The Inventions of Daedalus: A Compendium of Plausible Schemes

By David E.H. Jones

Book Overview

Describes facetious inventions, tongue-in-cheek observations on natural phenomenon, and thought-provoking technological developments. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0716714132
• ISBN13: 9780716714132
• Release Date: January 1982
• Publisher: W. H. Freeman and Company
• Length: 204 Pages
• Weight: 0.93 lbs.
• Dimensions: 7.1" x 9.4"

Customer Reviews

Deserves a Reprint

This collection of columns from New Scientist deserves more fame than it has received [as does the followup, "Further Inventions"]. His collection of wacky ideas -- scientifically plausible if often economically, practically or politically wildly implausible -- bears some resemblance to the famous 1932 "Absolutely Mad Inventions" by A.E. Brown & H.A. Jeffcott, Jr. Whereas the latter was all real inventions gleaned from the archives of the U.S. Patent Office, the former are all unpatented (and unpatentable!) ideas from Jones' own fecund imagination, and they cover an astonishing variety. Everything from a precursor of the Segway (envisioned as riding on a 1-foot ball) to 'milk of amnesia' elixir for forgetting to self-cooling brassieres and beyond, the sterling cleverness of the author delights and astounds. Pity then that the current status of these two books makes them so difficult to obtain.

In. Credible.

Flights of scientific fancy firmly grounded (usually) in facts and figures. Almost every page is pure gold and many have me thinking "Hmmm...I wonder..." If you think you might like it, buy it. You will love it.

A definite read for the inventor-at-heart

Absolutely fascinating book! It really stretched my imagination of what might be possible -- every scheme either made me laugh, left me dumbfounded in amazement, or made me try to invent my own scheme. David Jones' ideas are a modern-day version of Leonardo da Vinci's notebooks. And some of the wild-sounding ideas proposed in this book have already come true!