A useful source for reports, but so are encyclopedias. --Cathryn A. Camper, Minneapolis Public Library
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Atheneum Books for Young Readers; 1st edition (October 31, 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0684191067
• ISBN-13: 978-0684191065
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.2 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,117,892 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars If you share my personal interest in invention & discovery, this is a good book to read!, October 25, 2006

By 

Lee Say Keng "KNOWLEDGE ADVENTURER/TECHNOLOGY... (Ho Chi Minh City/Singapore) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Invention and Technology (Great Lives) (Hardcover)

Books on invention & technology always fascinate me. This is irrespective of whether they are written for adults or young people. My personal library have quite a large of collection of both types.

I have picked up this particular one, after reading its Foreword which somehow grasps my immediate attention:

"...The pages that follow offer brief life stories of twenty-seven persons whose inventions or discoveries have altered the environment to a marked degree...Although, according to an ancient saying, necessity is the mother of invention, most of the stories in this book seem to support the often-expressed contention that the opposite is true - that invention is the mother of necessity...A case in point is whathappened in the wake of Alexander Graham Bell's invention of the telephone in 1876. Today most of us find it hard to imagine life without Bell's ingenious gadget, but at least twenty years went by after its first appearance before very many people realise that they needed it...What moved bell to create the speaking telegraph, as the telephone was first called, was his desire as a teacher of the deaf to help his students...New information first, then invention: thus has much of what we call progress come about...If this book, dealing as it does with an array of highly different individuals, can be said to have a central theme, it is this: that discovery is the true begetter of most new products & new processes. It is as our knowledge of the universe grows that inventions multiply."

Well, I hardly see it that way & that piques my curiosity & I bought the book & added it to my personal library.

On the whole, & for me, the stories are spellbinding as the author's clear, lively narratives capture the wonder & excitement of invention & discovery. Well-known inventors in the stories include Alexander Graham Bell, Thomas Edision, Robert Fulton, Eli Whitney, & the Wright Brothers. Inventors who have influenced conemporary life are also included, like Carl Benz, builder of the first automobile powered by an internal combustion enegine; Enrico Fermi, builder of the first atomic reacors; Robert Goddard, developer of the liquid-fuel rocket; & Jack St Claire Kilby & Robert Norton Noyce, inventors of the microchip.

To supplement the biographical sketches of inventors, the author has also provided a list of important dates in the history of invention & technology. With this list, I could locate the names of the other inventors in these fields.

If you share my personal interest in invention & discovery, this is a good book to read.