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Breve storia delle invenzioni: Lampi e intoppi della creatività dalla preistoria a oggi
L’AVVINCENTE CAMMINO DELLA GENIALITÀ UMANA TRA SUCCESSI E FALLIMENTI
Un libro scientifico sulla storia delle invenzioni dell’uomo che si fa leggere come un romanzo d’avventura.
Ricco di aneddoti spassosi sugli inventori e sulla casualità di molte scoperte – e con un capitolo finale sulle invenzioni in corso di sperimentazione, come la macchina senza autista –, il racconto di Trevor Norton parte dall’invenzione dell’ascia, passando per quelle dell’agricoltura e dell’allevamento, per arrivare al treno, ai sommergibili, alla medicina (vaccinazioni, penicillina, dentiere, analisi del DNA) e ai mezzi di comunicazione.
La creatività, ci ricorda l’autore, non è solo appannaggio degli scienziati ma, dalla preistoria ai giorni nostri, ha visto come protagonisti tanti uomini e donne comuni: Logie Bird, inventore della televisione, vendeva lucido da scarpe; Samuel Morse, l’ideatore del celebre codice, dipingeva; Laszlow Biro era scultore e ipnotista…
«La tecnologia ha plasmato sia il mondo antico sia quello moderno al punto che oggi dipendiamo completamente da un’infinità di dispositivi e congegni: tutti noi saremmo perduti se ci confiscassero il cellulare e il portatile.
Quasi tutti i progressi sono dati per scontati, ma senza i vaccini la metà dei miei lettori sarebbe morta prima ancora di imparare a leggere. E oggi chi si ricorda più del cappello che si sollevava da solo per salutare, inventato e brevettato nel 1896, o del mantello gonfiabile che si trasformava in zattera, con tanto di pagaia in tasca, del 1840?
Aspettatevi, perciò, cose assurde e meravigliose: gli inventori le hanno immaginate tutte!»
Trevor Norton
«Norton umanizza la scienza e la ricerca e lo fa con umorismo e rispetto.» The Times
«Un libro che svela le storie straordinarie che stanno dietro la nostra vita di tutti i giorni.» Daily Express
«La storia della determinazione umana riscritta con uno sguardo acuto e un memorabile senso dell’assurdo.» Daily Mail
Un libro scientifico sulla storia delle invenzioni dell’uomo che si fa leggere come un romanzo d’avventura.
Ricco di aneddoti spassosi sugli inventori e sulla casualità di molte scoperte – e con un capitolo finale sulle invenzioni in corso di sperimentazione, come la macchina senza autista –, il racconto di Trevor Norton parte dall’invenzione dell’ascia, passando per quelle dell’agricoltura e dell’allevamento, per arrivare al treno, ai sommergibili, alla medicina (vaccinazioni, penicillina, dentiere, analisi del DNA) e ai mezzi di comunicazione.
La creatività, ci ricorda l’autore, non è solo appannaggio degli scienziati ma, dalla preistoria ai giorni nostri, ha visto come protagonisti tanti uomini e donne comuni: Logie Bird, inventore della televisione, vendeva lucido da scarpe; Samuel Morse, l’ideatore del celebre codice, dipingeva; Laszlow Biro era scultore e ipnotista…
«La tecnologia ha plasmato sia il mondo antico sia quello moderno al punto che oggi dipendiamo completamente da un’infinità di dispositivi e congegni: tutti noi saremmo perduti se ci confiscassero il cellulare e il portatile.
Quasi tutti i progressi sono dati per scontati, ma senza i vaccini la metà dei miei lettori sarebbe morta prima ancora di imparare a leggere. E oggi chi si ricorda più del cappello che si sollevava da solo per salutare, inventato e brevettato nel 1896, o del mantello gonfiabile che si trasformava in zattera, con tanto di pagaia in tasca, del 1840?
Aspettatevi, perciò, cose assurde e meravigliose: gli inventori le hanno immaginate tutte!»
Trevor Norton
«Norton umanizza la scienza e la ricerca e lo fa con umorismo e rispetto.» The Times
«Un libro che svela le storie straordinarie che stanno dietro la nostra vita di tutti i giorni.» Daily Express
«La storia della determinazione umana riscritta con uno sguardo acuto e un memorabile senso dell’assurdo.» Daily Mail
- GenresScienceNonfictionHistory
216 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 30, 2014
8 people are currently reading
74 people want to read
About the author
Trevor Norton
10 books5 followersTrevor Norton was an Emeritus Professor at the University of Liverpool, having retired from the Chair of Marine Biology. He has published widely on ecological topics. He was also an Honorary Fellow at the Centre for Manx Studies on the Isle of Man where he lived.
(1940 - February 2021)
(1940 - February 2021)
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
July 23, 2018
“Surely it requires someone smart to invent things – someone like us. Homo sapiens means ‘wise man’ in Latin, although sometimes I think it derives from ‘sap’, American slang for a gullible fool.”
I discovered Trevor Norton few years ago when by chance I stumbled upon his book, Smoking Ears and Screaming Teeth. How could I not read a book with such a title and intriguing blurb? Turned out to be one of my best readings ever. It’s a book full of interesting facts and written in such a humorous way. This got to be one of the best ways to learn something and have a good laughter at the same time.
This book lives up to its predecessor. It gathers up the stories of most important (and loony) inventions of all times told in his unmistakable hilarious style. Funny thing is that most of the amusing moments are based on not so hilarious facts.
Some examples:
“The ‘Push foot’ was powered by steam-driven walking legs. There was also a locomotive called the ‘Steam Horse’ although a more apt name would have been ‘Crazy Horse’. It too had iron legs at the rear that ‘walked’ to push it along. On its maiden outing the huge boiler exploded and the locomotive ended up lying on its back with its legs in the air. As indeed did many of the spectators.”
“Meanwhile Walter Hancock’s steam-driven omnibuses ran scheduled services in London and beyond. His buses were given charismatic names such as Infant and Autopsy. They touched 20 mph on the best roads but all steam-driven vehicles were accident-prone. Their noisy approach spooked horses, causing them to run amok. One ‘steamer’ lost a wheel and collapsed on its boiler, which then exploded, dispatching all its passengers to their final destination.”
“The next setback for the US Navy was buying Oliver’s Halstead submarine, the Intelligent Whale. It was not the smartest cetacean in the sea. It had and air lock to enable the crew to escape. They would have been well advised to have used it, for thirty-nine men were drowned during its trials. Even so, Halstead was keen to persevere, but luckily he was shot dead by his mistress’s other lover.”
But do not think the book is shallow; the amount of research done for it is astonishing. It is just spiced up with Norton’s dry wit and humor. There are a lot of interesting facts and names which not for his book, I would have never known. I’m sure there are other authors who wrote about the subject, but my guess is none has the same delightful writing style.
If above fragments did not convince you to read, I will leave some more, maybe these will:
“Africa seems to have spawned a variety of ape men. There were, of course, ape ape women, and indeed we can trace our ancestry back to a single female called ‘mitochondrial Eve’. But ‘ape person’ or ‘Neanderthal woman’ just doesn’t sound right, so I will use ‘man’ to refer to the species, rather than the gender that invented alcohol and falling over.”
“The tool makers were species called Homo ergaster (work man) and Homo habilis (skilled man). As many women know, these types of men are now extinct.”
“Dunlop made a fortune and the company he founded is still going strong. But it’s not the most prolific manufacturer of rubber tyres. A Danish company makes 306 million little tyres a day. The company is LEGO.”
“In the past wine and vinegar were the only disinfectants […]. Lister needed something stronger and tried many caustic compounds, even nitric acid, the last of which would certainly kill germs while dissolving the patient.”
“We come now to the delicate topic of bottom wiping. Roman gladiators carried two sponges at all times. One was for drinking from a stream and the other for wiping his bottom. Let us hope they always remembered which one was which.”
“Injections of goat and monkey gland and even testicle implants became fashionable rejuvenators. Sigmund Freud was a beneficiary. Ironically, eunuchs lived seventeen years longer than their testicled contemporaries. Some of the injectees’ wives conceived and the doctors were relieved to report that the babies had ‘no simian symptoms’ – at least no more than the father displayed.”
I discovered Trevor Norton few years ago when by chance I stumbled upon his book, Smoking Ears and Screaming Teeth. How could I not read a book with such a title and intriguing blurb? Turned out to be one of my best readings ever. It’s a book full of interesting facts and written in such a humorous way. This got to be one of the best ways to learn something and have a good laughter at the same time.
This book lives up to its predecessor. It gathers up the stories of most important (and loony) inventions of all times told in his unmistakable hilarious style. Funny thing is that most of the amusing moments are based on not so hilarious facts.
Some examples:
“The ‘Push foot’ was powered by steam-driven walking legs. There was also a locomotive called the ‘Steam Horse’ although a more apt name would have been ‘Crazy Horse’. It too had iron legs at the rear that ‘walked’ to push it along. On its maiden outing the huge boiler exploded and the locomotive ended up lying on its back with its legs in the air. As indeed did many of the spectators.”
“Meanwhile Walter Hancock’s steam-driven omnibuses ran scheduled services in London and beyond. His buses were given charismatic names such as Infant and Autopsy. They touched 20 mph on the best roads but all steam-driven vehicles were accident-prone. Their noisy approach spooked horses, causing them to run amok. One ‘steamer’ lost a wheel and collapsed on its boiler, which then exploded, dispatching all its passengers to their final destination.”
“The next setback for the US Navy was buying Oliver’s Halstead submarine, the Intelligent Whale. It was not the smartest cetacean in the sea. It had and air lock to enable the crew to escape. They would have been well advised to have used it, for thirty-nine men were drowned during its trials. Even so, Halstead was keen to persevere, but luckily he was shot dead by his mistress’s other lover.”
But do not think the book is shallow; the amount of research done for it is astonishing. It is just spiced up with Norton’s dry wit and humor. There are a lot of interesting facts and names which not for his book, I would have never known. I’m sure there are other authors who wrote about the subject, but my guess is none has the same delightful writing style.
If above fragments did not convince you to read, I will leave some more, maybe these will:
“Africa seems to have spawned a variety of ape men. There were, of course, ape ape women, and indeed we can trace our ancestry back to a single female called ‘mitochondrial Eve’. But ‘ape person’ or ‘Neanderthal woman’ just doesn’t sound right, so I will use ‘man’ to refer to the species, rather than the gender that invented alcohol and falling over.”
“The tool makers were species called Homo ergaster (work man) and Homo habilis (skilled man). As many women know, these types of men are now extinct.”
“Dunlop made a fortune and the company he founded is still going strong. But it’s not the most prolific manufacturer of rubber tyres. A Danish company makes 306 million little tyres a day. The company is LEGO.”
“In the past wine and vinegar were the only disinfectants […]. Lister needed something stronger and tried many caustic compounds, even nitric acid, the last of which would certainly kill germs while dissolving the patient.”
“We come now to the delicate topic of bottom wiping. Roman gladiators carried two sponges at all times. One was for drinking from a stream and the other for wiping his bottom. Let us hope they always remembered which one was which.”
“Injections of goat and monkey gland and even testicle implants became fashionable rejuvenators. Sigmund Freud was a beneficiary. Ironically, eunuchs lived seventeen years longer than their testicled contemporaries. Some of the injectees’ wives conceived and the doctors were relieved to report that the babies had ‘no simian symptoms’ – at least no more than the father displayed.”
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February 7, 2017
"It was Thomas Edison who claimed that junk and imagination were all that the inventor needed. He omitted to mention that he also had two hundred assistants..."
This book is a mammoth of inventive fact. It contains an alarming amount of facts (facts until they're disproved on QI, of course) about inventors and their inventions, championing those who were not part of the intellectual authority whom you'd think would be at the forefront of inventing, but those who were simply interested and curious. Painters, sculptors, newsagents and monks have contributed many of the inventions we take for granted in this day and age, and they are all wonderfully portrayed within these pages.
It's advertised as being droll, but I would suggest it dipped in to the realms of dull at times, but for the most part it was one of the most interesting books I've read in a long time. The down-fall was that it was written in a curious novel format that I don't think goes with this particular genre: it dragged you in to reading it straight through, which is not the way to read this kind of book at all. It's a dip-in-and-out-of book, because it's so jam-packed full of facts and things that you need to have a serious think about in order to really get the best of it.
My favourite fact that came out of this was that before the railways in England, every town had its own little time zone because they went by the sunrise: so Norfolk was ten minutes ahead of London, which meant catching the train a nightmare. This lead to Greenwich Mean Time and you know, all that great stuff.
The book varies from the big inventions (like trains, boats, aeroplanes) to the smaller ones (such as the ballpoint pen) and it doesn't skim on the stories surrounding these inventions, either. I did feel like a few of the bigger inventions were spoken about for too long without much detail at times, and there were often little bits of "humour" that really weren't, but overall it was a very joyful read, but one you need to take your time with.
Of course, seriously lacking in women, but what in history isn't?
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This book is a mammoth of inventive fact. It contains an alarming amount of facts (facts until they're disproved on QI, of course) about inventors and their inventions, championing those who were not part of the intellectual authority whom you'd think would be at the forefront of inventing, but those who were simply interested and curious. Painters, sculptors, newsagents and monks have contributed many of the inventions we take for granted in this day and age, and they are all wonderfully portrayed within these pages.
It's advertised as being droll, but I would suggest it dipped in to the realms of dull at times, but for the most part it was one of the most interesting books I've read in a long time. The down-fall was that it was written in a curious novel format that I don't think goes with this particular genre: it dragged you in to reading it straight through, which is not the way to read this kind of book at all. It's a dip-in-and-out-of book, because it's so jam-packed full of facts and things that you need to have a serious think about in order to really get the best of it.
My favourite fact that came out of this was that before the railways in England, every town had its own little time zone because they went by the sunrise: so Norfolk was ten minutes ahead of London, which meant catching the train a nightmare. This lead to Greenwich Mean Time and you know, all that great stuff.
The book varies from the big inventions (like trains, boats, aeroplanes) to the smaller ones (such as the ballpoint pen) and it doesn't skim on the stories surrounding these inventions, either. I did feel like a few of the bigger inventions were spoken about for too long without much detail at times, and there were often little bits of "humour" that really weren't, but overall it was a very joyful read, but one you need to take your time with.
Of course, seriously lacking in women, but what in history isn't?
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August 21, 2017
Se da questo testo si vuol proprio trarre un difetto, allora ci si deve soffermare sul sottotitolo: "dalla preistoria ad oggi". Non è vero: bassa strategia di marketing; giacché l'autore avverte il lettore che le invenzioni da lui elencate, cominciano dalla rivoluzione industriale in poi. Brutto colpo per chi avrebbe affidato tempo ed occhi alla lettura di un testo onnicomprensivo sulla creatività umana. Ma in verità l'autore si fa perdonare immediatamente con una scrittura leggera ed ironica, e tantissimi aneddoti da leccarsi i baffi. Insomma un libro gustoso come un tiramisù, e che aimè finisce presto. Bellissimo.
April 12, 2018
Ho finito di leggere questo libro in quasi un mese ma tralasciando molte invenzioni a mio parere inutili e noiose. Il libro scorre bene solo nella prima parte quando parla di motori ed elettricità facendo riferimento a persone illustri che hanno vissuto nel passato e hanno cambiato la storia in questi campi. Secondo me è un libro abbastanza "ingannevole" se così si può dire in quanto suscita interesse in campo scientifico guardando la copertina ma una volta arrivati in un certo punto del libro ci si accorge che non è ciò che ci si aspettava e a mio parere è un libro molto selettivo che può interessare solo a un certo genere di persone.
May 5, 2014
OUTSTANDING.
Fantastic information.
Brilliant Style.
For a smarty-pants like me, it adds to my already favourite fact about that useless idiot Fleming (and his Nobel Prize gained on the backs of other people's work on Penicillin) by adding dozens of people who didn't event what we all "know" they invented!
I could add many spoilers, but here's a few. James Watt didn't invent the steam engine. Morse didn't invent Morse code. Alexander Graham Bell did not invent the telephone. And Ben Franklin probably didn't do that thing with the key.
More to the point, trapeze artists blew themselves up with fireworks under a hydrogen balloon. The Brits built a series of early submarines that virtually took themselves out. The wristwatch was invented because a man steering an airship had no free hands to get his pocketwatch out. And there's an encounter between an actress and a balloonist that is described breathtakingly funnily.
This is a book I picked up on a whim at the library, I recommend it to simply everyone.
The guy who wrote - Trevor Norton - wasted his time being a highly successful marine biologist and educator. He should have simply written more about anything he chooses.
Fantastic information.
Brilliant Style.
For a smarty-pants like me, it adds to my already favourite fact about that useless idiot Fleming (and his Nobel Prize gained on the backs of other people's work on Penicillin) by adding dozens of people who didn't event what we all "know" they invented!
I could add many spoilers, but here's a few. James Watt didn't invent the steam engine. Morse didn't invent Morse code. Alexander Graham Bell did not invent the telephone. And Ben Franklin probably didn't do that thing with the key.
More to the point, trapeze artists blew themselves up with fireworks under a hydrogen balloon. The Brits built a series of early submarines that virtually took themselves out. The wristwatch was invented because a man steering an airship had no free hands to get his pocketwatch out. And there's an encounter between an actress and a balloonist that is described breathtakingly funnily.
This is a book I picked up on a whim at the library, I recommend it to simply everyone.
The guy who wrote - Trevor Norton - wasted his time being a highly successful marine biologist and educator. He should have simply written more about anything he chooses.
January 2, 2015
Dull not droll as in the sub title. And by the way where does the pile of junk come into this anyway? Was the title chosen by the publisher or by Norton. The whole thing smacks of a hastily assembled collection of little yarns stitched together in a haphazard manner with no serious research and bugger all humour. If you want a much better informed and a much funnier book go and check out Bill Bryson's 'A brief history of everything'
March 5, 2014
Really interesting, funny in parts and I learnt loads!
August 3, 2017
Si tratta soprattutto di invenzioni nel settore dei trasporti, delle telecomunicazioni e della medicina, raccontate in maniera spigliata ma un po' superficiale e con battutine di humor che possono piacere più o meno. Ad esempio
Gli inventori veri e propri sono personaggi eccentrici, audaci, brillanti e talvolta anche un po’ matti che, nella ricerca ossessiva di qualcosa di nuovo, a volte si dimenticano persino di lavarsi (a differenza di Archimede).
Il libro si legge con piacere. Tuttavia alcuni capitoli trattano non di invenzioni in senso proprio ma "scoperte" (es. la penicillina). Vi sono anche alcune imprecisioni (ad esempio sul fatto che gli anestetici abbiano consentito di effettuare operazioni al cervello, quando è noto che il cervello è insensibile al dolore), Alcune osservazioni sono evidentemente distorte come quella riguardante Newton che [...] si infilzò un punteruolo nell’orbita e lo agitò sul fondo del bulbo oculare per sentire che cosa ci fosse. È un miracolo che non fosse diventato cieco! E' improbabile che sia andata così, ed infatti wikipedia la racconta in altro modo: Avendo l'idea che il colore fosse provocato dalla pressione sull'occhio, egli premette un ago da calza intorno al suo occhio fino a quando poté dare dei colpetti al retro dello stesso, notando spassionatamente "cerchi bianchi, scuri e colorati fintanto che continuava ad agitarlo.
Gli inventori veri e propri sono personaggi eccentrici, audaci, brillanti e talvolta anche un po’ matti che, nella ricerca ossessiva di qualcosa di nuovo, a volte si dimenticano persino di lavarsi (a differenza di Archimede).
Il libro si legge con piacere. Tuttavia alcuni capitoli trattano non di invenzioni in senso proprio ma "scoperte" (es. la penicillina). Vi sono anche alcune imprecisioni (ad esempio sul fatto che gli anestetici abbiano consentito di effettuare operazioni al cervello, quando è noto che il cervello è insensibile al dolore), Alcune osservazioni sono evidentemente distorte come quella riguardante Newton che [...] si infilzò un punteruolo nell’orbita e lo agitò sul fondo del bulbo oculare per sentire che cosa ci fosse. È un miracolo che non fosse diventato cieco! E' improbabile che sia andata così, ed infatti wikipedia la racconta in altro modo: Avendo l'idea che il colore fosse provocato dalla pressione sull'occhio, egli premette un ago da calza intorno al suo occhio fino a quando poté dare dei colpetti al retro dello stesso, notando spassionatamente "cerchi bianchi, scuri e colorati fintanto che continuava ad agitarlo.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews