What do you think?
Rate this book
1001 Inventions
Features scientific and technological breakthroughs that have shaped and aided human development throughout history. This book explores the stories behind the innovations from the first stone flints sharpened by prehistoric man to the spoke wheel and from the first steam powered machine to manual manoeuvring units for space walks.
960 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2009
110 people are currently reading
1809 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 46 reviews
March 9, 2019
A very useful book for kids, adults and science students. The information will improve the general knowledge of the readers. Many things in this book I did not know before...
September 8, 2018
There are a lot of these "1001" books doing the rounds at the moment. They can tell you where to go, what to eat, and what wine to drink, to name but a few. I bought this one. because my Dad likes random information, but isn't much of a reader, so thought this might be for him, as it does contain a fair amount of said random information.
To help you find things, it's organised into segment that range from the dawn of history to the modern day. Given you're limited to just one book, what you'll get is a précis, but it covers the basic (and most useful) facts related to the thing it's describing.
In short, if you're looking for a "toilet book" or something that'll keep you diverted for a few minutes, this is for you.
To help you find things, it's organised into segment that range from the dawn of history to the modern day. Given you're limited to just one book, what you'll get is a précis, but it covers the basic (and most useful) facts related to the thing it's describing.
In short, if you're looking for a "toilet book" or something that'll keep you diverted for a few minutes, this is for you.
November 22, 2025
This book is a sweeping, chronological tour through human ingenuity, from the first stone tools to the Large Hadron Collider. It’s organized into themed eras (Ancient World, Industrial Age, Internet Age, etc.), making it easy to dip in and out or read straight through. The language is clear and non-technical, so you don’t need a science background to enjoy it.
The book covers everything from the obvious (the wheel, the steam engine, the Internet) to the delightfully obscure (the Gamow Bag®, the Anywayup Cup®, the Catseye road marker). It’s not just about gadgets-vthere are entries on processes (pasteurization), materials (nylon, Teflon), and even concepts (the metric system, public key cryptography).
Each invention gets a short, focused entry, often with a quirky anecdote or a direct quote from the inventor or a contemporary. For example, the story of the safety pin is tied to Walter Hunt’s need to pay off a debt, and the Post-it® Note was invented by accident when a 3M scientist was trying to make a super-strong glue.
The book does a good job of highlighting inventions from around the world, not just the West. You’ll find the Chinese invention of paper, the Indian concept of zero, and the Persian windmill alongside Edison and the Wright brothers.
What’s Not So Great:
With 1001 entries, most inventions get only a page or less. This means you get the “what” and “when,” but rarely the “why” or “how.” Some entries feel repetitive (how many times do we need to be told about the importance of the wheel, the lever, or the screw?), and the format can get monotonous if you read too many in one sitting.
The book celebrates invention, but rarely discusses negative consequences. For example, the atomic bomb entry focuses on the technical achievement, with only a brief nod to its destructive legacy. The internal combustion engine is lauded for mobility, but there’s little on pollution or climate change.
Spoilers:
Final Thoughts:
1001 Inventions That Changed the World is a fun, browsable reference that will spark your curiosity and make you appreciate the everyday objects around you. It’s best enjoyed in small doses, as a source of trivia or inspiration. If you want deep analysis or critical history, you’ll need to look elsewhere. But for a whirlwind tour of human creativity - with all its triumphs, quirks, and unintended consequences- this book delivers.
Recommended for:
Trivia lovers
students
teachers
and anyone who enjoys learning how the world we know was built, one invention at a time.
The book covers everything from the obvious (the wheel, the steam engine, the Internet) to the delightfully obscure (the Gamow Bag®, the Anywayup Cup®, the Catseye road marker). It’s not just about gadgets-vthere are entries on processes (pasteurization), materials (nylon, Teflon), and even concepts (the metric system, public key cryptography).
Each invention gets a short, focused entry, often with a quirky anecdote or a direct quote from the inventor or a contemporary. For example, the story of the safety pin is tied to Walter Hunt’s need to pay off a debt, and the Post-it® Note was invented by accident when a 3M scientist was trying to make a super-strong glue.
The book does a good job of highlighting inventions from around the world, not just the West. You’ll find the Chinese invention of paper, the Indian concept of zero, and the Persian windmill alongside Edison and the Wright brothers.
What’s Not So Great:
With 1001 entries, most inventions get only a page or less. This means you get the “what” and “when,” but rarely the “why” or “how.” Some entries feel repetitive (how many times do we need to be told about the importance of the wheel, the lever, or the screw?), and the format can get monotonous if you read too many in one sitting.
The book celebrates invention, but rarely discusses negative consequences. For example, the atomic bomb entry focuses on the technical achievement, with only a brief nod to its destructive legacy. The internal combustion engine is lauded for mobility, but there’s little on pollution or climate change.
Spoilers:
Final Thoughts:
1001 Inventions That Changed the World is a fun, browsable reference that will spark your curiosity and make you appreciate the everyday objects around you. It’s best enjoyed in small doses, as a source of trivia or inspiration. If you want deep analysis or critical history, you’ll need to look elsewhere. But for a whirlwind tour of human creativity - with all its triumphs, quirks, and unintended consequences- this book delivers.
Recommended for:
Trivia lovers
students
teachers
and anyone who enjoys learning how the world we know was built, one invention at a time.
May 6, 2009
This book is heavy... literally. Not one to carry around for a quick read (it must weigh 5 lbs!) - but the graphic design and structure of the content is meant for just that. The entries succinctly describe human inventions in an historical timeline from prehistory to the present - it is fascinating, with many surprises (when do you think toothpaste was invented?) All the inventions cited here are significant in resolving some aspect of human need, usually the most enduring ones are elegantly simple. Overall this book provides great food for thought about individual creativity, and how our history and culture build and change over time.
September 16, 2012
Very interesting at some parts, but boring at others.
December 2, 2015
Helps to Invent
April 18, 2024
Er is inmiddels een hele serie boeken met 1001 dingen van wat dan ook. Of het nu gaat om de beste films aller tijden, de mooiste kunst of wat je toch ooit eens moet hebben gegeten.
Deze gaat over uitvindingen en het is best leuk om van tijd tot tijd door te bladeren en hapsnap wat van te lezen. Wie niet zo goed was op school in de exacte vakken staat meteen al op achterstand, want de tekstjes zijn zo kort dat er voor uitleg weinig ruimte was.
Wat mij op een gegeven moment opviel - en wat een boek op zich verdient - is het feit dat de uitvinders en bedenkers die hier de revue passeren bijna zonder uitzondering van het mannelijk geslacht zijn. Nu zijn vrouwen natuurlijk door de eeuwen heen niet echt toegelaten tot onderwijs en werk, anders dan het huishouden. Maar de eerste feministische golf ligt toch al weer een paar decennia achter ons en dit boek loopt door (althans mijn editie) tot 2015, maar ook op de laatste 100 pagina's zijn de vrouwen ver te zoeken.
Op een gegeven moment wordt je al die brildragende nerds met hun geweldige ideeën wel een beetje zat. Tijd voor een ander boek.
Deze gaat over uitvindingen en het is best leuk om van tijd tot tijd door te bladeren en hapsnap wat van te lezen. Wie niet zo goed was op school in de exacte vakken staat meteen al op achterstand, want de tekstjes zijn zo kort dat er voor uitleg weinig ruimte was.
Wat mij op een gegeven moment opviel - en wat een boek op zich verdient - is het feit dat de uitvinders en bedenkers die hier de revue passeren bijna zonder uitzondering van het mannelijk geslacht zijn. Nu zijn vrouwen natuurlijk door de eeuwen heen niet echt toegelaten tot onderwijs en werk, anders dan het huishouden. Maar de eerste feministische golf ligt toch al weer een paar decennia achter ons en dit boek loopt door (althans mijn editie) tot 2015, maar ook op de laatste 100 pagina's zijn de vrouwen ver te zoeken.
Op een gegeven moment wordt je al die brildragende nerds met hun geweldige ideeën wel een beetje zat. Tijd voor een ander boek.
April 19, 2025
I received this book from an elder when I was in 3rd standard. I loved this book then because I was a nerdy kid who used to watch discovery and natgeo on tv. It literally has history and info about all everyday items that we use and take for granted. This book has emotional and nostalgic value to me.
September 15, 2017
Great effort! Covers almost all the known and unknown inventions . Great for reference . Very informative!
May 19, 2018
Amazing book 4 all
June 30, 2019
Great book explains the history of the inventions
August 15, 2021
It is an amazing book ....if you want to know about various inventions ,taking from the most basic to extra-ordinary objects by the human kind. It's costly but worth it.
April 30, 2022
A very dense book of inventions. I would have liked to see more diagrams or more explanations on some of the inventions.
October 30, 2023
Big fan, I like how this book dosent force you to read absolutley everything.
Want to read
September 14, 2024What about the dam? Who invented that? Also, which dating method was used prior to the fishhook’s 35,000 BC?
November 17, 2013
It took me almost a year to finish the book by reading a few pages every day, but I must say, this is one of the best books on science and invention I have ever read. The articles are varied and engaging with fun facts sprinkled all around, and the book is beautifully illustrated with drawings and full colour photos.
If I was to bring out one minor point, then I did wish there were more schematics and diagrams in the middle part of the book which was the hardest to understand. Whereas the beginning of the book talks about easy enough inventions (the wheel, the alphabet etc) and the end talks about the stuff we all just know about (the personal computer, the cell phone etc), the middle part of the book presents us with lots of inventions of the industrial revolution, which are described well enough, but without a photo or a schematic of some sort are still hard to grasp at times.
Other than that, this book is a keeper and I'll certainly be referring back to it every now and then the refresh my memory in the origins of an invention or another. It has been an absolute pleasure to read and I am thankful for the journey of discovery through the history of human invention this book has provided me with. Highly recommended to anyone interested in science, history and inventions.
If I was to bring out one minor point, then I did wish there were more schematics and diagrams in the middle part of the book which was the hardest to understand. Whereas the beginning of the book talks about easy enough inventions (the wheel, the alphabet etc) and the end talks about the stuff we all just know about (the personal computer, the cell phone etc), the middle part of the book presents us with lots of inventions of the industrial revolution, which are described well enough, but without a photo or a schematic of some sort are still hard to grasp at times.
Other than that, this book is a keeper and I'll certainly be referring back to it every now and then the refresh my memory in the origins of an invention or another. It has been an absolute pleasure to read and I am thankful for the journey of discovery through the history of human invention this book has provided me with. Highly recommended to anyone interested in science, history and inventions.
February 8, 2015
I’m a bit of a fan of ‘titbit’ books that you can pick up; gain something useful from by way of inspiration, information, motivation and probably any other of a hundred other words ending in –ion; and put down without worrying about losing your place!
This book certainly fulfils that criterion. Distributed amongst eight useful categories from ‘The Ancient World’ to the ‘Internet Age’ are the products of Human’s inventiveness that made the modern World we live in today. The earliest entry goes to stone tools, which date as far back as 2.6 million years B.C.E, whilst the most recent is the Large Hadron Collider, which arguably neatly summarizes mankind’s progress, at least in material terms, from the Stone Age to one of the pinnacles of Western Civilization.
Obviously, each entry is necessarily limited to the most salient facts: if you’re going to tackle 1001 entries you can’t afford to go on at length. But it serves to whet the appetite for further research. Open this book at random and you can be sure to hit on something to pique your interest; as several have observed before me – it makes the perfect ‘loo’ companion or an invaluable resource for those enjoy pub quizzes and the like!
This book certainly fulfils that criterion. Distributed amongst eight useful categories from ‘The Ancient World’ to the ‘Internet Age’ are the products of Human’s inventiveness that made the modern World we live in today. The earliest entry goes to stone tools, which date as far back as 2.6 million years B.C.E, whilst the most recent is the Large Hadron Collider, which arguably neatly summarizes mankind’s progress, at least in material terms, from the Stone Age to one of the pinnacles of Western Civilization.
Obviously, each entry is necessarily limited to the most salient facts: if you’re going to tackle 1001 entries you can’t afford to go on at length. But it serves to whet the appetite for further research. Open this book at random and you can be sure to hit on something to pique your interest; as several have observed before me – it makes the perfect ‘loo’ companion or an invaluable resource for those enjoy pub quizzes and the like!
February 14, 2014
This book is an informative one which goes from the beginning of human history and has inventions which changed either how we viewed/ interacted with one another or the world. The book goes in depth into many inventions some which you never would have had much of an impact such as the artificially made toothbrush bristle. It was not until reading this book that I realized that if it wasn't for this invention we still may be using sticks or boar bristles for dental hygiene.
I gave this book five stars because I have always been interested in creating new things and this book just delves into the history of some of the most influential inventions which I enjoy very much. Another reason why this book deserves five stars is the way which it was written is quite good and it shows itself as a linear timeline in history but in actuality it goes back and connects ideas and inventions which each other throughout history. I recommend this book if you want to try something new, enjoy informative books, or just want to learn something new.
I gave this book five stars because I have always been interested in creating new things and this book just delves into the history of some of the most influential inventions which I enjoy very much. Another reason why this book deserves five stars is the way which it was written is quite good and it shows itself as a linear timeline in history but in actuality it goes back and connects ideas and inventions which each other throughout history. I recommend this book if you want to try something new, enjoy informative books, or just want to learn something new.
February 26, 2022
There are a lot of these "1001" books doing the rounds at the moment. They can tell you where to go, what to eat, and what wine to drink, to name but a few. I bought this one. because my Dad likes random information, but isn't much of a reader, so thought this might be for him, as it does contain a fair amount of said random information.
To help you find things, it's organised into segment that range from the dawn of history to the modern day. Given you're limited to just one book, what you'll get is a précis, but it covers the basic (and most useful) facts related to the thing it's describing.
In short, if you're looking for a "toilet book" or something that'll keep you diverted for a few minutes, this is for you.
To help you find things, it's organised into segment that range from the dawn of history to the modern day. Given you're limited to just one book, what you'll get is a précis, but it covers the basic (and most useful) facts related to the thing it's describing.
In short, if you're looking for a "toilet book" or something that'll keep you diverted for a few minutes, this is for you.
November 2, 2009
I didn't read this book cover to cover, but I had so much fun perusing through it. It would make a great coffee table book! It had EVERYTHING in it from toliet paper, cardboard boxes, the fountain pen, super glue, cell phones, computers, pacemakers, and on and on and on. Fun book!
April 4, 2011
Definitely the coolest and fascinating of these "1001" books, but there is one egregious omission: Chester Carlson, inventor of the photocopier.
July 29, 2013
some really interesting stuff! a bunch i had no clue about (like insulin) that made me go do more research. this is a good one to keep around a read a bit at a time, great info to keep in your brain for trivia games.
September 20, 2015
The book serves as a quick reference for some interesting science inventions. With Wikipedia around for adults and the internet savvy... this book can form a good birthday gift to interesting minds. The book is heavy but the paper quality, imagery are all good quality. The book meets it's purpose.
December 8, 2010
I didn't read it all, I use it like a dictionary, when something hits my brain, I look it up and read about it, It's amazing
October 27, 2012
Great coffee table book, which is where it resides.
Currently reading
March 23, 2011So many amazing inventions throughout time. lots of them deserving of more credit then they been given in historical script. Way to go Human Mind!
May 10, 2012
Nifty source of historical background on the world's top inventions.
Info presentation needs a bit of work, since reading the entries becomes somewhat tedious and uninspiring after a while.
Info presentation needs a bit of work, since reading the entries becomes somewhat tedious and uninspiring after a while.
July 28, 2013
Impressionante como certas tecnologias foram inventadas há mais de 100 anos, principalmente no setor automotivo.
May 17, 2016
É um livro bem interessante. É interessante ver o progresso do conhecimento humano assim como é muito interessante descobrir os ancestrais de coisas que achamos que existiram desde sempre.
Currently reading
December 3, 2013good one
Displaying 1 - 30 of 46 reviews