Randy Alfred

365 days of inventions, discoveries, science, and technology, from the editors of Wired Magazine. On January 30, Rubik applied for a patent on his cube (1975). On the next day, 17 years earlier, the first U.S. Satellite passed through the Van Allen radiation belt. On March 17, the airplane "black box" made its maiden voyage (1953). And what about today? Every day of the year has a rich scientific and technological heritage just waiting to be uncovered, and Wired's top-flight science-trivia book MAD SCIENCE collects them chronologically, from New Year's Day to year's end, showing just how entertaining, wonderful, bizarre, and relevant science can be. In 2010, Wired's popular "This Day in Tech" blog peaked with more than 700,000 page views each month, and one story in 2008 drew more than a million unique viewers. This book will collect the most intriguing anecdotes from the blog's run-one for each day of the year-and publish them in a package that will instantly appeal to hardcore techies and curious laypeople alike.

Light Hardcover (1 lb or less)

Texas

Einstein's Fridge, Dewar's Flask, Mach's Speed, and 362 Other Inventions and Discoveries That Made Our World

Mad Science - First Edition

4a2e8115-8f2c-41c8-92b1-514e66aee29e-1

Janet Quin-Harkin

Louisiana

Septimus Bean has built an amazing machine but its use has yet to be discovered.

Septimus Bean and His Amazing Machine

6044a06d-1d39-4615-b2cb-1924842173d1-1

-Two small creases on top right corner of front cover
-sticker residue on binding and back cover
-original college bookstore sticker on back over barcode

**First-time buyers can save $5 on a $10+ purchase with my ambassador code CATLADYSBOOKS at checkout!**

Light Paperback (1 lb or less)

New York

Art, Music, Drama/Theater

Leonardo da Vinci

Charles D. Ellis

Anne M. Mulcahy

Joel M. Podolny

Hardcover (1 to 2 lbs)

Pennsylvania

Joe Wilson and the Creation of Xerox

8c104d5c-526f-4d69-826f-e500da70621e-1

#paperback #nonfiction #netflix #theboywhoharnessedthewind #bestseller #truestory #biography #nobelprize #africa #invention 

Florida

Young Readers Edition

Now a Netflix film starring and directed by Chiwetel Ejiofor, this is a gripping memoir of survival and perseverance about the heroic young inventor who brought electricity to his Malawian village.

When a terrible drought struck William Kamkwamba's tiny village in Malawi, his family lost all of the season's crops, leaving them with nothing to eat and nothing to sell. William began to explore science books in his village library, looking for a solution. There, he came up with the idea that would change his family's life forever: he could build a windmill. Made out of scrap metal and old bicycle parts, William's windmill brought electricity to his home and helped his family pump the water they needed to farm the land.

Retold for a younger audience, this exciting memoir shows how, even in a desperate situation, one boy's brilliant idea can light up the world. Complete with photographs, illustrations, and an epilogue that will bring readers up to date on William's story, this is the perfect edition to read and share with the whole family.

The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind (Movie Tie-In Edition)

943734bc-d92d-48d7-86d9-0e60b9192c6c-1

Marie Arana

Don Victor Sobrevilla, a lovable, eccentric engineer, always dreamed of founding a paper factory in the heart of the Peruvian rain forest, and at the opening of this miraculous novel his dream has come true—until he discovers the recipe for cellophane. In a life already filled with signs and portents, the family dog suddenly begins to cough strangely. A wild little boy turns azurite blue. All at once Don Victor is overwhelmed by memories of his erotic past; his prim wife, Doña Mariana, reveals the shocking truth about her origins; the three Sobrevilla children turn their love lives upside down; the family priest blurts out a long-held secret.... A hilarious plague of truth has descended on the once well-behaved Sobrevillas, only the beginning of this brilliantly realized, generous-hearted novel. Marie Arana’s style, originality, and trenchant wit will establish her as one of the most audacious talents in fiction today andCellophaneas one of the most evocative and spirited novels of the year. From the Hardcover edition.

Cellophane

4432ec5b-c19a-409a-b925-5f7638d8e12a-1

Nevada

Papa’s Mechanical Fish

1992 Edition 

Includes illustrated instructions for origami projects that range from simple to challenging.

Easy Origami

98096f8d-3d15-4828-8e62-99bd3a85d932-1

Amanda Quick

Massachusetts

An unconventional woman and a man shrouded in mystery walk a tightrope of desire as they race against a killer to find a top secret invention in this New York Times bestselling novel from Amanda Quick.

Former trapeze artist Amalie Vaughn moved to Burning Cove to reinvent herself, but things are not going well. After spending her entire inheritance on a mansion with the intention of turning it into a bed-and-breakfast, she learns too late that the villa is said to be cursed. When the first guest, Dr. Norman Pickwell, is murdered by his robot invention during a sold-out demonstration, rumors circulate that the curse is real. 

In the chaotic aftermath of the spectacle, Amalie watches as a stranger from the audience disappears behind the curtain. When Matthias Jones reappears, he is slipping a gun into a concealed holster. It looks like the gossip that is swirling around him is true--Matthias evidently does have connections to the criminal underworld. 

Matthias is on the trail of a groundbreaking prototype cipher machine. He suspects that Pickwell stole the device and planned to sell it. But now Pickwell is dead and the machine has vanished. When Matthias's investigation leads him to Amalie's front door, the attraction between them is intense, but she knows it is also dangerous. Amalie and Matthias must decide if they can trust each other and the passion that binds them, because time is running out.

Tightrope

ac446e22-50df-4c0b-b69c-5307f8e5da1e

Trade paperback. Pages are clean and tight with no spine creasing. Has inscription.

Wisconsin

Invention

79771399-2e69-45c5-9c03-f3c110514504-0

#kindness #hugs #hardcover #autism #invention #specialneeds #nonfiction #biography 


Temple Grandin and Her Amazing Squeeze Machine

Amy Guglielmo, Jacqueline Tourville, and Giselle Potter come together to tell the inspiring story of autism advocate Dr. Temple Grandin and her brilliant invention: the hug machine.

As a young girl, Temple Grandin loved folding paper kites, making obstacle courses, and building lean-tos. But she really didn't like hugs. Temple wanted to be held--but to her, hugs felt like being stuffed inside the scratchiest sock in the world; like a tidal wave of dentist drills, sandpaper, and awful cologne, coming at her all at once. Would she ever get to enjoy the comfort of a hug?

Then one day, Temple had an idea. If she couldn't receive a hug, she would make one...she would build a hug machine!

How to Build a Hug

8c626756-e511-4366-b655-3e817eee704c-1

Tennessee

Violent the Pilot

Nick Lane

Georgia

The Ten Great Inventions of Evolution

Where does DNA come from? What is consciousness? How did the eye evolve? Drawing on a treasure trove of new scientific knowledge, Nick Lane expertly reconstructs evolution's history by describing its ten greatest inventions--from sex and warmth to death--resulting in a stunning account of nature's ingenuity.

Life Ascending

661a3f9c-76f0-484e-a31b-1c4fd7c88061-1

Clean, nice copy. See pics 📸

 #paperback #biography #flight #wrightbrothers #nonfiction

D

Michigan

Pioneers in Change

Traces the lives of the Wright brothers and describes how they showed the world how to fly.

⭐ The Wright Brothers

c8cdd096-a424-4e97-9f0f-15cdea16be42-1

#hardcover #fiction #historicalfiction #historical #boldandfearless #suffrage #family #bees #invention #wings

Iowa

A Novel

The #1 New York Times bestseller of hope, daring, and the quest for freedom taken on by two unforgettable American women, from the celebrated author of The Secret Life of Bees. “A remarkable novel that heightened my sense of what it meant to be a woman – slave or free . . a conversation changer.” – Oprah Winfrey, O, The Oprah Magazine “Powerful…furthers our essential understanding of what has happened among us as Americans – and why it still matters.” –The Washington Post Writing at the height of her narrative and imaginative gifts, Sue Monk Kidd presents a masterpiece of hope, daring, the quest for freedom, and the desire to have a voice in the world—and it is now the newest Oprah’s Book Club 2.0 selection. Hetty “Handful” Grimke, an urban slave in early nineteenth century Charleston, yearns for life beyond the suffocating walls that enclose her within the wealthy Grimke household. The Grimke’s daughter, Sarah, has known from an early age she is meant to do something large in the world, but she is hemmed in by the limits imposed on women. Kidd’s sweeping novel is set in motion on Sarah’s eleventh birthday, when she is given ownership of ten year old Handful, who is to be her handmaid. We follow their remarkable journeys over the next thirty five years, as both strive for a life of their own, dramatically shaping each other’s destinies and forming a complex relationship marked by guilt, defiance, estrangement and the uneasy ways of love. As the stories build to a riveting climax, Handful will endure loss and sorrow, finding courage and a sense of self in the process. Sarah will experience crushed hopes, betrayal, unrequited love, and ostracism before leaving Charleston to find her place alongside her fearless younger sister, Angelina, as one of the early pioneers in the abolition and women’s rights movements. Inspired by the historical figure of Sarah Grimke, Kidd goes beyond the record to flesh out the rich interior lives of all of her characters, both real and invented, including Handful’s cunning mother, Charlotte, who courts danger in her search for something better. This exquisitely written novel is a triumph of storytelling that looks with unswerving eyes at a devastating wound in American history, through women whose struggles for liberation, empowerment, and expression will leave no reader unmoved.

The Invention of Wings

2539dea0-18a2-49b8-bf80-a7ddbcbab6de-1

Chris Barton

Slight edge wear. Small scratches noted to back cover. Tight binding. Pages in very good condition.

California

Lonnie Johnson's Super-Soaking Stream of Inventions

Celebrate the inventor of the Super Soaker in this inspiring picture book biography about Lonnie Johnson, the maker behind one of the world's favorite toys.

 
You know the Super Soaker. It's one of top twenty toys of all time. And it was invented entirely by accident. Trying to create a new cooling system for refrigerators and air conditioners, impressive inventor Lonnie Johnson instead created the mechanics for the iconic toy.
 
A love for rockets, robots, inventions, and a mind for creativity began early in Lonnie Johnson's life. Growing up in a house full of brothers and sisters, persistence and a passion for problem solving became the cornerstone for a career as an engineer and his work with NASA. But it is his invention of the Super Soaker water gun that has made his most memorable splash with kids and adults.

Whoosh!

2b5c79f1-95f1-4fcd-91ce-52d394f08a64-1

Slight edge wear. Tight binding. Pages in very good condition.

Toys! Amazing Stories Behind Some Great Inventions 

Mick Ebeling

The Art and Joy of Doing What Couldn't Be Done

What if you discovered by accident that you could change the world? Mick Ebeling—a film producer by trade, optimist by nature—set out to perform a simple act of kindness that quickly turned into a lifelong mission. In the process he discovered that he could, indeed, change the world—and this fascinating new book shows how you can, too. On the cutting edge of the new “Maker Movement”—an outgrowth of the “hackers” of a decade ago—Mick Ebeling has found ways to create new, simple, do-it-yourself technologies to help people surmount seemingly impossible odds. With a bunch of nuts and bolts, a few jimmy-rigged web cameras and a coat hanger, he got a paralyzed artist drawing again; for less than a hundred bucks, he made prosthetic arms for a boy whose arms had been blown off in the war in Sudan. From the beginning, Ebeling has dreamed big, but that doesn’t mean his accomplishments have come easy. He’s had to deal with the little voice in his head we all recognize—the skeptical, disbelieving part that says, “Sorry, this ain’t happening.” Yet he found the courage to ignore that voice and move on. And believe. And get things done. The first result was the Eyewriter, which Time magazine called one of the “Top 50 Inventions of 2010,” a device that tracks eye movements and translates them into a cursor on a screen, then into paint on a canvas or a sculpture design. Later he travelled to the Sudan with the homemade prosthetic hand his team created and taught the locals to use the 3D printers—now every week another armless boy gets new working limbs and hands. Fascinating, inspiring, and bursting with optimism and new ideas, Not Impossible is a true testament to the power of determination. It will motivate you to accept the idea that all problems can be solved—and that you have the ability to change the world and make miracles happen.

Not Impossible

f709fd44-8cde-4764-9bdd-e812128732de-1

Mary Pope Osborne

Natalie Pope Boyce

The cover it’s a little broken but it does no affect the inside. In good reading conditions. 

A Nonfiction Companion to Magic Tree House Merlin Mission #10: Monday with a Mad Genius

Magic Tree House Research Guides are now Magic Tree House Fact Trackers! Track the facts with Jack and Annie!

When Jack and Annie got back from their adventure inMagic Tree House #38- Monday with a Mad Genius,they had lots of questions. Why was Leonardo da Vinci interested in flight? What are some of his most famous painting? Did he really keep noteboooks just like Jack? What do scientists today think of his ideas? Find out the answers to these questions and more as Jack and Annie track the facts. Filled with up-to-date information, photos, illustrations, and fun tidbits from Jack and Annie, the Magic Tree House Fact Trackers are the perfect way for kids to find out more about the topics they discovered in their favorite Magic Tree House adventures.




Leonardo Da Vinci

40fce477-e42e-4ade-8ba8-5e72a3431231-1

How They Invented the Airplane, 21 Activities Exploring the Science and History of Flight

Winner of the 2009 American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) Children's Literature Award. This activity book tells the amazing true story of how two bicycle-making brothers from Ohio, with no more than high-school educations, accomplished a feat that forever changed the world. At a time when most people still hadn't ridden in an automobile, Wilbur and Orville Wright built the first powered, heavier-than-air flying machine. Woven throughout the heartwarming story of the two brothers are activities that highlight their ingenuity and problem-solving abilities as they overcame many obstacles to achieve controlled flight. The four forces of flight-lift, thrust, gravity, and drag-and how the Wright brothers mastered them are explained in clear, simple text. Activities include making a Chinese flying top, building a kite, bird watching, and designing a paper glider, and culminate with an activity in which readers build a rubber-band-powered flyer. Included are photographs just released from the Wright brothers' personal collection, along with diagrams and illustrations. The history of human flight and its pioneers, a time line, and a complete resource section for students are also provided.

⭐ The Wright Brothers for Kids

d8cb111f-68fb-4945-b6b1-67861f615bb1-1

Nigel Cawthorne

Heavy Hardcover (2 to 4 lbs)

The Life-Long Feud That Electrified the World

Nikola Tesla today is largely unknown and overlooked among the great scientists of the modern era. While Thomas Edison, the most famous inventor in American history, gets all the glory for discovering the light bulb. But it was his one-time assistant and life-long arch nemesis, Tesla, who made the breakthrough in alternating current electricity.

Edison and Tesla carried on a bitter feud for years, but it was Tesla's AC generators that illuminated the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago under artificial light. Today all homes and electrical appliances run on Tesla's AC current.

120 years ago, they were billed as the 'Twin Wizards of Electricity', here Nigel Cawthorne chronicles the life and times of the two great men to help us finally decide just who really is the Electric King- Edison or Tesla?

The Oxford People series offers deep dives into the most influential people, subjects, and cultures from history. From horror-fiction legends like H. P. Lovecraft and Edgar Allen Poe, to historical heavyweights like Houdini and JFK, to the supernatural world of vampires, werewolves, and ghosts--Oxford People encompasses it all.





Other titles in this series include: Angels, Che, Creating Sherlock Holmes, Edgar Allen Poe, Extreme Science, Gettysburg, Ghosts, Gunfighters, Houdini, HP Lovecraft, John F. Kennedy, Myths and Legends, Privates and Privateers, Roosevelt and Churchill, Royal Weddings, Skies of WWII, Tesla,  Vampires, Vikings, Werewolves, Women of Invention, Zombies.

Tesla vs Edison

7322d26d-8efa-4528-b194-6c64711b5e0b-1

175. #paperback #interstellar #magic #magic #mystery #invention #youngadult #YA #mystery 

Washington

Someone is following Sarah Lucas. When she peers down from her apartment window late one night, she sees him hovering in the shadows. And what about the other strange things that have been happening to her? The old woman who appears every so often to give Sarah a cryptic piece of advice and then vanishes? The mysterious gleaming stone that turns up in the mail, a universe of tiny stars suspended in its depths?

But there's no one Sarah can trust with her story. Her journalist parents have been killed in a freak plane crash, and her older brother, Sam, a scientific genius, has disappeared under suspicious circumstances from the top secret institute where he works.

Sarah couldn't be more alone in the world, until the day she meets Angel Muldoon, a half-Gypsy stable boy who carries a secret of his own. Together they will begin an incredible journey to another world, where they must return the stone to its rightful place and keep the forces of unimaginable evil at bay.

The Dream of the Stone

dfdefa3a-df96-4b6e-be8b-6bcdee13c87a-1

Graham Moore

Some slight damage to corners (see photos)

North Carolina

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “A world of invention and skulduggery, populated by the likes of Edison, Westinghouse, and Tesla.”—Erik Larson “A model of superior historical fiction . . . an exciting, sometimes astonishing story.”—The Washington Post From Graham Moore, the Oscar-winning screenwriter of The Imitation Game and New York Times bestselling author of The Sherlockian, comes a thrilling novel—based on actual events—about the nature of genius, the cost of ambition, and the battle to electrify America. New York, 1888. Gas lamps still flicker in the city streets, but the miracle of electric light is in its infancy. The person who controls the means to turn night into day will make history—and a vast fortune. A young untested lawyer named Paul Cravath, fresh out of Columbia Law School, takes a case that seems impossible to win. Paul’s client, George Westinghouse, has been sued by Thomas Edison over a billion-dollar question: Who invented the light bulb and holds the right to power the country? The case affords Paul entry to the heady world of high society—the glittering parties in Gramercy Park mansions, and the more insidious dealings done behind closed doors. The task facing him is beyond daunting. Edison is a wily, dangerous opponent with vast resources at his disposal—private spies, newspapers in his pocket, and the backing of J. P. Morgan himself. Yet this unknown lawyer shares with his famous adversary a compulsion to win at all costs. How will he do it? In obsessive pursuit of victory, Paul crosses paths with Nikola Tesla, an eccentric, brilliant inventor who may hold the key to defeating Edison, and with Agnes Huntington, a beautiful opera singer who proves to be a flawless performer on stage and off. As Paul takes greater and greater risks, he’ll find that everyone in his path is playing their own game, and no one is quite who they seem. NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY THE WASHINGTON POST AND THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER “A satisfying romp . . . Takes place against a backdrop rich with period detail . . . Works wonderfully as an entertainment . . . As it charges forward, the novel leaves no dot unconnected.”—Noah Hawley, The New York Times Book Review

The Last Days of Night

53b187c1-94d5-4645-aa90-0ac9b7c15f19-1

James Burke

How Renaissance Water Gardens Made Carburetor Possible - and Other Journeys

Using 100s of fascinating examples, James Burke shows how old established ideas in science and technology often lead to serendipitous and amazing modern discoveries and innovations.

Browse by categories

Save this search

Randy Alfred

Mad Science - First Edition

Janet Quin-Harkin

Septimus Bean and His Amazing Machine

Diane Stanley

Leonardo da Vinci

Charles D. Ellis; Anne M. Mulcahy; Joel M. Podolny

Joe Wilson and the Creation of Xerox

William Kamkwamba; Bryan Mealer; Anna Hymas (Illustrator)

The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind (Movie Tie-In Edition)

Marie Arana

Cellophane

Candace Fleming

Papa’s Mechanical Fish

John Montroll

Easy Origami

Amanda Quick

Tightrope

Justin Camp

Invention

Amy Guglielmo; Jacqueline Tourville; Giselle Potter (Illustrator)

How to Build a Hug

Steven Breen

Violent the Pilot

Nick Lane

Life Ascending

Richard Haynes

⭐ The Wright Brothers

Sue Monk Kidd

The Invention of Wings

Chris Barton; Illustrated by Don Tate