Great Inventors and their Inventions

Get in the xigxag app
Already purchased

Click to open directly in the xigxag app.

This book is not purchasable in your country. Please select another book. Pre-order Buy Now £{{ price }} Send as a gift

Listen to a sample

What to expect

Nine remarkable men produced inventions that changed the world. The printing press, the telephone, powered flight, recording and others have made the modern world what it is. But who were the men who had these ideas and made reality of them? As David Angus shows, they were very different – quiet, boisterous, confident, withdrawn – but all had a moment of vision allied to single-minded determination to battle through numerous prototypes and produced something that really worked. It is a fascinating account for younger listeners.

Critics Review

This is a marvellous snapshot of nine of the world’s greatest inventors: Archimedes, Gutenberg, Franklin, Nobel, Bell, Marconi, the Wright brothers and Edison. Where would modern mass communication and transport be without such pioneers as Gutenberg, whose engraving tool, cutting into steel, could produce letters no more than a 10th of a millimetre thick, which could actually achieve a higher resolution than letters printed today with a laser printer? That’s the sort of information I, and most kids I’m sure, lap up. David Angus judges perfectly when to switch from the highly technical to the anecdotal. One minute you’re scratching your head at exactly how Archimedes, with a piece of string and two sticks, worked out that the area of a circle is always the same as the area of a triangle when one of the triangle’s sides is equivalent in length to the circle’s radius and another to its circumference. And then, mercifully, we’re transported to 18th-century Pennsylvania, where Benjamin Franklin is flying a kite in a thunderstorm to see if the lightning will travel down the string to the metal key he is holding. He won’t get a shock: he is holding the key with a silk ribbon that he is desperately trying to keep dry. A fascinating and, with luck, inspiring audio.

Sue Arnold, The Guardian

More from the same

About xigxag

Enjoy the best audiobooks on xigxag, an innovative, user-friendly audiobook platform that makes it easy to find, purchase, and enjoy your favorite books in audio format. xigxag’s flexible pricing model offers bestselling audiobooks for less – affordable prices and the best audiobook deals with no subscription required.  Give the perfect gift with our audiobook gift cards and in-app audiobook gifting options.

 

xigxag’s commitment to sustainability and ethical practices ensures a guilt-free listening experience from an exceptional digital book platform – an exciting alternative to big tech.  Enjoy audiobooks from the only B Corp certified UK audiobook service and a leader in audiobook innovation.

 

Search effortlessly, read honest audiobook reviews evaluating both the book and the narration, and discover hidden gems.  Download or stream top audiobook titles anytime, anywhere and get the best possible listening experience on the UK’s best independent audiobook app.  Experience the future of audiobooks today.

Subscribe to our newsletter

Sign up to get tailored content recommendations, product updates and info on new releases. Your data is your own: we commit to protect your data and respect your privacy.