Contents

Contents : all about inventions; Land Transport - inventing the wheel; pedal power (bikes, cycles); clever catseyes; land transport through the ages; Air Travel - learning to fly (balloons); gliders and planes; down to earth (parachutes); aircraft through the ages; Food - the spread of chocolate; something to chew on (chewing gum); crunchy, crumbly crisps (potato chips / crisps); Household inventions - doing the dishes (dishwasker); sucking up dust (vacuum cleaners / hoovers); miraculous microwaves; down the pan (toilets); bright ideas (light bulb); lighting through the ages; Communication - inventing the telephone; a record of sound (phonograph / gramophone / records / cassette tapes / CD); television is born; the computer age; communications through the ages; Clothing - The story of jeans; zip it up; hooks and loops (velcro); Medicine - surgery without tears (anaesthetics / laughing gas / ether); spectacular specs (glasses); the story of sticking plasters; seeing our insides (x-ray / MRI / ultrasound); Writing - paper pioneers (papyrus); books for everyone (printing block / printing press); the brilliant biro (ball point pens); sticky messages (post-it note); brainy Braille; writing tools through the ages; More inventions - going under (diving bell / aqualung); the quiet-loud machine (piano); taking photos (cameras); everyday inventions through the ages (mirror / coins / lock and key / toothbrush / toaster / paperclip / barcode / computer mouse); crazy ideas? (perpetual motion machine / self-cleaning house / sticky foam gun / ladder to space); inventions timeline; glossary; further reading; index;