From safety pins to steam engines to cell phones, the stories behind innovations that have transformed everyday lives.

We take thousands of inventions for granted, using them daily and enjoying their benefits. But how much do we really know about their origins and development? This absorbing new book tells the stories behind the inventions that have changed the world, with details about:

Convenience items, such as safety pins, toothbrushes, and bifocals

Weapons of war, including explosives, gunpowder, and shrapnel shells

Industrial advances, such as the steam engine and the power loom for weaving

Transportation advances, including the airplane, the diesel engine, the automobile, and the air-inflated rubber tire

Electronic marvels, including color television, the microprocessor, the personal computer, the compact disc, and the cell phone

Medical advances, from antiseptic surgery to the electron microscope...and much more

You’ll also learn more about many inventors and pioneers of science and technology—including Eli Whitney, James Watt, Benjamin Franklin, Henry Bessemer, Thomas Edison, J.B. Dunlop, the Wright Brothers, Werner von Braun, Jonas Salk, J. Robert Oppenheimer, and others.