{"product_id":"9781554905515","title":"Edison's Concrete Piano: Flying Tanks, Six-Nippled Sheep, Walk-on-Water Shoes, and 12 Other Flops from Great Inventors","description":"\u003cb\u003eNot even geniuses get it right the first time . . . An “entertaining” look at the failures of great inventors (\u003ci\u003eBooklist\u003c\/i\u003e).\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e To achieve great things, you have to be willing to take risks—and as \u003ci\u003eEdison’s Concrete Piano\u003c\/i\u003e reveals, some of the most famous names in history experienced plenty of flops and face-plants in the course of their careers. Thomas Edison, for example, not only revolutionized the world with the light bulb, but also designed a concrete piano, a nonoperational helicopter made from box kites and piano wire, and a machine to speak to the dead. Alexander Graham Bell, inventor of the telephone, actually devoted most of his time to his sheep farm in Nova Scotia—devising a multi-nippled sheep somewhere along the way. You’ll also read about Leonardo da Vinci’s walk-on-water shoes, George Washington Carver’s miracle peanut cure, and much more. The ludicrous ideas, faulty designs, and offbeat hobbies in this volume will inspire laughs—and serve as a reminder that even the very best minds make mistakes.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e “Captivating . . . This book is full of lessons for inventors and non-inventors alike.” —Henry Petroski, author of \u003ci\u003eSuccess through Failure\u003c\/i\u003e","brand":"ECW Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47137481490672,"sku":"9781554905515","price":10.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9781554905515_p0.jpg?v=1763754747","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9781554905515","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}