| Synopsis: |
This ingenious book captures the very essence of the Kiwi character and is a spectacular celebration of over 100 examples of pioneering Kiwi ingenuity, profiling shed mechanics like Burt Munro and John Britten to those who used overseas resources to win Nobel Prizes like Ernest Rutherford and Alan McDiarmid, or those who earned international success like Peter Jackson and Peter Blake. Other ingenious Kiwis include Jean Batten, Fred Hollows, Steve Gurney, Kate Sheppard and Alan Duff. We follow the inventive process, showing how--lacking resources and facing overwhelming difficulties--Kiwi ingenuity cracked the problem. Inventors and pioneers include Bill Hamilton and his jet boat, Kelly Tarlton and his underwater world (and treasure hunting), Alan Mitchell and the world's fastest machine gun, Harold Gillies and Archie McIndoe's pioneering plastic surgery on wounded fighter pilots, Richard Pearse and his experimental plane (was he the first to fly?), Dame Marie Clay and her literacy programme, William Pickering getting men to the moon and other ingenious Kiwi discoveries such as the tranquiliser gun, the thermette, electric fences, the referee?s whistle, dinosaurs and DNA. |