50 Wacky Inventions Throughout History

July 1, 2017
The author of Inventions That Could Have Changed the World but Didn't (2015) mocks, or occasionally tips his hat to, a further set of outlandish contraptions.Actually this is more of a spinoff, and an inferior one at that. Several of the same inventions stage encore appearances, Rhatigan's descriptive comments are more cursory overall, and actual patent drawings have been dropped, leaving only cartoons that supply more yuks than insight into how the gadgets work. Still, some products, such as bird diapers marketed as "FlightSuits," armpit air conditioners, and the 42-string "Pikasso" guitar built for Pat Metheny, have gone beyond the conceptual stage, and the author takes care to identify the creators of nearly everything here. Also, there are plenty of truly noodle-headed notions to chortle over (or abhor): a motorized baby carriage; a protective tongue sleeve for cat lickers; a frameless bicycle ("for people who needed more excitement and injuries in their lives"); and a baby onesie that's also a floor mop. In her geometrically stylized illustrations, Aires at least visualizes each invention in action, and her wedge-shaped human figures come in all sorts of primary colors. Good fun, if less grist for young would-be Edisons than the earlier outing. (Nonfiction. 8-11)

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August 1, 2017

Gr 3-6-Readers will leap from one crazy invention to another. The book is formatted with one-page illustrations and one-page descriptions for each of the 50 ideas. A "Finger-Nose" was invented to use a smartphone while taking a bath, a toilet paper hat was created to always have tissue handy, and a lawn mower with air conditioning was designed to make a chore easier. Although some of the inventions were made and used, many of them were just prototypes of something the inventor thought would be a solution to a problem. Some of the paragraphs describes how the invention was not developed, was unsafe, or was impractical, but some do not provide that information and will likely leave readers wanting more. However, the emphasis on problem-solving and creativity is appealing. VERDICT With cartoon illustrations and short paragraphs, this celebration of ingenuity is likely to entertain browsers. -Denise Moore, formerly at O'Gorman Junior High School, Sioux Falls, SD

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