2024 May Reading Challenge

[Elizabeth]

This month the library is celebrating Invention Month. It's all about inventions and inventors. Check out Inventor themed programming by searching for Invention Month on our calendar.
events.slcolibrary.org/events

For your May Challenge. Read a book about an inventor and/or an invention. Make sure you note what inventor or invention you read about once you finish the book!

Here are some books that you might want to try.

Nonfiction:
A Game Maker's Life: A Hall of Fame Game Inventor and Executive Tells the Inside Story of the Toy Industry
Revolver: Sam Colt and the Six-Shooter That Changed America
The Invention of Miracles: Language, Power, and Alexander Graham Bell’s Quest to End Deafness
The Truth About Tesla: The Myth of the Lone Genius in the History of Innovation
Tools: A Visual Exploration of Implements and Devices in the Workshop
Into the Groove: The Story of Sound From Tin Foil to Vinyl
The Things We Make: The Unknown History of Invention from Cathedrals to Soda Cans

Fiction:
Hero Complex
The Blue, Beautiful World
Misfire
The Spare Man
Lily of the Valley
The Sharpest Needle

Kids Fiction:
The Girl Who Built a Spider
Engine of Change (Rube Goldberg and His Amazing Machines #3)
Reeya Rai and the Secret Workshop
Camila the Invention Star
How to Catch a Daddysaurus

Kids Nonfiction:
Inventions: A Visual Encyclopedia
From Here to There: Inventions That Changed the Way the World Moves
Oh, the Things They Invented!: All About Great Inventors
How Things Work: Discover Secrets and Science Behind Bounce Houses, Hovercraft, Robotics, and Everything in Between

[Greg]

I'll be seeking a new book for this category, but I highly recommend
Pinpoint .

[Britt, Book Habitue]

Hmmm... I know I have a big bio of Tesla somewhere, but with all the end of the school year insanity I doubt I'll get to that😂
I'll have to go through what I already have checked out and see if anything fits.

[Darin]

I have a copy of Leonardo da Vinci by Walter Isaacson that I haven’t read yet, so now is the time.

[Em]

I will read Typhoon Fury by Clive Cussler. There are usually numerous fictitious inventions in his books, and this one specifically mentions " a Japanese-developed drug, designed, but never used, to turn soldiers into super-warriors".

I will finish the book, but very doubtful it will happen by May 31.

[Em]

Greg wrote: "I'll be seeking a new book for this category, but I highly recommend
Pinpoint."

Thanks. The summary sounds so interesting ! Added to my TBR list.

[Elizabeth]

Em wrote: "I will read Typhoon Fury by Clive Cussler. There are usually numerous fictitious inventions in his books, and this one specifically mentions " a Japanese-developed drug, designed, b..."

Sounds interesting!

[Elizabeth]

Darin wrote: "I have a copy of Leonardo da Vinci by Walter Isaacson that I haven’t read yet, so now is the time."

Nice!

[Elizabeth]

Britt, Book Habitue wrote: "Hmmm... I know I have a big bio of Tesla somewhere, but with all the end of the school year insanity I doubt I'll get to that😂
I'll have to go through what I already have checked out and see if any..."

I know, can you believe it's May? I'm starting my Summer Reading School Visits, and part of me is like... shouldn't it still be February?

[Audrey]

I might do The Inventor's Secret; I've had it for a while.

[Elizabeth]

Previous winners have been posted!

Thank you everyone for being so patient with those announcements.

[Linda]

Congratulations to all the previous month's winners.

[Crystal]

Lol, I just read Scooby Door and the Swamp Witch. Fred is always inventing new traps.

[Britt, Book Habitue]

Elizabeth wrote: "Britt, Book Habitue wrote: "Hmmm... I know I have a big bio of Tesla somewhere, but with all the end of the school year insanity I doubt I'll get to that😂
I'll have to go through what I already hav..."

Yeah it's completely insane. We're so busy.

[Britt, Book Habitue]

Crystal wrote: "Lol, I just read Scooby Door and the Swamp Witch. Fred is always inventing new traps."

😂That's so perfect

[Kristen]

I’m about 50 pages into Last Days of Night by Graham Moore, and so far it’s really good! It’s about the legal battle over who invented the lightbulb and includes several larger-than-life characters such as Thomas Edison, George Westinghouse, and Nikola Tesla.

[Elizabeth]

Kristen wrote: "I’m about 50 pages into Last Days of Night by Graham Moore, and so far it’s really good! It’s about the legal battle over who invented the lightbulb and includes several larger-than-life characters..."

Ooh, that sounds super interesting.

[Linda]

Kristen wrote: "I’m about 50 pages into Last Days of Night by Graham Moore, and so far it’s really good! It’s about the legal battle over who invented the lightbulb and includes several larger-than-life characters..."

That was a book I was looking at reading. I am interested to see how you like it.

[Clancy]

Think I'm going to read How We Got to Now by Steven Johnson. But now I had to add books on Tesla, Elon Musk and Hedy Lamarr to my TBR list.

[Elizabeth]

Hedy Lamarr is so interesting. I've read a few articles about her, but I should definitely read a full biography.

[Britt, Book Habitue]

I read Rise of the Rocket Girls and The Soul of a New Machine.

[Clancy]

Finished How We Got to Now. It was really interesting and certainly makes you think about stuff we take for granted.

[Elizabeth]

Clancy wrote: "Finished How We Got to Now. It was really interesting and certainly makes you think about stuff we take for granted."

I shall have to add it to my list.

[Debbie]

Britt, Book Habitue wrote: "I read Rise of the Rocket Girls and The Soul of a New Machine."

An interesting pair! My favorite part of Rocket Girls was when John Glenn refused to accept the the data from the computers until 'the girls' had verified that data. I've also read New Machine, but I don't really remember it except that I did enjoy it.

[Greg]

I read The Last Lone Inventor: A Tale of Genius, Deceit, and the Birth of Television by Evan I. Schwartz.

Excellent book.

[Deborah]

Any recommendations on a cozy romance or mystery that fits this month’s theme?

[Teresa]

I read Dawn's Early Light. It's a steampunk and has a nefarious plot that includes Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, and Nikola Tesla.

[Elizabeth]

Deborah wrote: "Any recommendations on a cozy romance or mystery that fits this month’s theme?"

Here's a Christian fiction romance title that lands more on the cozy side A Lady's Guide to Marvels and Misadventure

Victorian socialite Clara Stanton strives to protect her eccentric family's reputation, but that proves to be difficult when her grandfather takes off on a flight of fancy. Thrown together with vagabond tinker Theodore Kingsley, Clara sets off to follow her grandfather's whimsical adventure and finds love along the way.

The Invention of Sophie Carter is a YA that seems to fit, too.
In 1851 London identical twin sisters take turns swapping places over the course of a summer in order to pursue their secret ambitions, but things get out of control when they fall in love with two hansome gentlemen.

[Elizabeth]

Deborah wrote: "Any recommendations on a cozy romance or mystery that fits this month’s theme?"

On the mystery side there are a few:

The Seance Society
Murder Has Nine Lives
Aunt Dimity and the Summer King
Killer in the Carriage House: A Victorian Village Mystery

[Linda]

I read . It was very interesting.
I also read

[Elizabeth]

Can y'all believe it's May 20th? The month is 2/3rds over! Ridiculousness.

[Mary]

I read the biography Elon Musk by Walter Isaacson. What a complicated man!

[Darin]

I’m almost finished (and will finish) Leonardo da Vinci by Walter Isaacson. I’m not sure I have ever read anything by Isaacson, but I think he has done a terrific job on this - he almost seems like an art expert (and maybe he is!). But his narrative makes me want to read or listen to his other books.

This book has a lot of illustrations, so I chose to actually read it, which takes more time. And the book itself is printed on heavier paper, making it kind of hefty, so I’m also getting some weight lifting done!

[Darin]

I finished reading Leonardo da Vinci by Walter Isaacson. So good!
Here is a brief quote:

"The things he envisioned for the future often came to pass, even if it took a few centuries. Scuba gear, flying machines, and helicopters now exist. Suction pumps now drain swamps. Along the route of the canal that Leonardo drew there is now a major highway. Sometimes fantasies are paths to reality."

[Deborah]

I had a slow reading month, but I managed to squeeze in Mistakes That Worked: The World's Familiar Inventions and How They Came to Be at the last minute. I was planning on reading some of the cozy suggestions you all gave, but it just didn't work out for this month. I am keeping the list to read in the future.

[Darin]

One more thing to add from Isaacson's Leonardo da Vinci. In his conclusion, Isaacson lists several "lessons" that I'll list below. Maybe the context isn't right, without having read the book, but hopefully they will kind of be interesting:
Be curious, relentlessly curious
Seek knowledge for its own sake
Retain a childlike sense of wonder
Observe
Start with the details
See things unseen
Go down rabbit holes
Get distracted
Respect facts
Procrastinate
Let the perfect be the enemy of the good
Think visually
Avoid silos
Let your research exceed your grasp
Indulge fantasy
Create for yourself, not just for patrons
Collaborate
Make lists
Take notes, on paper
Be open to mystery

[Audrey]

I read (copy edited) Drumindor, which features a lot of inventions by dwarves.

[Michelle]

I read "Power Play "Tesla, Elon Musk, and the bet of the century by Tim Higgins
I feel this book was written with a lot of negativity towards Musk. I know he can't be everyone's favorite cup of tea but it makes the book less palatable. I've seen reviews for a couple other books about musk that I plan to read next to get a different take on his achievements.

since being sick I had started 2 other books but didn't get either finished by will get them done next:
Novosaurus a visual guide to the dinosaurs of our future by And Frazer
and
Tesla man out of time by Margaret Cheney

[Debbie]

In a last moment (11:45 pm) I squeezed in Imaginative Inventions: The Who, What, Where, When, and Why of Roller Skates, Potato Chips, Marbles, and Pie by Charise Mericle Harper. WHEW!

[Audrey]

Sounds fun. Congrats on finishing.

[Elizabeth]

Crystal is our prize drawing winner for May's reading challenge for reading Scooby-Doo: The Swamp Witch.

Congratulations!

[Linda]

Congratulations Crystal!

[Teresa]

Congrats Crystal!

[Audrey]

Yay!