SummaryYou undoubtedly know what a paperclip is and how to use it,
but did you know that during the Second World War the people
of Norway adopted paperclips as a symbol of protest against
the occupying Nazis? Really Useful tells these and other
stories of how the things we use every day came into being. As much a sociological history as a compendium of
entertaining stories, Really Useful takes you on a tour from
the kitchen to the bathroom to the office and beyond. Along
the way it tells us about the technology, design, social
conditions and even intrigue that contributed to these
remarkable innovations, which include:
- sliced bread, microwave oven, coffee, tea bags, corkscrew
and Teflon
- razor blades, Band-Aids, the toothbrush, lipstick and
tissues
- air conditioning, buttons, vacuum cleaners, stockings and
neon lights
- Post-It notes, the floppy disk, smoke detectors, fireworks
and the battery
- barcodes, traffic lights, parking meters, padlocks We sometimes curse these things as just so much clutter but
in fact they form the fabric of our daily lives and we'd be
lost without them. The stories of their origins are as
interesting and illuminating as these objects are truly useful.
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