Inventing the Automobile.

Steve Pitt is a Toronto-based freelance writer and an award-winning journalist. He has written many young adult and children's books, including Day of the Flying Fox: The True Story of World War II Pilot Charley Fox.

Who invented the electric light bulb? (Hint: It was not Thomas Edison.) Who invented movable type printing? (Hint: It was not Johannes Gutenberg). What modern device has a contraption called Napier’s Bones as an ancestor? (Hint: It isn’t the X-ray.) These are just a few of the fascinating things young readers will learn in Crabtree Publishing’s terrific Breakthrough Inventions series. Each volume focuses on a single invention that most people take for granted today, but all have had a major impact on human history.

The text in each book is divided into short, pithy chapters that examine what life was like before the invention, the scientific discoveries that led to the invention, the impact the invention has made on the world, and how today’s modern version of the invention is continuing to change the world. Dozens of period photos and full-colour illustrations support the text. An index and a glossary are included. Although written for younger readers, most adults will find these beautiful books informative and fascinating. Highly recommended.