ncludes index.

hat is an invention? -- The story of an invention -- Tools -- The wheel -- Metalworking -- Weights and measures -- Pen and ink -- Lighting -- Timekeeping -- Harnessing power -- Printing -- Optical inventions -- Calculating -- The steam engine -- Navigation and surveying -- Spinning and weaving -- Batteries -- Photography -- Medical inventions -- The telephone -- Recording -- The internal combustion engine -- Cinema -- Radio -- Inventions in the home -- The cathode ray tube -- Flight -- Plastics -- The silicon chip.

Photographs and text explore such inventions as the wheel, gears, levers, clocks, telephones, and rocket engines.