Genre: Trivia
Description:
“Three cheers for the ingenious, inventive, United States of America!
From the kitchen to the office to outer space, America has been at the
forefront of the advances of the human race for the last two centuries. It's
given birth to more new products, devices, medicines, leisure pursuits, sports,
musical genres, and vehicles than any other country or people ancient or
modern. More Nobel prize winners come from these shores than the next five
countries combined.
Atom Bomb
to Santa Claus celebrates the country's pioneering drive by
describing some of its greatest innovations and some of its greatest – and most
surprising – inventors. It challenges the imagination to know that the same
country that gave the world the artificial heart and e-mail, also originated
sliced bread and Chinese fortune cookies. Guaranteed to entertain and
enlighten, Atom Bomb to Santa Claus is an amazing chronicle of some of
America's most important and imaginative creations.”
Author:
“Trevor Homer was born and educated in the industrial Midlands of
England and is a former British Amateur Champion golfer who represented England
and Britain 28 times. Homer is the author of The Book of Origins which was translated into six languages and
sold to eleven countries. He is also the author of Born in the USA which was published in the USA by Skyhorse of New
York. Married with two sons and three grandsons, Homer now lives in South
Staffordshire. This book is based on a lifelong obsession with obscure facts,
and a deep admiration of the great democratic experiment which is the United
States of America.”
Appraisal:
If you’re into history, interested in knowing some back story of how inventions
and innovations came to be, and a bit of a trivia buff, have I got a book for
you. Some of these things you probably know about, for example I knew Thomas
Edison had helped harness electricity and invented the lightbulb, but other
things might be new even on subjects you know. (If I ever knew General Electric
Corporation was founded by Edison, I’d forgotten.) The author is British and in
some instances his viewpoint might be interesting, seeing how a foreigner
perceives something the originated in the US or how what reached the UK was subtly
different from the original. For example, the discussion of a dance called the Okey
Cokey confused me. Then I realized that the name of what I think of as the
Hokey Pokey (yeah, the one where you put you right foot in) goes by a few slightly
different names in different areas. If you’ve got a thirst for trivial
knowledge, this is a fun read.
FYI:
Uses UK spelling conventions.
Format/Typo
Issues:
No significant issues.
Rating: ****
Four Stars
Reviewed
by: BigAl
Approximate
word count: 75-80,000 words
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