From Football to Fig Newtons: 76 American Inventors and The Inventions You Know By Heart

Book excerpt: American ingenuity reveals itself in the simplest and most forgotten places. From familiar brand names such as Wheaties (George Cormack) to the most mundane stop at the traffic light (Garrett Augustus Morgan Sr.), the everyday presents abundant opportunity to respect and recall the intellect of the men and women who crafted the culture and landscape of the environment we call our own. For every trip to the grocery store to buy a box of Band-Aids(R) (Earle Dickson), there is a chance to ask the question of where and how a certain product came about. With every click of the computer mouse (Douglas Engelbart), our curiosity should deepen. This book stands as a reminder to all those who need inspiration or wish to inspire, a nudge in the right direction, an instructive to get busy creating and perfecting the Nation our ancestors envisioned. It's an instructive to read, familiarize and gain momentum from those who created the spaces and comforts we take for granted.