Making the Modern World

That Made the Modern World - From the Plough to Robots: shows how human society has benefited from multifarious innovations, from the earliest methods of farming and preserving food, through steam and electric power, and on to wonders of civil engineering and medicine, as well as a host of domestic gadgets and gizmos. Dozens of designs/discoveries include a Roman watermill and flushing loo, the iron-smelting furnace, the flying shuttle and spinning jenny, the tin can, the ice popsicle (invented by 11-year-old Frank Epperson), nylon, fibreglass, anaesthetics, the germ theory, toothpaste and false teeth! Incredible Inventions takes a lively, sweeping look at some of the most important light-bulb moments in history. You ll see how one idea often led to another, and revealed something new and exciting about our world. The four books provide a road map of inventions, divided along the lines of optics; movement; communications; and agriculture/industry. Dotted throughout are inventors hilarious flops and oddities, too. Feeling brave? How about a ride in an aerial steam carriage!