For the curious and the creators, Ingenious Patents tells the fascinating history of the inventors and their creations that have changed our world.Discover some of the most innovative of the 6.5 million patents that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has granted since Thomas Jefferson issued the first one in 1790. Revised and reformatted from the original 2004 edition, Ingenious Patents presents each device along with background about the inventor, interesting s...

Patents is covered in bubble wrap, one of man's more ingenious creations. It includes dozens of notable patents, from the airplane, brassiere, chain saw, and fire hydrant to the Internet, parachute, plunger, and zipper. The purpose of each device is explained in accessible language, along with background about the inventor, interesting sidebars and history, and an excerpt from the original patent application. The artwork throughout includes photos of original models and pa...

Invention and innovation are what distinguish the human race from all of the other species on Earth. Throughout history the imagination and pioneering spirit of human kind has compelled us to question why we do things in a certain way and, more importantly, how we can do things better.Celebrating the ingenuity, creativity and resourcefulness that has led to some of the most amazing technological leaps through the ages, Breverton's Encyclopedia of Inventions examines the key innovat...

Science has never been so easy--or so much fun!With The Everything Kids' Science Experiments Book, all you need to do is gather a few household items and you can recreate dozens of mind-blowing, kid-tested science experiments. High school science teacher Tom Robinson shows you how to expand your scientific horizons--from biology to chemistry to physics to outer space.You'll discover answers to questions like:Is it possible to blow up ...

"Climate change is coming. What can we do about it? TV's 'Science Guy' has some answers. . . . An important message delivered in a winning manner." — Kirkus ReviewsJust as World War II called an earlier generation to greatness, so the climate crisis is calling today's rising youth to action: to create a better future.In Unstoppable, Bill Nye expands the message for which he is best known and beloved. That message is that with a combination o...

Guaranteed Top Scores on Your Firefighter's Exam!Want to be a firefighter? Do you know what is involved in taking the exam? Don't take a chance at failing a test you could ace--learn from the expert, Norman Hall.For more than a decade, Norman Hall's Firefighter Exam Preparation Book has been the #1 test preparation book for prospective firefighters. Back by popular demand, Norman Hall has completely updated and revised this hugely ...

Fun and fascinating Q&As on topics from astronomy to zoology: "A treasure." — Library JournalWe've all grown so used to living in a world filled with wonders that we sometimes forget to wonder about them: What creates the wind? Do fish sleep? Why do we blink? All too often, the explanations remain shrouded in mystery—or behind a haze of technical language. For kids of all ages—or those of us who should have raised our hands in science class but didn't—Larry...

Finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize ** A Wall Street Journal Best Book of the YearRust has been called “the great destroyer,” the “pervasive menace,” and “the evil.” “This look at corrosion—its causes, its consequences, and especially the people devoted to combating it—is wide-ranging and consistently engrossing” (The New York Times).It is the hidden enemy, the one that challenges the very basis of civil...

Guesstimation is a book that unlocks the power of approximation--it's popular mathematics rounded to the nearest power of ten! The ability to estimate is an important skill in daily life. More and more leading businesses today use estimation questions in interviews to test applicants' abilities to think on their feet. Guesstimation enables anyone with basic math and science skills to estimate virtually anything--quickly--using plausible assumptions and elementary arithmet...

The technology underground is a thriving, humming, and often literally scintillating subculture of amateur inventors and scientific envelope-pushers who dream up, design, and build machines that whoosh, rumble, fly—and occasionally hurl pumpkins across enormous distances. In the process they astonish us with what is possible when human imagination and ingenuity meet nature’s forces and materials. William Gurstelle spent two years exploring the most fascinating outposts of this world of won...

Take a fascinating quantum leap into the fun side of science.From the amazing to the amusing, this byte-sized collection will bring you the inside stories behind earth-shattering discoveries, accidental inventions, and outlandish studies. Featuring Uncle John’s most mind-bending science articles--along with a few all-new “experiments”--this book will make you think, make you laugh, and make you ask yourself, “What the heck were they thinking?” Get ready to cackle l...

In over 200 delightful short essays Bill captures the creativity andimpact of engineers. He talks of their spectacular achievements -jets, satellites, skyscrapers, and fiber optics - but draws hisdeepest insights from the everyday, the quotidian. He finds beauty,elegance and meaning in Ferris wheels, Tupperware, Slinkys, moodrings, waterless urinals and Velcro. Delivered originally on publicradio between 1999 and 2006, each essay is a small slice of the worldcreated by engineers. The essay...