Science's Strangest Inventions: Extraordinary But True Stories from Over 200 Years of Inventive History

by Tom Quinn

The history of science is littered with mad, bad, thoroughly astounding inventions. From the bicycle that required its rider to continually propel his head back and forth, to Professor Ray’s Nose-Adjusting Machine, this is the ultimate guide to the forgotten gems of scientific invention.

Genres: Science, Nonfiction

274 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 2005

Reviews

[Rob Slaven · Rating 3 out of 5]

From a structural and editorial standpoint, Quinn's book leaves much to be desired. Each of the 200 'inventions' is given less than two pages resulting in a very fragmented presentation that causes the reader to hop from one topic to the next with no hope whatsoever of a reasonable transition. Clearly this is someone's blog born into book. The reader would have been much better served with an extended description of each, some cultural context and even maybe an illustration. As it stands, just as you're starting to get interested in something it's time to move on to something completely different.

Despite its technical faults, the author has chosen a fine and interesting topic. His description of the "make your own dimples" kit (complete with scalpel and sutures) and the mousetrap that results in shooting the mouse with a large caliber revolver will make it into my party conversation for quite a while. These, along with the anti-masturbation underwear and nuclear fallout tent, do prove his thesis that humans in their infinite inventiveness have really tried just about everything. Unfortunately, some of the editorial issues do make me wonder about the veracity of many of the claims made. At several points Mr Quinn mentions the same wacky 'innovation' under multiple headings and repeats the exact same story making me doubt the care with which any of these are constructed. This generally erodes confidence so that I may repeat his work in casual conversation but I will certainly not stake any bar bets on the correctness of anything he described.

To summarize, the book is an entertaining one but best suited perhaps as a bathroom reader. Sitting down to read it from cover to cover leaves one with a rather dubious taste in one's mouth. A further point of entertainment should be noted in that the author is from the United Kingdom. As a result, his repeated references to Americans as "gigantically fat" and obsessed with their pets is highly amusing if not accurate.

[Donna Clay · Rating 4 out of 5]

Intriguing albeit mostly unuseful inventions. I did a lot of headshaking, amazed at the time spent on some idiocy and others, at how the brain works out a convoluted answer to a real or imagined problem. Not a conventional read. Not a page turning mystery "read through the night" novel. Made me laugh out loud at how it took so long to get to a useful product - sort of. Utterly fantastic. Good read!!

[Abraham Ray · Rating 5 out of 5]

nice book about strange inventions!