All About Famous Inventors and Their Inventions

by Fletcher Pratt

All About All About Famous Inventors and Their Inventions

Library Binding

First published January 1, 1955

About the author

Murray Fletcher Pratt (1897–1956) was a science fiction and fantasy writer; he was also well-known as a writer on naval history and on the American Civil War.

Pratt attended Hobart College for one year. During the 1920s he worked for the Buffalo Courier-Express and on a Staten Island newspaper. In the late 1920s he began selling stories to pulp magazines. When a fire gutted his apartment in the 1930s he used the insurance money to study at the Sorbonne for a year. After that he began writing histories.

Wargamers know Pratt as the inventor of a set of rules for civilian naval wargaming before the Second World War. This was known as the "Naval War Game" and was based on a wargame developed by Fred T. Jane involving dozens of tiny wooden ships, built on a scale of one inch to 50 feet. These were spread over the floor of Pratt's apartment and their maneuvers were calculated via a complex mathematical formula. Noted author and artist Jack Coggins was a frequent participant in Pratt's Navy Game, and L. Sprague de Camp met him through his wargaming group.

Pratt established the literary dining club known as the Trap Door Spiders in 1944. The name is a reference to the exclusive habits of the trapdoor spider, which when it enters its burrow pulls the hatch shut behind it. The club was later fictionalized as the Black Widowers in a series of mystery stories by Isaac Asimov. Pratt himself was fictionalized in one story, "To the Barest", as the Widowers’ founder, Ralph Ottur.

Pratt is best known for his fantasy collaborations with de Camp, the most famous of which is the humorous Harold Shea series, was eventually published in full as The Complete Compleat Enchanter. His solo fantasy novels Well of the Unicorn and The Blue Star are also highly regarded.

Pratt wrote in a markedly identifiable prose style, reminiscent of the style of Bernard DeVoto. One of his books is dedicated "To Benny DeVoto, who taught me to write."

Reviews

[Chappyfamily · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a good read. I read it to my kids and they all enjoyed it and we all learned from it.

[Magda Ali · Rating 4 out of 5]

إن قصة الإختراعات والمخترعين هي قصة الحضارة البشرية ، قصة التطور الذي أسعد الناس ويسر الحياة ، يشرح فلتشر برات في هذا الكتاب الجميل أكثر من 50 اختراع من أعظم الإختراعات الذي كان له الأثر في تطور وتقدم البشرية ويوضح بأسلوب سرد مبسط كيف كانت البداية لمثل هذه الإختراعات سواء كانت الصدفة أو الحاجة لمثل هذه الآلات ، ومن هذه الاختراعات ( المفرقعات ، الطباعة، التلسكوب، ماكينة حلج القطن، آله الحصاد، التليفون )
قصة اختراع التلسكوب ..
جاء أحد الرحالة لجاليليو وأخبره عن عالم بلجيكي اسمه هانز ليبرشي قام باختراع منظار يجعل الأشياء البعيدة تبدو قريبة وذلك بوضع عدستين أحدهما فوق الاخري ، فلما سمع جاليليو هذه القصة بدأ في التفكير في هذا الإختراع وبالفعل فقد صنع جاليليو تلسكوب وكان أفضل كثيرا مما اخترعه ليبرشي ، بالرغم من أن جاليليو لم يري ابدا في حياته هذا المنظار الذي إختراعه ليبرشي .

[Felicity · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this book was a very good, educational book. I really liked it a lot. It was neat learning abouthow, when , and what people invented and how things we have now came to be.

[Willow · Rating 3 out of 5]

easy-to-understand book that's "All About Famous Inventors and Their Inventions". :) very interesting.