Seven Small Inventions That Changed the World

"Technology and engineering surround us. From HUGE things, like spaceships and skyscrapers, to much smaller things like the toaster in our kitchen, and the shoes on our feet. But all of these things only exist because of seven small inventions: the nail, the wheel, the spring, the magnet, the lens, the pump, and ... string. And each of these inventions has a fascinating story to tell. Travel through centuries of history, through ancient Egypt, along the Silk Road, across the high seas, and even into space, and discover how each of these seven small inventions came to be, how they work, and how they changed the world forever. Find out how it's thanks to the potter's wheel that the International Space Station exists, and how the same nails that built pirate ships hold together the tallest buildings in the world. The book also spotlights inspirational inventors from history, with sections on Josephine Cochran, Gladys West, Norm Mason, George Cayley, Robert Hooke, Rebecca Struthers, Takayanagi Kenjiro, Jagadish Chandra Bose, Ibn al-Haytham, Antony van Leeuwenhoek, Louis Jacques Made Daguerre, Frederick Douglas, Katherine Burr Blodget, Hamai Vyarawalla, John Gibbon, and Mary Hopkinson."--