I've enjoyed DK books for over two decades now, especially their children's books, about which my only complaint is they didn't exist when I was a kid. This is another hit, covering inventors from all over the world, over the centuries, male and female. Some are well-known, or fairly well-known at least, many I was unfamiliar with. There are a few inventions themselves mixed in as well. I personally love the way DK does their spreads, with illustrations and bite-sized bits of information covering the pages- it makes things more interesting to me, and I would've enjoyed it as a child as well. The art is colorful and engaging, with photos mixed in as available (obviously, some subjects existed before the advent of photography). A fun and interesting book!

#Inventors #NetGalley

Inventors: Incredible Stories of the World's Most Ingenious Inventions, written by Robert Winston and illustrated by Jessamy Hawke, is currently scheduled for release on July 7 2020. The stories are as unusual as they are unique. From Mr. Kellogg, who accidentally created cornflakes after leaving grains boiling for too long, to the ancient Turkish polymath Ismail al-Jazari, who decided the best way to power a clock was with a model elephant, to Sarah E. Goode's fold-up bed space-saving solution--the inventors of this book have all used tons of creativity to find ways to improve our world. These groundbreaking inventions include the very earliest discoveries to modern-day breakthroughs in science, food, transportation, technology, toys, and more. Illustrations by Jessamy Hawke and photography highlight the detail of the designs and hand-painted cross-sections reveal the intricacies of a robotic arm, the first plane, and the printing press. The inventors come from all walks of life and parts of the world, making this the perfect book for every budding inventor.

Inventors is a book that features a well rounded selection of inventors and innovators from through out history, and around the world. I like that so many different countries were included and that women and men were included. Some of the inventors were well known to me already, but I was glad to learn a little bit more about them, and learn about those I only vaguely knew about. I really liked learning about the inventors that I knew nothing about, and think that the book does a good job of detailing the lives and innovations of the individuals- giving readers the context to understand the lives they lived, and how that might have impacted the work they did or how hard they had to work for it. I did think that some of the illustrations were very well done, but overall I found that some of the pages were a little busy, with artwork that felt more like extras or doodles than necessary additions. The overall look will appeal to many, but I have to admit that I found it a little distracting.

Inventors is a nicely varied look at inventors from around the world, and through out time. I think it will appeal to interested readers and just might inspire some readers to work on their own ideas.

I've read a fair number of profile collections now and each one has it's own advantage. By focusing on a particular type of achievement, this book is able to feature a wide variety of people, from various places and time periods. They achieved a lot of different innovations, based on years of study or trial and error based on an immediate need. And because each profile is pretty short, focused entirely on the invention, it's a quick read, easily absorbed in a single sitting, even for young readers.

This is a brightly illustrated book that goes into detail about over 50 inventors and their inventions. The inventors are very diverse in time period, age, gender and nationality, which I appreciate. They are broken down into categories like around the home and caring for people. You'll meet well known inventors like Marie Curie and the Wright brothers but also many others who will be new to you. The diversity is really great. There's a lot of text so it's not a book to read in one sitting but will make a great, colorful reference book. Bright, somewhat wacky art and tons of colors and illustrations make the whole book pop.

I read a temporary digital ARC of this book for review.

My Thoughts
What an awesome book! I love it! Here are my pros and cons for Inventors: Incredible Stories of the World’s Most Ingenious Inventions:

Pros

1. I love DK books. I love the photos, illustrations, little snippets of information that are included here and there on the pages… just everything. DK books are so visual and engaging! I think this is what makes them so accessible and enjoyable! I have owned many DK books over the years, but this is my first DK book for children and it is equally awesome!
2. Each inventor is introduced on one or two pages to discuss their backgrounds and what they invented. And, as I mentioned above, there are a lot of awesome illustrations (by Jessamy Hawke) and factoids to help understand the material. Some pages even include quotes from the inventors.
3. At the end of the book there are 32 additional inventors with a short 2 to 3 sentence description of what they invented. These inventors didn’t get the full, detailed introduction that the other inventors in the book did, but I appreciated that they were included.
4. The book has a very encyclopedic feel. You can use the index in the back of the book to look up a particular inventor and go straight to their page. This isn't a "read front to back" type of book. You can pop around and read about anyone you'd like.
5. There is even a glossary at the end of the book to help with any terms that may be new or difficult for young readers.
6. Many entries in this book highlighted the struggles that some people endured to get their inventions recognized – particularly African Americans and females. While definitely late in most cases, it is nice to finally see a lot of these innovative people starting to get the credit they deserve for their pioneering ideas and products.
7. There are names most kids will likely recognize in this book (e.g., Wright Brothers, Marie Curie, Louis Braille, Alexander Graham Bell, Alfred Nobel, Thomas Edison, Nikola Tesla, etc.), but there are many more they probably haven’t heard of. For example:
- Maria Telkes – Invented solar stills and designed a solar-powered house, oven, and drinking water device. She was a pioneer in renewable energy resources.
- Stephanie Kwolek – Inventor of Kevlar (used in bulletproof vests) and 27 other inventions during her 40 years working for DuPont.
- Patricia Bath – First African American female doctor to receive a medical patent when she invented the technique to remove cataracts with lasers.
- John Harrington – Inventor of the first flushing lavatory/toilet back in the late 1500s. He even installed one for Queen Elizabeth I and dubbed it the “throne”.
- Thomas Crapper – Improved the toilet design, including inventing the S-bend pipe fitting that trapped smells. And yes, his name really was Crapper.
- Lizzie Magie – Inventor of a game called “The Landlord’s Game”. Her game was stolen and copied by a man named Charles Darrow and he sold it for one million dollars – it is now known as Monopoly.

I could go on, but you should discover and read about these people yourself. Each entry is unique, interesting, and fun to read. There are over 60 inventors with individual pages dedicated to their genius, as well as many other inventors mentioned in snippets throughout the book.

8. The book includes inventors and innovators from hundreds of years ago all the way to present day.
Almost every single one of these inventors have something in common – they learned from their failures and never gave up. That is so inspiring and a great message for anyone!

Cons

1. I did find a few typos and punctuation errors in the book, but this is an ARC and it did not affect my enjoyment of the book in any way.

Summary
I used to read our set of Encyclopedia Britannica when I was a kid. Yes, I was THAT kid! I loved reading about people, and things, and products, and places… anything really. I grew to love the encyclopedia format – short, concise entries that gave me enough information about a particular topic to increase my knowledge a bit. Therefore, I know I would have absolutely LOVED this book about inventors when I was younger! I would have read it cover to cover multiple times and been inspired by these amazing men and women (and some kids!) from all walks of life.

I definitely recommend this book. The target age is noted as 7 to 9 years and I think it would be an informative and fun book for any child to read, but I’d particularly recommend it to any child with an interest in STEM fields. I’d actually recommend it to adults, too! I quite enjoyed reading it.

Thank you NetGalley and DK Children for a free eARC of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

I love books like this. I am excited to introduce my students to this book next school year. I think it would be fun for them to think about how some inventions were created and read a little to them to get them hooked. Great format and interesting book

Really interesting book that covers some of the inventors we all know about and many that we don't. Accessible for children and adults. I love that it didn't sugar coat anything and it presented the inventors very honestly, covering topics that are essential for children to understand but are not often made available to them. For example, the story of Lynn Conway, who was a transgender woman who played a huge part in the development of modern computers and other computing devices. This book discusses the challenges Lynn had to overcome in her life and I love that a story like this was made accessible to children. I also love that it included the stories of inventors who are still children themselves, letting kids know that it's never too early to pursue their own inventions.

The artwork in the book was also great and I really enjoyed the copies of actual historical documents that were included. I would highly recommend this book to kids (and even adults) interested in science, inventing, history, mathematics, and a number of other topics.

It was very cool to be able to learn about the lives and the people behind some of the greatest inventions of all time. The illustrations kept my daughter engaged, and the stories about each inventor was packed with facts and information given in a very engaging way.

My son really enjoyed this — is a catchy, compelling, and educational book that I will recommend gladly.

I received a free digital ARC from NetGalley. DK does it again with an engaging encyclopedia filled with engaging graphics and colors.It is great for kids who need to do research or just love information.