Mistakes that Worked by Charlotte Foltz Jones

In the non-fiction book, Mistakes that Worked, Foltz explains how different inventions were created by accident. In short excerpts, the reader learns about lots of household items, foods, clothes, medicines, etc. Some of the stories seem based on documented fact and others on folklore or stories. I thought the author did a good job of letting the reader what was fact and what was conjecture.

Some of the interesting things I learned were that Coca-Cola is named because of some of the ingredients from the original formula, ice-cream cones became popular during the St Louis World's Fair, the chocolate chip cookie wasn't invented until the 1930s, and piggy banks in the shape of pigs were a result of the linguistically similar word "pygg" (a clay material) that was used during the middle ages. This book also states that Perrault, the writer of the Cinderella story most of us are familiar with, made a mistake when he gave her a glass slipper. The author writes that earlier versions the slippers were fur. However, the french word for fur and glass are similar. Perrault apparently confused the two and gave her a glass slipper.

I appreciated several aspects of the book. With each section, quotes by famous inventors were included to underscore the idea that mistakes can end up making for great discoveries. Mark Twain wrote, in his notebook, "Name the greatest of all the inventors. Accident." (introduction) I also appreciated that historical information was given where appropriate to set the invention into the timeperiod. For instance, Jones introduces Coca-Cola with: "The date was May 8, 1886. The Civil War had been over for twenty-one years. Grover Cleveland was the President of the United States. And, in Atlanta, Georgia, a pharmacist..." Information about world records, additional interesting facts, museums, and even some recipes are included to accompany different mistakes.

I'm not convinced that the author cited well enough for today's standards. In the front matter, acknowledgements are including listing many people and groups that, presumably, provided information and a "Selected Bibliography" is included as well. However, the author does not provide any citations within the text to indicate where specific information came from. So, I have to take all I read with a grain of salt.