Inventing America

I've been reading the history of inventions first in the book Strange and Fascinating Facts about Famous Brands by Charles Reichblum. Then the latest issue of Time magazine commemorates Thomas Edison, who invented among other things the lightbulb, phonograph and motion pictures. It's interesting to note how these inventions were named and how they came about. Many of them were later used for other purposes, such as the phonograph being adapted for used as an answering machine. Inventing is a creative act, as are art and writing, though they evolve over time.