Inventing Modern America: From the Microwave to the Mouse

Ole Evinrude, designer of the outboard boat motor; Stephanie Kwolek, creator of Kevlar; and Henry Ford, architect of the moving assembly line are just a few of the American inventors profiled in Inventing Modern America: From the Microwave to the Mouse by freelance writer and editor David E. Brown. Along with contributors Lester C. Thurow and James Burke, Brown simplifies technical data and uses an enthusiastic, almost proselytizing tone: ""We can all be inventors, just like the ones in this book. They show us the way."" These words may restrict the primary audience for this volume to those under legal voting age, but full color photographs, diagrams and intriguing tidbits like how a ""tiny mistake led to the invention of the modern pacemaker"" make this a good book for most to browse. ( Dec.)