Great Inventions

Since 2010, Toronto's headlines have been consumed by the outrageous personal foibles and government-slashing, anti-urbanist policies of Mayor Rob Ford. But the heated debate at City Hall has obscured a bigger, decade-long narrative of Toronto's ascendance as a mature global city. Some Great Idea traces how post-amalgamation, and under three very different mayors, Toronto managed to so quickly oscillate from one extreme to another, and how the city might proceed from here.

Nine remarkable men produced inventions that changed the world. The printing press, the telephone, powered flight, recording, and other innovations have made the modern world what it is. But who had these ideas and made realities of them? As David Angus explains, they were very different: quiet, boisterous, confident, or withdrawn. But all had a moment of vision that they combined with single-minded determination to battle through numerous obstacles and produce something that really worked.

One thing that hasn't changed much at all in the last 10,000 years is the human brain. The relentless curiosity of the human mind, combined with our ability to solve problems, has resulted in huge innovation and change. Here, then, are some of the most revolutionary ideas of the last 300 years.

The author of the acclaimed medieval mystery A Burnable Book once again brings fourteenth-century London alive in all its color and detail in this riveting thriller featuring medieval poet and fixer John Gower—a twisty tale rife with intrigue, danger mystery, and murder. Though he is one of...

Bloomsbury presents Bridget Vanderpuff and the Great Airship Robbery by Martin Stewart, read by Andrea Matthea. Bridget Vanderpuff sets sail for Paris on another action-packed adventure, cracking codes in the museums and the secret bakers' network. Someone has stolen Mr Vanderpuff’s golden...

Bloomsbury presents We Are All Inventors! by Kate Pankhurst. Read by Kate Pankhurst, Nneka Oyoye and Lily Lefkow with Megan Gage, Polly Edsell, Dinita Gohil, and Wayne Forester. Unleash your IMAGINATION and learn all about INVENTING in this fact-packed new picture book from the bestselling...