This book gives an entertaining & informative tour of the laboratories, institutes & beauty salons of science!

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	• They All Laughed... From Light Bulbs to Lasers: The Fascinating Stories Behind the Great Inventions That Have ... Ira Flatow Harper Paperbacks, 1993 - 272 pages average customer review:based on 13 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

This book gives an entertaining & informative tour of the laboratories, institutes & beauty salons of science!

They All Laughed... From Light Bulbs to Lasers: The Fascinating Stories Behind the Great Inventions That Have Changed Our Lives
by Ira Flatow

Because of my ardent fascination for the history of science & technology, I have amassed a vast collection of books in this genre. Not only I am interested in the life stories of the scientists & inventors, I am also keen to find out how they went about in the pursuit of the original ideas behind their inventions.

I bought this particular one, which showcased lively, colourful stories about some common inventions & discoveries that had unusual beginnings. In fact, it gave some of the surprising revelations behind the world's great inventions:

- Ben Franklin's kite was never struck by lightning;
- Western Union laughed at Bell when he offered them the telephone. They thought it was a trivial toy;
- A melted candy bar led to the invention of the microwave oven;
- Scientists bounced Silly Putty around the halls of their laboratory years before anyone thought to sell it;
- The paper indutsry never would have existed with the wasp;
- The idea for transmitting messages by light (e.g. laser) dates back to the 1880s when Bell designed a contraption called the photophone;
- When Remington introduced the first typewriter, people saw no practical use for it;
- Thomas Edison was not the first to invent the light bulb;

Well, if you have that curiosity streak in you about the sheer eccentricity of the above inventions, just like I do, I guess you just have to go & get hold of this book. I can assure you, this book gives an entertaining & informative tour of the laboratories, institutes & beauty salons of science.

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highly readable and entertaining

This is a wonderful little history of inventions book. The writing is in a very reader-friendly style, and even slow readers (like me) will probably breeze through this book in no time. The author does a great job of choosing the most interesting inventions and stories to delve into. The only criticism I have is that the level of detail is often not very deep, i.e. there is typically more indepth coverage found on History Channel documentaries. In fairness though, the book provides a fast, interesting and enjoyable read, and it is likely that more detail would have detracted from those features. I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in the history of technology and invention.

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Great way to learn about the history of inventions

Great book - easy to read! Even 13 y.o. will enjoy it. It covers the history of most common inventions such as electricity, light bulb, submarine, fax, etc. If you think you already know it, think again. What you learned in school is not necessary the true, take for example Ben Franklin. You were told that he was the one who invented the electricity when he flew the kite and lightning struck it. Nice story for kids that has nothing to do with the real invention of electricity. The book gives historical background to all these inventions. It also tells about the schemes of inventions and legal battles between the inventors.
The book does not go too deep into the specifics of the inventions that makes it borring, but in the same time gives enough of information to get the big picture. I love it for the entertaining, engaging style and the true trivial splendor it spews forth in all directions.
Of course if you are inventor you probably know all of that and the book wouldn't be that big of a deal for you, but if you are not you should definitely read it!

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Patent attorneys: give more to NPR!

Surprise: Ira Flatow is as smart as he sounds. This book is very well researched and very well written. Skinny as it is, the book gives a great summary of many famous inventions in a funny and accessible way. Overall, the book is a great homage to the times when the inventor was an eccentric guy in the garage. But I was shocked to find out how far the legends have gone from the real facts. Thanks Ira for setting the record straight.

The Stories Behind the Great Inventions

Ira Flatow is a science reporter and journalist. He wanted to write a book on the history of science and technology featuring stories about common inventions that had unusual beginnings (p.xi). When he learned how Benjamin Franklin showed lightning was electricity in 1752 after publishing his theory. One effect was his invention of lightning rods (p.8). Franklin's reputation earned French help for the Revolution (p.9). Edison gets the credit for the electric light bulb but others were on the same track (Chapter 2). Edison "merely improved upon the work of others" (p.24). "Merely?" Chapter 3 explains the adoption of alternating current. George Eastman invented photography for everyone (Chapter 4). The story of microwave cooking is in Chapter 6. The first facsimile machine was patented in 1843 (Chapter 7). A small portable device was used to send photographs by 1914 (p.69).

The invention of the telephone is a colorful story (Chapter 8). Alexander Graham Bell wanted to invent a "harmonic telegraph" to multiplex telegraph messages using a different tone for each message (p.75). The life of Thomas A. Watson is notable (p.86). Chapter 9 explains who invented television from 1884. Philo T. Farnsworth received the first US patent (p.101). RCA tried to steal the credit (p.102). American TV is incompatible with the two European systems (PAL and SECAM). Chapter 11 tells of the invention of dry writing (xerography). Chester F. Carlson became very wealthy and gave away much of his wealth. The invention of the laser in the 1950s is described in Chapter 12.

Chapter 14 tells of a failed experiments that led to the invention of Teflon and Nylon (Chapter 15). A waste product from oil wells became the soothing salve of Vaseline in 1870 (Chapter 16). Another accident led to the discovery of artificial sweeteners saccharin (1879), cyclamates (1937), and aspartame (1965). But there were problems with these chemicals. The "world's first vacuum-tube computers" contributed to every major battle in Europe (Chapter 19). They helped to break the German teletype code. The `Colossus' project was first designed for telephone switching. [The word `buggy' for errors predates the electronic computer.]

The modern submarine was invented in 1881 by John Holland (Chapter 20). It had everything but a periscope (p.189). Mechanical analog computers were used to control naval guns. Electrical analog computers were an improvement (Chapter 21). Many tried to invent writing machines before Christopher Latham-Sholes patented one in 1868 (Chapter 22). It produced consistent quality and was more productive. [But it was becoming obsolete as this book was written.] Why was Europe mainly illiterate in olden days? There was no paper for reading. Chapter 23 tells how making paper from wood was invented in the 19th century. Wasps make paper from wood (p.208). Wood-pulp paper became popular in the 1880s (p.212). The first crude video game was created in 1958 (p.212).

The `Epilogue' has the sad facts for an American inventor. Form follows finances, not function. "Not invented here" (p.224) means a company would be controlled by an outside force. Flatow ignored the sewing and knitting machines. [The transistor was first invented in 1930 by a small company. AT&T copied its patent and filed a day before its competitors in 1947. GM used transistors in its 1958 car radios. Big Oil used its banks so TV manufacturers had to use tubes until they went bust.]

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3

An enlightening and fun look at scientific discoveries and the often wacky and accidental ways in which they have led to some of the most important inventions--by award-winning journalist Ira Flatow.

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