Elon Musk, the entrepreneur and innovator behind SpaceX, Tesla, and SolarCity, sold one of his internet companies, PayPal, for $1.5 billion. Ashlee Vance captures the full spectacle and arc of the genius's life and work, from his tumultuous upbringing in South Africa and flight to the United States to his dramatic technical innovations and entrepreneurial pursuits. Vance uses Musk's story to explore one of the pressing questions of our age: can the...

Uses short biographies of women inventors around the world to demonstrate how inventions come about.

Highlights twenty-five notable achievements in science, medicine, and industry and the individuals responsible.

Sometimes in London it drizzles. Sometimes it mizzles. Other times it pelts and showers and spits. And Jonas Hanway hates getting wet. How can he go about his day as a proper London gentleman when his shoes are soggy, his coat is always collecting puddles, and his wig looks like a wet cat? Fed up with damp and dreary London, Jonas sails far away, to places where the sun always shines. But what he sees when he gets there is ... scandalous! Shocking!...

This is the inspiring story of Dr. Patricia Bath, a groundbreaking ophthalmologist who pioneered laser surgery--and gave her patients the gift of sight. Dr. Bath's interest in helping blind people started when she was six years old. All the doctors she knew were men, but she saw possiblity when others couldn't. Her remarkable story is sure to inspire and empower kids around the world. "Born in 1940s Harlem, Patricia Bath dreamed of being a doctor--even...

"In this engaging biography, readers will learn about the pioneer of Play-Doh, Joseph McVicker. Follow the story from McVicker's childhood, his education at Brown University, joining his father's company Kutol Products, and his reinvention of the company's Kutol Wall Cleaner as Play-Doh. Learn how Play-Doh is made, who came up with the name, the role of Captain Kangaroo in Play-Doh's success, and about other Play-Doh products. McVicker's family, retirement,...

Provides in-depth critical essays on important men and women inventors of all time, from around the world.

"Nikola Tesla was a physicist, scientist, electrical engineer, and world-renowned inventor whose accomplishments faded into oblivion after his death in 1943. He was omitted from most history books, while his colleagues and competitors (including Thomas Edison and Guglielmo Marconi) and their successes are still remembered and celebrated. Tesla was undeniably eccentric and compulsive; some considered him to be somewhat of a "mad" scientist. But in...