Inventions That Changed Our Lives: The Wonder of Electricity

There have been more inventions within the last 100 years, than during all of human history combined, and while that sounds pretty impressive, let's think about it for a sec: on one hand you've got, let's say, the wheel, on the other, an automatic tongue scraper. Obviously, progress is not always advancement, sometimes it's just growth--like tongue warts. On the topic of the original "plug & play" device, The Wonder of Electricity describes an array of electronic inventions that have both entertained us and saved us time over the past century. Unfortunately, while the program tells us the date each product was invented, items (which include radio, Morse code, television, the popular Kodak Brownie camera, video games, washing machines, the vacuum cleaner, frozen foods and sanding machines, among others) are introduced in a somewhat haphazard fashion. Compounding the problem, this is a BBC production, so many of the products will be unfamiliar to stateside viewers (and some look frankly rinky-dink, such as the Flymo, a plastic-looking grass mower highly popular in the U.K. that looks more like a has-been toy from Hasbro). Still, there are some interesting tid-bits here: we learn, for instance, that during the 1920s a woman spent 52 hours a week cleaning and cooking, while today we spend a total of 4 (and our dust bunnies thank us). Overall, viewers will gain some insights into the greatest electronic inventions of all times, even with the Britannia-flavored pickings and serendipitous arrangement. The other titles in the 6-volume series (series price: $99.95) are: Communications & Transportation, Inventions & Innovations, Medicine, Plastic Planet and The Technology of Warfare. An optional purchase. Aud: J, H, C, P. (N. Plympton)