It Looked Good on Paper

Bizarre Inventions, Design Disasters, and Engineering Follies

by Bill Fawcett

On Sale: 01/20/2009

It Looked Good on Paper

Bizarre Inventions, Design Disasters, and Engineering Follies

by Bill Fawcett

On Sale: 01/20/2009

Format:

About the Book

A remarkable compendium of wild schemes, mad plans, crazy inventions, and truly glorious disasters

Every phenomenally bad idea seemed like a good idea to someone. How else can you explain the Ford Edsel or the sword pistol—absolutely absurd creations that should have never made it off the drawing board? It Looked Good on Paper gathers together the most flawed plans, half-baked ideas, and downright ridiculous machines throughout history that some second-rate Einstein decided to foist on an unsuspecting populace with the best and most optimistic intentions. Some failed spectacularly. Others fizzled after great expense. One even crashed on Mars. But every one of them at one time must have looked good on paper, including:

  • The lead water pipes of Rome
  • The Tacoma Narrows Bridge—built to collapse
  • The Hubble telescope—the $2 billion scientific marvel that couldn't see
  • The Spruce Goose—Howard Hughes's airborne atrocity: big, expensive, slow, unstable, and made of wood

With more than thirty-five chapters full of incredibly insipid inventions, both infamous and obscure, It Looked Good on Paper is a mind-boggling, endlessly entertaining collection of fascinating failures.

Resources

Product Details

  • ISBN: 9780061358432
  • ISBN 10: 0061358436
  • Imprint: William Morrow Paperbacks
  • On Sale: 01/20/2009
  • Pages: 368
  • List Price:17.99 CAD
  • BISAC1 : BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Science & Technology
  • BISAC2 : TECHNOLOGY & ENGINEERING / Social Aspects
  • BISAC3 : TECHNOLOGY & ENGINEERING / History
  • BISAC4 : SCIENCE / Experiments & Projects
  • BISAC5 : TECHNOLOGY & ENGINEERING / Inventions

It Looked Good on Paper by Bill Fawcett

The broadest selection of online bookstores. The links will take you to the web site's home page.

Other Booksellers

The broadest selection of online bookstores. The links will take you to the Web site's home page.

SELECT:

Specialty Booksellers

Interest-specific online venues and gift accounts that offer books for purchase. The links will take you to the store’s home page.

International Customers

If you are located outside Canada, the best way to order online is to choose from the following bookstores listed by region and country.