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••SCHOLASTIC ISBN 978-1-4431-0242-1 $6 99 90000 LVIL INVENTIONS NICK ARNOLD illustrated by TONY DE SAULLES Scholastic Canada Ltd. Toronto New York London /Xuckland Sydney Mexico City New Delhi Hong Kong Buenos Aires Scholastic Canada Ltd. 604 King Street West. Toronto. Ontario MSV IEI. Canada Scholastic Inc. 557 Broadway. New York. NY 10012. USA Scholastic Australia Pty Limited PO Box 579. Gosford. NSW 2250. Australia Scholastic New Zealand Limited Private Bug 94407, Botany. Manukau 2163. New Zealand Scholastic Children's Books Euston House, 24 Eversholt Street. London NWI IDB. UK Text copy right •© Nick Arnold. 2007. Illustrations £ Tony De Saulles, 2007. All rights reserved. First published in the UK by Scholastic Ltd.. 2007. first Canadian edition published by Scholastic Canada Ltd.. 2010. If you purchased this book w ithoul a cover, you should be aware that this book is stolen property. It was reported as "unsold and destroyed" to the publisher, and neither the author nor the publisher has received any pay ment tor this “stripped book " Neither tlie publishers nor the author w ill be liable lor any damage caused or sustained due to the use or misuse of ideas, activities or materials featured in this book. No pan of this publication may be reproduced or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording, or otherwise, without written permission of lire publisher. Scholastic Canada Ltd., 604 King Street West, Toronto. Ontario M5V IEI. Canada In the case of photocopying or other reprographic copying, a licence must be obtained from Access Copyright (Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency), I Yonge Street. Suite MX). Toronto. Ontario M5E IE5 (1-8OO-893-5777). 5 4 3 2 1 Printed in Canada 116 10 II 12 13 CONTENTS Introduction How to be an incredible inventor Awful advertisements 1 A terrifying time tour Barmy bikes and cruel contraptions Staggering steam trains Awful advertisements 2 Sinking subs (and other sea and air inventions) Crazy cars Extreme electrical inventions Awful advertisements 3 Rotten radio and terrible TV Clever computers The atom bomb Epilogue: Not-so-evil inventions Evil Inventions quiz Horrible index 5 7 24 28 32 45 56 61 75 89 99 103 114 122 126 129 140 Nick Arnold has been writing stories and books since lie was a youngster, but never dreamt he’d find fame writing about Evil Inventions. His research involved trying on the goofy gerbil fun shin and he enjoyed every minute of it. When he’s not delving into Horrible Science, he spends his spare lime eating pizza, riding his bike and thinking up corny jokes (thou ih not all at the same time). Tony De Saulles picked up his crayons when he was still in nappies and has been doodling ever since. He takes 1 lorrible Science very seriously, and he even agreed to strap on a pair of wheelie wonder wheels and whiz down a steep hill. Fortunately, he has made a full recovery. When he’s not out with his sketchpad. Tony likes to write poetry and play squash, though he hasn’t written any poetry about squash yet. INTRODUCTION Have you ever dreamt up a new machine or a new way of doing something? If so. you've hit on an invention - Well, in this hook we'll be exploring the weird, wacky world of inventions - including the incredibly exciting and incredibly idiotic thingies that people drcam up. > AN UKGEKT NOTT fTOM THE ACTHOT Help.1 There are thousands and THCXJ9ANP9 of inventions and I can’t fit them all into this book. Oh well, /’II just have to tell you about a few important inventions - plus the Stunningly Silly ones of cotrse.l And since this book is called Evil Inventions we won’t be scared to look at the nasty side