Edison’s Concrete Piano: Flying Tanks, Six-Nippled Sheep, Walk-on-Water Shoes, and 12 Other Flops from Great Inventors

By: Judy Wearing

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Synopsis: Not even geniuses always get it right . . . An “entertaining” look at the failures of great inventors (Booklist). To achieve great things, you have to be willing to take risks—and as Edison’s Concrete Piano reveals, some of the most famous names in history experienced plenty of flops and face-plants in the course of their careers. Thomas Edison, for example, not only revolutionized the world with the light bulb, but also designed a concrete piano, a nonoperational helicopter made from box kites and piano wire, and a machine to speak to the dead. Alexander Graham Bell, inventor of the telephone, actually devoted most of his time to his sheep farm in Nova Scotia—devising a multi-nippled sheep somewhere along the way. You’ll also learn about Leonardo da Vinci’s walk-on-water shoes, George Washington Carver’s miracle peanut cure, and much more. The ludicrous ideas, faulty designs, and offbeat hobbies in this volume will inspire laughs—and serve as a reminder that even the very best minds make mistakes. “Captivating . . . This book is full of lessons for inventors and non-inventors alike.” —Henry Petroski, author of Success through Failure