{"title":"Robert D Friedel","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"zipper-book-robert-d-friedel-9780393035995","title":"Zipper","description":"The zip-fastener was invented by Whitcomb Judson, a frustrated man with a penchant for complexity. It didn't work and wasn't wanted. This book tells the story of how a useless technological novelty worked its way into daily life and became one of the defining artefacts of the 20th century.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49600045809937,"sku":"GOR006112583","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50273111114001,"sku":"CIN0393035999G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0393035999.jpg?v=1751006829"},{"product_id":"pioneer-plastic-book-robert-d-friedel-9780299091705","title":"Pioneer Plastic","description":null,"brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":49989718835473,"sku":"CIN0299091708G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50916216471825,"sku":"GOR009185024","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ WELL_READ \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":51488136036625,"sku":"GOR014300294","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0299091708.jpg?v=1751324326"},{"product_id":"zipper-book-robert-d-friedel-9780393313659","title":"Zipper","description":"It is almost impossible to imagine modern life without this device; yet for the first thirty years or so, from its patent in the late nineteenth century, it represented no real advantage over traditional fasteners like the hook-and-eye or the old-fashioned button. The zipper was mechanically awkward, liable to rust, liable to fail (i.e., snag or burst open), and so expensive that it doubled the retail price of a skirt or a pair of pants. But from the beginning the zipper had an allure, a mystery, a kind of sex appeal that would be echoed in songs, poems, and popular novels.    Robert Friedel has written a fascinating history—full of strange twists, paradoxes, and interesting characters—of this signature gadget of the twentieth century. Inventor Whitcomb Judson (whose efforts lay mostly in patenting a doomed undertaking known as the Pneumatic Streetcar) gave the zipper life; businessman Colonel Lewis Walker had the capital and the faith to back it for forty years; and cultural icons such as Marlon Brando, Erica Jong, and the Rolling Stones helped to turn it into a symbol for sexuality and style.    Not just the story of a distinctive technology, Zipper is an entertaining, informative examination of how new things become part of our daily lives, shaping how we think and act.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ -","offer_id":51002087440657,"sku":"","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51002090651921,"sku":"NIN9780393313659","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":51694163394833,"sku":"CIN0393313654G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52482384953617,"sku":"NLS9780393313659","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ WELL_READ \/ SBYB","offer_id":53047942054161,"sku":"CIN0393313654A","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0393313654.jpg?v=1751102876"}],"url":"https:\/\/www.worldofbooks.com\/collections\/author-books-by-robert-d-friedel.oembed","provider":"World of Books ","version":"1.0","type":"link"}