Brainstorms and Mindfarts: The Best and Brightest, Dumbest and Dimmest Inventions in American History

National Archives Museum
Online

Innovation and entrepreneurism appear inextricably woven into the American DNA. Throughout American history, the great inventors and innovators gazed into the future and saw the products and services that would transform the world. As of 2018, the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office had granted its 10 millionth patent. In Brainstorms and Mindfarts, author Jim Downey presents a collection of the brightest and most innovative American inventions along with the frivolous and utterly useless ones lost to history.