AWESOME ACHIEVERS IN TECHNOLOGY

This chatty collective biography highlights achievements of 12 lesser-known inventors and innovators in technologies that are now commonplace in homes, workplaces, and public spaces.

With the exceptions of windshield wipers, Scotchguard™, and the three-point lap-and-shoulder seat belt, the technologies discussed are either digital or electronic. Nolan Bushnell, the co-founder of Atari, unleashed Pong upon the world in 1972. Adam Cheyer and Dag Kittlaus invented the conversational personal assistant Siri. Marie Van Brittan Brown pioneered the use of closed-circuit television. The research of Shirley Ann Jackson, the first African American woman to receive a Ph.D. from MIT, led to the faster and more reliable transmission of data through fiber optic cables and to the development of the solar cell. The biographical profiles and explanations of the technologies, written in an informal, conversational tone, are quite brief, even superficial, with little or no elaboration about their greater cultural or societal impacts. Katz includes lighthearted elements such as imagined poems, song lyrics, and diary entries with each profile. Neither these nor the unremarkable pencil-drawn illustrations that complement the comical addendums shed significant light on the figures profiled. A serious flaw is the lack of source notes, bibliographic information, and any other backmatter. The lineup has a greater proportion of women than seen in many tech overviews, but only Jackson and Brown, both African American, seem to be people of color.

Poor execution sinks this effort.