Patently Silly

by Daniel Wright

Truth is stranger than fiction, they say—and when it’s a patent truth and strange to boot, why then, it’s Patently Silly ! Daniel Wright brings together, for the first time ever, the most outlandish patents issued by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Representing an incredible range of patents for inventions that strain the boundaries of imagination, taste, and any form of usefulness, they are by turns really weird, really cool, or really scary. And they are all just plain ridiculous. Each patent title—from the self-operating seesaw to the talking toilet-paper roller—is real, and the accompanying images are those submitted with the patent application. Inventions often undergo a long period of mockery before catching on. Patently Silly seeks to be the first to ridicule, so that this phase of an invention’s life can end sooner. Then, hopefully, it will grow up and change the world.

213 pages, Paperback

First published October 6, 2008

Reviews

[Jasmine Stanford · Rating 2 out of 5]

So... this book... 55% is silly/ridiculous inventions, 10% is inventions that have since become effective products, 15% is patents that seem to be accessibility products that the author is saying don't have a use because he can't see himself using them followed by ableism, 5% are just goofy novelty items and the last 15% of this book is full of fatphobia, sexism, thinly veiled homophobia and even the usage of a slur (the r slur, used towards the intellectually disabled). Honestly, sometimes the author just seemed mean spirited, like mocking an inventor for pledging 30% of his profits to help educate poor children in China. Yes, the invention itself was silly, but he wanted to do something to help others. Also, there is a weird mention of Christopher Reeves for seemingly no reason and not one, but two mentions of P Diddy... Weird af. I know this was published in 2008, a time when edgy humour was all the rage, but it hasn't aged well at all.
2/5🌟

[Angela · Rating 2 out of 5]

Wow. This makes me seriously wonder what could possibly have be going on inside someone's head when he/she came up with the idea for these. A vibrating bar of soap?! Really? Or the strange inventions that are inserted into the anus. What in the world were people thinking about...or DOING...when those ideas came to them? I don't think I want to know, actually...

[Smellsofbikes · Rating 3 out of 5]

Random stupid patents of fairly breathtaking weirdness, in some cases, with commentary by author.