Patents
Here's a fun-looking book:

You can't really tell from the picture, but it's covered in bubble wrap. Strangely, Amazon has no listing for the bubble-wrapped hardcover, only a trade paperback, and even the
Powell's listing describes the binding as "paperback." I wonder whether the bubble-wrapped hardcover was sent out as a gimmicky review copy or some sort of limited-edition release. (I saw the hardcover in the library at my workplace.)
May 12, 2004 02:25 PM
Reading and writing
Hardback or no, the book sounds fun! I've long been interested in the whole "necessity is the mother of invention" idea, especially when it's a life-or-death kind of necessity (i.e. Turing's work on the bombes he built to crack the Enigma codes, the glider built by Colditz Castle POWs trying to escape, etc.). That kind of creation under pressure is fascinating, IMHO.
The interiors are nicely designed, and the author covers a range of inventions, so if you think you'd enjoy, you should track down a copy at Borders or something and have a look.
Wow. You'd think that by the end of the day I'd be sick of anything to do with patents, but that looks darn cool.