A slim book on the design and history of various household objects. It's clearly aimed at younger readers -- I'd say probably middle grade? -- which I think isn't something I realized when I got it. It was published in 1998, so it's rather dated now, something that's probably most obvious in the chapters on telephones and typewriters. It also doesn't really go into any detail at all on how any of the technology it covers actually works, just the design aspects of it. But the author covers that with a lot of enthusiasm for the subject, and it's an interesting little glimpse at how some familiar objects have evolved, along with a bit of of historical trivia. There are also some nice black-and-white pictures of various objects, although I'm a little sorry there weren't more, as some of the things I would have been most interested in seeing weren't pictured. ( )