Inventors Who Changed the World. (Crabtree Connections). Angela Royston. St. Catharines, ON: Crabtree, 2011. 32 pp., pbk. & hc., $9.95 (pbk.), $20.76 (RLB.). ISBN 978-0-7787-9923-8 (pbk.), ISBN 978-0-7787-9902-3 (RLB). Subject Headings: Inventions-History-Juvenile literature. Inventors-Biography-Juvenile literature. Grades 3-5 / Ages 8-10. Review by Gail Hamilton. **½ /4

excerpt:

In the 1980s Berners-Lee was working at CERN in Switzerland when he came up with the idea of linking files so that people around the world could easily share reports and other information. He called the system "Enquire". Then in 1989 he developed a way of linking documents that made it easy for users to find information instantly. The World Wide Web was born and became available on the Internet in 1991.

Part of the 36-volume "Crabtree Connections" series, Inventors Who Changed the World features 12 inventors whose genius resulted in major changes in the way people live today. A double-page spread is devoted to each inventor and includes a timeline listing his date of birth, death, and the date of the invention's debut. A brief background of the inventor is provided along with a quote, either from the inventor himself or from another person who recognized the creative genius in the invention or the impact that it had on society. It is unfortunate, however, that there is not one female inventor profiled. Diagrams and colour and black and white archival photographs, along with text boxes made to look like notes pinned to a bulletin board, enhance the text.

      The inventors are presented in chronological order by the date of the invention, beginning with James Watt whose steam engine took nine years to perfect and debuted in 1765. Other inventors and their inventions are George Stephenson (passenger railway locomotive), Michael Faraday (electric motor), Thomas Alva Edison (electric light), Alexander Graham Bell (telephone), Karl Benz (gasoline-fueled automobile), Guglielmo Marconi (wireless radio), the Wright Brothers (airplane), Leo Backeland (plastic), Alan Turing (computer science), Martin Cooper (cell phone) and Tim Berners-Lee (World Wide Web).

      For those students who are researching the life of a famous inventor, this title will not have enough information. However, for the casual reader, there is just enough to whet the appetite, and a list of books and websites for further research is provided at the back of the book. A table of contents, a glossary and an index are included.

Recommended with reservations.

Gail Hamilton, a retired teacher-librarian, lives in Winnipeg, MB.

To comment on this title or this review, send mail to cm@umanitoba.ca.

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