Includes index.

How to be an inventor -- From then to now -- Early inventions -- The Industrial Revolution -- On the water -- Full steam ahead -- On the road -- In the air -- Blast off! -- In the kitchen -- Everyday things -- A new material -- Electricity -- The telephone -- Photography -- A world of sound -- And vision -- Medicine -- Write it down! -- Computers -- Into the future.

From the humble, but essential wheel to the space shuttle and beyond, in the home, in the air, or at the sea, this book shows how inventions have developed through the years to become the most familiar objects around us.