When Everything Went Wrong

Did you know? Some of the world’s greatest inventions started off as failures! Inventions like Coca-Cola, shoes, and vacuum cleaners were actually mistakes. Told in a mixture of comic panels and prose, this gorgeous book shares the stories of 10 of these fabulous inventions.

Thomas Edison famously said, “I have not failed once at making a light bulb, I have simply found ninety-nine ways of not making ones.” In When Everything Went Wrong, readers will read about 10 inventors who persevered. Making mistakes doesn’t mean you failed . . . it’s all part of the process!

Inventors included in this book are:

• Thomas Edison
• Jan Matzeliger
• Guglielmo Marconi
• Wilson Greatbach
• James Dyson
• Margarete Steiff
• Stephanie Louis Kwolek
• Charles Goodyear
• Percy Spencer
• John Stith Pemberton

Kids will love all the fun facts and true stories in this book, told in both prose and comic form!

About The Author

Max Temporelli is a physicist who has been involved in the dissemination of scientific, technological, and innovation culture for 25 years. He carries out this activity in university classrooms, on the web, in museums, in publishing, on radio, and on television. Temporelli is the author of several books and has presented various TV programs on the subjects of science and technology. Since 2017, he has been the author and voice of a genius podcast and has been a featured TED Talks speaker. In 2016, he was the recipient of the “Federico Faggin Innovation Award.”

Barbara Gozzi is a senior editor and partner of the extremely skilled storytelling agency, Book on a Tree.

Agnese Innocente has worked as a sole author on comic book re-adaptations of the great classics of childhood literature. For years she has collaborated with various realities in the USA, including the Disney Corporation as well as various Italian publishing houses. In 2021, she won the Andersen Prize for Best Comic Book.