Author(s): David Stewart

Social studies

What's the Big Idea? explores the story of inventions through the ages and explains how ideas and technology from different countries and times are built on and developed - that inventions don't just 'happen'. Stunningly illustrated throughout, and with a clear text, it covers many important inventions, from the first stone axe to genetic engineering and the internet - not forgetting the 2,400,000 years in between! The lives of famous and not-so-famous inventors are described. Men and women from different cultural backgrounds, whose major contributions have been overlooked in the past, are included. A time line of events puts inventions in their historical context, showing how wars and trade push ideas forward.