Contents Introduction CHAPTER TWO CHAPTER ONE Inadequate Inventions A Flying Compact Car A Scooter That Will Change the World Virtual Reality in 1995 Four Failed Inventions Smelly Movies Electrified Seats Happy Accidents Down but Not Out Thomas Edison Sordid Past Forgot to Guard the Gate Newton Messed Up His Math Found a Phony Island Picked the Wrong President Wrecked Your Rocket Down but Not Out Albert Einstein CHAPTER THREE Botched Buildings A Skyscraper That Fries Eggs A Tower of Trouble Blunders of the Ancient World World's Tallest Empty Building A Bucking Bridge og CHAPTER FOUR Bad Tastes A New Formula for an Old Soda McOops Instant Treats That Overheat Bottled Water for Pets Failed Food Mash Ups Happy Accidents CHAPTER FIVE 64 Poor Sports A Cursed team Baseball
Largest Smurf Party Sorry Sports Mash Ups Bobsledders From the Tropics A Basketball Champ at Bat Down but Not Out Bethany Hamilton Crimes of Fashion Flick Fails A 30 Second Fourth of July Down but Not Out J K Rowling CHAPTER EIGHT 104 78 CHAPTER SIX Malfunctioning Mischief A Pooch Impersonating a Lion A Cure All That Cures Nothing Spell Un checked A Horse That's a Math Whiz A Jailbreak in a Pooch Costume A Phony Miracle Machine Lessons in Losing How to Face Failure Zeros to Heroes Keeping Cool Under Pressure Silly Mash Ups That Succeeded Built to Laugh Answer Key Index Credits CHAPTER SEVEN Pop Culture Catastrophes A Spider Man Musical 92 94
INTRODUCTION Uh oh Oops Oh no Don't feel ashamed when you shout these words They're the rallying cries of nice tries races lost quizzes flunked bikes wrecked slipups and strikeouts goofs and screwups any misadventures that end in that forbidden word so we'll just spell it out F A L U R E Wait did we get that wrong Uh oh Oh relax Some people might strike the word from their vocabulary but failure is an overhated phenomenon The ancient Greeks started a school of philosophy known as Stoicism in which they braced for worst case scenarios and faced their failures Anyone who went through life expecting everything to go right the Stoics figured would have an extra bad day when things went wrong And failure still has its fans today lead ers inventors actors and athletes who see it as a tool instead of that thing that must not be named As superstar slugger Babe Ruth once said Every strike brings me closer to the next home run This book cel ebrates the strikes history's wrong turns food flubs malfunctioning monuments inventions that fizzled pop culture disasters sorry sports moments and so many more snafus that are funny because they're true Along with some belly laughs you'll get the scoops behind each oops what went wrong what went right and what you can learn from it In this book failure is an option
Success From the Mess Getting the Most From Famous Fails It Could Be Worse If you're having a lousy day just remem ber it's probably not as bad as what hap pened to some people in these stories Keep an eye peeled for these features as you read this book Down but Not Out Believe it or not some of the world's 4 grade A success stories started out as grade F failures Read about their horrible origin stories and incredible comebacks Lesson Learned Messing up can be a learning experi ence and a stomach churning expe rience Each tale of failure will offer advice for your own life You'll walk away from Famous Fails a little smarter with a boost of confidence and less afraid of messing up Triumphant Takeaway From minor setbacks to complete disasters there's always a hidden lesson that can help you avoid similar flubs in the future AUS WET PAINT Are you a master messer upper or a fantastic fixer See if you can spot the nine mistakes hidden in this book The answers are on page 120 but don't peek
