Turning Point Inventions: The Lightbulb - Hardcover

Joseph Wallace is the author of ten previous books, including The American Museum of Natural History's Book of Dinosaurs and The Autobiography of Baseball. He lives in New York with his wife and two children.

Grade 5-9-These well-written and interesting titles discuss the stages of development for each invention in a detailed yet understandable manner. The type size and layout of the main texts are attractive and easy to read, and a good mix of full-color and black-and-white photos and reproductions are well placed throughout. The captions are informative, but the small fine print is somewhat difficult to read. A stunning fold-out page of illustrations in each volume summarizes the development of the invention. The Lightbulb traces the history of lighting from earliest times through modern day, and the work of Thomas Edison is discussed in detail. While much of this material can be found elsewhere, this title provides an especially appealing source that includes developments in lighting since Edison. The Telephone is more advanced than Jeanne Bendick's Eureka! It's a Telephone (Millbrook, 1993; o.p.), and covers similar ground, but has more visual appeal than Naomi Pasachoff's Alexander Graham Bell (Oxford Univ., 1996). Both books conclude with a chapter on the future of the technology.
Marilyn Long Graham, Lee County Library System, Estero, FL
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