British journalist Gavin Weightman (The Industrial Revolutionaries) examines the "eureka" moment when a new technology works for the first time, with the stories behind five of the 20th Century's most transformative inventions. The airplane, television, barcode, personal computer and mobile phone were innovations on existing technologies, and Weightman uses these inventions as a framework to recount the colorful stories behind the discoveries that ushered in today's most ubiquitous tools.
He begins with the iconic Kitty Hawk and the Wright brothers' first flight on December 17, 1903, and quickly finds fresh and unexpected angles. A century earlier, the ballooning craze, and reports of a Viennese clockmaker who used counterweights, hoists and wings strapped to his arms to become airborne, became the talk of Europe. This inspired the British inventor Sir George Cayley to build a simple glider that resulted in the first true, fixed-wing airplane flight. Other characters, like the Berlin brothers Otto and Gustav Lilienthal, convinced that gliding would soon be as popular as bicycling, a sport they also enjoyed, carried on their own experiments and ultimately influenced the Wrights.
Weightman brings similar behind-the-scenes stories and unfamiliar histories to each invention, like the television (brainchild of John Logie Baird) and the barcode (created by Norman Joseph Woodland). Eureka is an informative look at the nature of invention and, equally important, it is an entertaining, well-written and accessible account full of wonderful stories, colorful characters and little-known events, bringing a fresh perspective and appreciation for technologies that many now take for granted. --Jeanette Zwart, freelance writer and reviewer