Synopses & Reviews
Truth is stranger than fiction, they sayand when its a patent truth and strange to boot, why then, its 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 titlefrom the self-operating seesaw to the talking toilet-paper rolleris 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 inventions life can end sooner. Then, hopefully, it will grow up and change the world.
Synopsis
This book is based on the cult website Patently Silly, (www.patentlysilly.com) which receives over 60,000 visits per month and has received wide-ranging publicity the world over. It is written from the unique perspective of a stand-up comic with a college degree in engineering. It features an incredible range of patents for inventions that strain the boundaries of imagination, taste, and any form of usefulness. In short, they are ridiculous. At least 35% of the inventions are new to the book and have not been seen on the web site.
Synopsis
Someone very wise once said, "Necessity is the mother of invention."Patently Silly asks, "Who is the father?" Building on the international reputation of the eponymous Web site Patently Silly is what you get when a stand-up comedian earns an engineering degree. Exploring the wackiest and most bizarre patented inventions ever envisioned, from the Cube-shaped Tennis Ball to the Talking Toilet Paper Roll Holder to the Pet-operated Ball Thrower, and straining the boundaries of imagination, good taste, and any form of usefulness, Patently Silly is a must-read for garage tinkerers, science geeks, and dreamers who believe that gravity is no impediment to flight.
About the Author
Daniel Wright is a New York City–based stand-up comedian. An engineering major in college, he now prefers to make fun of engineersand he does so to great effect on his popular Web site, patentlysilly.com. This is his first book.