---
product_id: 1693528
title: "Mistakes That Worked: 40 Familiar Inventions & How They Came to Be"
price: "€ 26.62"
currency: EUR
in_stock: true
reviews_count: 13
url: https://www.desertcart.com.cy/products/1693528-mistakes-that-worked-40-familiar-inventions-and-how-they-came
store_origin: CY
region: Cyprus
---

# creative insights 40 inventions exploration of failures Mistakes That Worked: 40 Familiar Inventions & How They Came to Be

**Price:** € 26.62
**Availability:** ✅ In Stock

## Summary

> 💡 Embrace the Unexpected: Where Mistakes Spark Innovation!

## Quick Answers

- **What is this?** Mistakes That Worked: 40 Familiar Inventions & How They Came to Be
- **How much does it cost?** € 26.62 with free shipping
- **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship
- **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.com.cy](https://www.desertcart.com.cy/products/1693528-mistakes-that-worked-40-familiar-inventions-and-how-they-came)

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- Customers looking for quality international products

## Why This Product

- Free international shipping included
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## Key Features

- • **Engaging Narratives:** Enjoy captivating stories that blend humor and history, making learning fun.
- • **Uncover Hidden Gems:** Discover the fascinating backstories of 40 everyday inventions that were born from mistakes.
- • **Foster a Growth Mindset:** Encourage a culture of experimentation and resilience in your team.
- • **Perfect for Professionals:** Ideal for managers and leaders seeking innovative thinking and problem-solving strategies.
- • **Inspiration for Innovators:** Fuel your creativity with lessons learned from unexpected failures.

## Overview

Mistakes That Worked explores the intriguing stories behind 40 familiar inventions that emerged from errors, offering readers a unique perspective on creativity and innovation. This book serves as a source of inspiration for professionals looking to cultivate a mindset that embraces failure as a stepping stone to success.

## Description

Mistakes That Worked: 40 Familiar Inventions & How They Came to Be [Jones, Charlotte Foltz, O'Brien, John] on desertcart.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Mistakes That Worked: 40 Familiar Inventions & How They Came to Be

Review: Great little book - 10-year-old grandson loved it.
Review: Fix Your Boring Staff Meetings! - As I think back over the years of my boring weekly staff meeting presentations, I should have (I could have) been much more creative. Thus…I’m urging you to do a cannonball into the deep end of the creativity pool—and inspire your team with a surprisingly fun book: “Mistakes That Worked: The World's Familiar Inventions and How They Came to Be.” If I were still a CEO, here’s how I would facilitate my next weekly staff meeting: STEP 1. Order three books and gift them to the three most creative team members. Assignment: Each person will pick one “mistake that worked” (an invention that documents how we can learn from mistake-making). Prepare a five-minute presentation on the mistake/invention—and then facilitate a five-minute “What can we learn from this?” Q&A. (Give a Starbucks gift card if they finish in 10 minutes or less.) STEP 2. Definitely…serve some fun food! Chapter 1, “Favorite Foods,” features a dozen “mistakes” that brought us these favorites: chocolate chip cookies, Coca-Cola, doughnut holes, fudge, ice cream cones, popsicles, potato chips, sandwiches, tea, and more! (Note: Here’s just one of dozens of fun factoids in the book: On Sept. 7, 1975, a church in Davenport, Iowa, landed in the Guinness Book of World Records for creating a 5,750-pound “iced lollipop on a stick.”) STEP 3. At future weekly staff meetings, assign one person to present the five-minute summary and facilitate the five-minute Q&A discussion. Extra credit if they include a “show-and-tell” of the actual “mistake/invention.” The book showcases several dozen memorable innovations: • THE FRISBEE. Did you know there is an annual competition for the United States Disc Golf Championship? • IVORY SOAP. Honest! The “soap that floats” was named by Harley Procter (as in Procter & Gamble) “while listening to a Bible reading at church one morning in 1879.” • PAPER TOWELS. This reminded me of the market segmentation discussion on Bounty Paper Towels in the brilliant book, “Playing to Win: How Strategy Really Works,” by A.G. Lafley (former CEO of P&G) and Roger L. Martin. • Many More! Team members can showcase their favorite piggy banks, Levi’s jeans, Slinky toys, and Silly Putty! The Big Idea for Life-long Learning: We’ll make mistakes—so let’s learn from them. Something good may pop out like VELCRO, Post-it Notes, or even seeing eye dogs or trouser cuffs! (Note: Plan something special on February 11—National Inventors Day.) If you live close to Washington, D.C., plan a team-building day at the National Inventors Hall of Fame Museum in Alexandria, Virginia. Or visit the National Inventors Hall of Fame in North Canton, Ohio. LOL! According to the author, in 1875 the director of the U.S. Patent Office “quit his job and suggested that his department be closed. There was nothing left to invent, he insisted.” PICTURE THIS! The illustrations are really fun! The VELCRO mistake features a hilarious color drawing of a cowboy on a bucking horse—riding “hands-free” on a VELCRO saddle! Another story spotlights a wedding ceremony with the bride and groom (an Englishman is the trend-setter who “invented” trouser cuffs). The scene with the officiating clergyman: LOL! And...desertcart says this book is perfect for ages 8 to 11. (It's also perfect for ages 18 to 80!) AND BY THE WAY—speaking of popsicles and boring staff meetings—the Heath brothers urge you to create extraordinary moments on a team member’s first day on the job instead of the opposite: “Imagine if you treated a first date like a new employee.” That’s from “The Power of Moments: Why Certain Experiences Have Extraordinary Impact,” by Chip Heath and Dan Heath. (I named it my 2017 book-of-the-year.) PLEASE TAKE THIS PLEDGE! Repeat after me: "No more boring weekly staff meetings!"

## Technical Specifications

| Specification | Value |
|---------------|-------|
| ASIN  | 0385320434 |
| Best Sellers Rank | #10,698 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #2 in Children's Books on Inventions & Inventors #4 in Children's How Things Work Books (Books) #5 in Children's Science Experiment Books |
| Customer Reviews | 4.7 4.7 out of 5 stars (3,653) |
| Dimensions  | 8 x 0.29 x 8 inches |
| Edition  | Reissue |
| Grade level  | 3 - 7 |
| ISBN-10  | 9780385320436 |
| ISBN-13  | 978-0385320436 |
| Item Weight  | 8 ounces |
| Language  | English |
| Print length  | 96 pages |
| Publication date  | May 1, 1994 |
| Publisher  | Delacorte Press |
| Reading age  | 8 - 11 years, from customers |

## Images

![Mistakes That Worked: 40 Familiar Inventions & How They Came to Be - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/719jE9XImwL.jpg)

## Customer Reviews

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Great little book
*by M***Y on December 29, 2025*

10-year-old grandson loved it.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Fix Your Boring Staff Meetings!
*by J***N on January 9, 2026*

As I think back over the years of my boring weekly staff meeting presentations, I should have (I could have) been much more creative. Thus…I’m urging you to do a cannonball into the deep end of the creativity pool—and inspire your team with a surprisingly fun book: “Mistakes That Worked: The World's Familiar Inventions and How They Came to Be.” If I were still a CEO, here’s how I would facilitate my next weekly staff meeting: STEP 1. Order three books and gift them to the three most creative team members. Assignment: Each person will pick one “mistake that worked” (an invention that documents how we can learn from mistake-making). Prepare a five-minute presentation on the mistake/invention—and then facilitate a five-minute “What can we learn from this?” Q&A. (Give a Starbucks gift card if they finish in 10 minutes or less.) STEP 2. Definitely…serve some fun food! Chapter 1, “Favorite Foods,” features a dozen “mistakes” that brought us these favorites: chocolate chip cookies, Coca-Cola, doughnut holes, fudge, ice cream cones, popsicles, potato chips, sandwiches, tea, and more! (Note: Here’s just one of dozens of fun factoids in the book: On Sept. 7, 1975, a church in Davenport, Iowa, landed in the Guinness Book of World Records for creating a 5,750-pound “iced lollipop on a stick.”) STEP 3. At future weekly staff meetings, assign one person to present the five-minute summary and facilitate the five-minute Q&A discussion. Extra credit if they include a “show-and-tell” of the actual “mistake/invention.” The book showcases several dozen memorable innovations: • THE FRISBEE. Did you know there is an annual competition for the United States Disc Golf Championship? • IVORY SOAP. Honest! The “soap that floats” was named by Harley Procter (as in Procter & Gamble) “while listening to a Bible reading at church one morning in 1879.” • PAPER TOWELS. This reminded me of the market segmentation discussion on Bounty Paper Towels in the brilliant book, “Playing to Win: How Strategy Really Works,” by A.G. Lafley (former CEO of P&G) and Roger L. Martin. • Many More! Team members can showcase their favorite piggy banks, Levi’s jeans, Slinky toys, and Silly Putty! The Big Idea for Life-long Learning: We’ll make mistakes—so let’s learn from them. Something good may pop out like VELCRO, Post-it Notes, or even seeing eye dogs or trouser cuffs! (Note: Plan something special on February 11—National Inventors Day.) If you live close to Washington, D.C., plan a team-building day at the National Inventors Hall of Fame Museum in Alexandria, Virginia. Or visit the National Inventors Hall of Fame in North Canton, Ohio. LOL! According to the author, in 1875 the director of the U.S. Patent Office “quit his job and suggested that his department be closed. There was nothing left to invent, he insisted.” PICTURE THIS! The illustrations are really fun! The VELCRO mistake features a hilarious color drawing of a cowboy on a bucking horse—riding “hands-free” on a VELCRO saddle! Another story spotlights a wedding ceremony with the bride and groom (an Englishman is the trend-setter who “invented” trouser cuffs). The scene with the officiating clergyman: LOL! And...Amazon says this book is perfect for ages 8 to 11. (It's also perfect for ages 18 to 80!) AND BY THE WAY—speaking of popsicles and boring staff meetings—the Heath brothers urge you to create extraordinary moments on a team member’s first day on the job instead of the opposite: “Imagine if you treated a first date like a new employee.” That’s from “The Power of Moments: Why Certain Experiences Have Extraordinary Impact,” by Chip Heath and Dan Heath. (I named it my 2017 book-of-the-year.) PLEASE TAKE THIS PLEDGE! Repeat after me: "No more boring weekly staff meetings!"

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Entertaining for all ages; if you’re curious. 😉
*by J***P on January 12, 2020*

We got this from the library in November and my ten-year-Old daughter loved it! She’s always very fascinated with history, science and engineering, so a book about interesting inventions was just up her alley. My parents visited us during the time we had it and while we were visiting she became quite engrossed in this book. Then when it was time to give it back to the library my daughter told me she wanted a copy of her own. I told her I would put it on her wish list, but I actually forgot until I was shopping for some Christmas gifts for a cousin drawing and while buying a book for someone else Amazon said that the book and a selection of others were on a special temporary discount, so I clicked on the link to see what other books were on sale and wouldn’t you know? Mistakes That Worked was one of the books they were promoting! I was so excited, but not as excited as my daughter when she opened it up on Christmas morning! This is a paperback copy instead of a hardbound one like the library had, but it’s a newer edition so my daughter says it’s even better. I honestly only got to read snippets of it myself but I am intrigued and need to find a minute to sit down and read the whole thing. I highly recommend this book!

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*Product available on Desertcart Cyprus*
*Store origin: CY*
*Last updated: 2026-03-02*