BANVARD'S FOLLY: Tales of Renowned Obscurity, Famous - Softcover

Collins, Paul

3.98

750 ratings by Goodreads

9780330486897: BANVARD'S FOLLY: Tales of Renowned Obscurity, Famous

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0330486896 ISBN 13: 9780330486897

Publisher: Picador, 2002

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History will long remember the Edisons, Einsteins and Darwins: they succeeded in changing the world, and the world has repaid them by enshrining their names. But what of those others with similarly revolutionary and groundbreaking ideas who plummeted into oblivion? What of the man who invented the N-ray? Or the one who made up a universal singing language? They are gone and forgotton. . . until now.

'Failure is generally a lot more interesting than success . . . this book was only a modest success in America; it deserves to be a huge one here, since we have a better natural empathy with the sweet misery of not being quite good enough at things. Failure's coming home; we should all support it by buying Paul Collins' wonderful book' Mail on Sunday

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Review:

A beguiling parade of ill-fated flights of fancy whose pioneers have been long forgotten. -- Scotsman

Failure is generally a lot more interesting than success...we should all support it by buying Paul Collins’ wonderful book! -- Mail on Sunday

Here's a wonderful corrective for a culture obsessed with profile, celebrity, fame, spin and blah...Buy two copies. -- Daily Telegraph

Book Description:

Thirteen fascinating and hilarious portraits of history's losers.

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