Ingenious Women From Tincture of Saffron to Flying Machines

by Deborah Jaffé

This delightfully illustrated book examines inventions and discoveries made by women, beginning with the first patent application made in 1637 and ending with the outbreak of war in 1914. Lively accounts of the stories of the inventions are placed into the context in which their discoveries were made, and the struggle they had to acquire patents and put their inventions into production. In covering this previously obscure part of women's lives, the practical way in which women have made an enormous contribution to social change and scientific advance is revealed.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Science, Feminism, Womens

224 pages, Paperback

First published January 25, 2004

Reviews

[Apina_lukee_kirjoja]

The book was interesting and easy to read; and it is good to be reminded of the fact that women have always been active thinkers and inventors.

But where the book failed, was lack of context. It is basically just a list of approved patent applications with (bar a couple of exceptions) nothing about whether a particular invention was important, financially successful, lost, forgotten, stolen etc. For example, regarding the washing machine and dishwasher patents: are these the inventions that changed the world, or reworkings of a previous design, or a basis on which someone else built their more popular machine, or was the same idea later patented by a man to better response? None of this context is provided, and so the impact, apart from an inspirational example, is missed. I feel like these women would have deserved better.

[Sandra Ferrer Valero]

Un libro muy curioso y entretenido que descubre inventos hechos por mujeres. Algunos que no trascendieron pero otros que utilizamos en la actualidad.
Me ha encantado

[Sarah Foxley]

Interesting enough but felt like a huge information dump with some linking text between each 'invention' so that it was slightly easier to read. Took me a while to read as it wasn't easy.