Edison's Concrete Piano
Flying Tanks, Six-Nippled Sheep, Walk-on-Water Shoes, and 12 Other Flops from Great Inventors
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Edison's Concrete Piano
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Narrated by:
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Barbara Dellenback
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By:
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Judy Wearing
About this listen
Highlighting the careers of well-known inventors, this exploration of failure amid greatness reveals the lesser-known and most fascinating facts about their careers, their wackier hobbies, and their big flops alongside great successes. Thomas Edison, for example, not only revolutionized the world with the light bulb but also designed a concrete piano, a nonoperational helicopter made from box kites and piano wire, and a machine to speak to the dead. Alexander Graham Bell, inventor of the telephone, actually devoted most of his time to his sheep farm in Nova Scotia - devising a multi-nippled sheep somewhere along the way. The ludicrous ideas and faulty designs housed in this volume will inspire laughs and serve as a reminder that even the very best minds make mistakes.
©2009 Judy Wearing (P)2013 Audible, Inc.Listeners also enjoyed...
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- Buckminster Fuller and the Future
- By: Jonathon Keats
- Narrated by: Josh Bloomberg
- Length: 5 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 347
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 292
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Story4 out of 5 stars 289
A self-professed "comprehensive anticipatory design scientist", the inventor Buckminster Fuller (1895-1983) was undoubtedly a visionary. Fuller's creations often bordered on the realm of science fiction, ranging from the freestanding geodesic dome to the three-wheel Dymaxion car to a bathroom requiring neither plumbing nor sewage. Yet in spite of his brilliant mind and lifelong devotion to serving mankind, Fuller's expansive ideas were often dismissed, and have faded from public memory since his death.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Bucky, Bucky, Bucky
- By Amazon Customer on 08-25-18
By: Jonathon Keats
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Who Built That
- Awe-Inspiring Stories of American Tinkerpreneurs
- By: Michelle Malkin
- Narrated by: Michelle Malkin
- Length: 8 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 152
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 139
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 140
Firebrand conservative columnist, commentator, Internet entrepreneur, and number-one New York Times best-selling author Michelle Malkin tells the fascinating, little-known stories of the inventors who have contributed to American exceptionalism and technological progress.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Marvelous
- By Susan on 05-27-15
By: Michelle Malkin
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Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin: Two Predator Leaders. The Biography Collection
- The Greatest People, Book 1
- By: The History Hour
- Narrated by: Jerry Beebe, Alexander G.
- Length: 3 hrs
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 36
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 35
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 35
Discover the lives and poltical history of German politician and demagogue Adolf Hitler - leader of the Nazi Party, chancellor of Germany, and führer of Nazi Germany - and Joseph Stalin, dictator of the Soviet Union.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Best informative.
- By Phyllis S Lopez on 10-25-19
By: The History Hour
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Energy
- A Human History
- By: Richard Rhodes
- Narrated by: Jacques Roy
- Length: 11 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 765
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 651
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 650
Through an unforgettable cast of characters, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Richard Rhodes explains how wood gave way to coal and coal made room for oil, as we now turn to natural gas, nuclear power, and renewable energy. Rhodes looks back on five centuries of progress, through such influential figures as Queen Elizabeth I, King James I, Benjamin Franklin, Herman Melville, John D. Rockefeller, and Henry Ford.
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4 out of 5 stars
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No more accents, please!
- By Ned Gulley on 08-30-18
By: Richard Rhodes
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The Idea Factory
- Bell Labs and the Great Age of American Innovation
- By: Jon Gertner
- Narrated by: Chris Sorensen
- Length: 17 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,011
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 844
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 845
In The Idea Factory, New York Times Magazine writer Jon Gertner reveals how Bell Labs served as an incubator for scientific innovation from the 1920s through the1980s. In its heyday, Bell Labs boasted nearly 15,000 employees, 1200 of whom held PhDs and 13 of whom won Nobel Prizes. Thriving in a work environment that embraced new ideas, Bell Labs scientists introduced concepts that still propel many of today’s most exciting technologies.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Great story -- horrible pauses
- By Rodney on 01-29-13
By: Jon Gertner
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Beyond
- Our Future in Space
- By: Chris Impey
- Narrated by: Julie McKay
- Length: 9 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 73
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 66
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Story4 out of 5 stars 67
Beyond dares to imagine a fantastic future for humans in space - and then reminds us that we're already there. Human exploration has been an unceasing engine of technological progress, from the first homo sapiens to leave our African cradle to a future in which mankind promises to settle another world. Beyond tells the epic story of humanity leaving home - and how humans will soon thrive in the vast universe beyond the Earth.
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4 out of 5 stars
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OTHER WORLDS
- By chetyarbrough.blog on 01-10-16
By: Chris Impey
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Tomorrowland
- Our Journey From Science Fiction to Science Fact
- By: Steven Kotler
- Narrated by: Tom Parks
- Length: 8 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 429
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 363
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Story4 out of 5 stars 363
New York Times, Wired, Atlantic Monthly, Discover bestselling author Steven Kotler has written extensively about those pivotal moments when science fiction became science fact...and fundamentally reshaped the world. Now he gathers the best of his best, updated and expanded upon, to guide listeners on a mind-bending tour of the far frontier, and how these advances are radically transforming our lives.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Covers a lot of different topics in many industries
- By ErnieA on 06-27-15
By: Steven Kotler
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Fifty Inventions That Shaped the Modern Economy
- By: Tim Harford
- Narrated by: Roger Davis
- Length: 9 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 367
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 314
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 312
Fifty Inventions That Shaped the Modern Economy paints an epic picture of change in an intimate way by telling the stories of the tools, people, and ideas that had far-reaching consequences for all of us. From the plough to artificial intelligence, from Gillette's disposable razor to IKEA's Billy bookcase, best-selling author and Financial Times columnist Tim Harford recounts each invention's own curious, surprising, and memorable story.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Thought provoking
- By Paul Norris on 09-10-17
By: Tim Harford
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The Electric War
- Edison, Tesla, Westinghouse, and the Race to Light the World
- By: Mike Winchell
- Narrated by: Greg Tremblay
- Length: 5 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 28
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 22
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Story5 out of 5 stars 21
In the mid- to late-19th century, a burgeoning science called electricity promised to shine new light on a rousing nation. Inventive and ambitious minds were hard at work. Soon that spark was fanned, and a war was under way to be the first to light - and run - the world with electricity. Thomas Alva Edison, the inventor of direct current (DC), engaged in a brutal battle with Nikola Tesla and George Westinghouse, the inventors of alternating current (AC). There would be no ties in this race - only a winner and a loser - and the prize was a nationwide monopoly in electric current.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Very well written!
- By Amanda McCoy on 07-17-19
By: Mike Winchell
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Rust
- The Longest War
- By: Jonathan Waldman
- Narrated by: Christopher Lane
- Length: 13 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 221
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 183
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Story4 out of 5 stars 184
In Rust journalist Jonathan Waldman travels from Key West, Florida, to Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, to meet the colorful and often reclusive people concerned with corrosion. He sneaks into an abandoned steelworks with a brave artist and nearly gets kicked out of Can School. Across the Arctic he follows a massive high-tech robot, hunting for rust in the Alaska pipeline.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Almost too geeky for geeks
- By Norman B. Bernstein on 03-26-15
By: Jonathan Waldman
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The Alchemy of Air
- A Jewish Genius, a Doomed Tycoon, and the Scientific Discovery That Fed the World but Fueled the Rise of Hitler
- By: Thomas Hager
- Narrated by: Adam Verner
- Length: 10 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,582
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,353
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,349
At the dawn of the 20th century, humanity was facing global disaster. Mass starvation, long predicted for the fast-growing population, was about to become a reality. A call went out to the worlds scientists to find a solution. This is the story of the two enormously gifted, fatally flawed men who found it: the brilliant, self-important Fritz Haber and the reclusive, alcoholic Carl Bosch. Together they discovered a way to make bread out of air, built city-sized factories, controlled world markets, and saved millions of lives.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Great Book Thoroughly Researched
- By Terry A. Gray on 10-21-11
By: Thomas Hager
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Soonish
- Ten Emerging Technologies That'll Improve and/or Ruin Everything
- By: Kelly Weinersmith, Zach Weinersmith
- Narrated by: Kelly Weinersmith, Zach Weinersmith
- Length: 10 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,303
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,169
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,162
In this smart and funny book, celebrated cartoonist Zach Weinersmith and noted researcher Dr. Kelly Weinersmith give us a snapshot of what's coming next - from robot swarms to nuclear fusion powered-toasters. By weaving their own research and interviews with the scientists who are making these advances happen, the Weinersmiths investigate why these technologies are needed, how they would work, and what is standing in their way.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Really Good-ish!
- By See Reverse on 04-16-18
By: Kelly Weinersmith, and others
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Everything All at Once
- How to Unleash Your Inner Nerd, Tap into Radical Curiosity and Solve Any Problem
- By: Bill Nye
- Narrated by: Bill Nye
- Length: 12 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,501
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,382
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,374
Everything All at Once is an exciting, inspiring call to unleash the power of the nerd mindset that exists within us all. Nye believes we'll never be able to tackle our society's biggest, most complex problems if we don't even know how to solve the small ones. Step by step, he shows his listeners the key tools behind his everything-all-at-once approach: radical curiosity, a deep desire for a better future, and a willingness to take the actions needed to make it a reality.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Bill Nye is awesome, but skip this one
- By Evan on 08-15-17
By: Bill Nye
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Simply Electrifying
- The Technology That Transformed the World, from Benjamin Franklin to Elon Musk
- By: Craig R. Roach
- Narrated by: Tom Perkins
- Length: 15 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 67
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 58
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Story4 out of 5 stars 59
Simply Electrifying: The Technology That Transformed the World, from Benjamin Franklin to Elon Musk brings to life the 250-year history of electricity through the stories of the men and women who used it to transform our world: Benjamin Franklin, James Watt, Michael Faraday, Samuel F.B. Morse, Thomas Edison, Samuel Insull, Albert Einstein, Rachel Carson, Elon Musk, and more. In the process, it reveals for the first time the complete, thrilling, and often dangerous story of electricity's historic discovery, development, and worldwide application.
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2 out of 5 stars
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decent, but ended up disappointing.
- By Alexander Douglass on 12-28-18
By: Craig R. Roach
What listeners say about Edison's Concrete Piano
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- jimsreads
- 09-02-22
Perfect for a nerd like me!
The information in this book is fairly entertaining if you're a nerd like me. I however, did not enjoy the narrator's voice. It sounded too much like the robot computer generated voice that you would get on tiktok or instagram.
JimsIGReads
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