Incredible Inventions

Printing words in books originated in China with the invention of movable type. But books aren't the only way we've communicated throughout history. Find out who invented the first radio, which complicated code took 267 years to crack, and how cloth weaving inspired computer programs. Fact-packed text and fun illustrations reveal wacky inventions (a machine that translates your dog's barks!) and wayward predictions (the Internet was supposed to collapse in 1996). Learn more about the methods and machines people have used to communicate from cave paintings and the earliest written alphabets to TVs and computers.

Before magnifying glasses, how did people make objects look larger? The ancient Romans filled glass bowls with water. Then microscopes and telescopes came along. But optical innovation didn't stop there. Learn how many lightbulb designs Thomas Edison tested, how spies used microfilm to carry secret messages, how satellites let us look at Earth from space, and more! Fact-packed text and fun illustrations reveal crazy inventions (spectacles for horses!) and offbeat predictions (some people thought electric light would never catch on). Follow the trail of inventions and devices that have enabled us to see everything from distant stars to tiny cells.

Tin cans were first produced in London in 1813. But they had to be opened with a hammer and chisel, because the can opener wasn't invented until 1855! Check out other amazing engineering innovations, such as a popular soft drink originally sold as a "brain tonic," an 18th-century battery called a voltaic pile, and a design from 1596 for the first flushing toilet. Fact-packed text and fun illustrations reveal clever discoveries that changed the world and weird ideas that didn't (like Nikola Tesla's earthquake machine or Thomas Edison's giant singing dolls). Learn how wonders of engineering have helped us improve our lives from growing food to powering machinery.

Bicycles were only invented about two hundred years ago and the first ones didn't have tires or brakes! But bikes aren't the only way we've tried to conquer the roads, seas, and skies. You'll discover how slow the earliest steam locomotives were, how Leonardo da Vinci designed a flying machine inspired by bats and birds, how the US Department of Defense invented GPS, and more! Fact-packed text and fun illustrations reveal the designs that didn't get off the ground (like nuclear cars and flying submarines) and daredevil ideas (like jetpacks). Chart the progress of transportation, from chariots and dugout canoes to bullet trains and spacecraft.