Books in Brief

Winston Churchill’s Toyshop: The Invention and Making of England’s Secret Weapons, by Stuart Macrae (Walker, 228 pp., $6.95). Very often great men are also great gadgeteers (although with, say, Aquinas, the gadgets were purely mental). Churchill was an outstanding example. His memory scarred by the dull-witted slaughter in WW I’s trenches (he was himself largely responsible for that war’s only great innovation, the tank), he gave free rein to his imagination in the Second War, collecting a group of inventive men who not only made realities of his own fancies, but also came up with a bewildering array of original weapons themselves. Anyone who enjoys either military history or problem-solving will like this book. The author was one of the top men in the whole operation, and obviously loved his job (and Churchill). The work was dangerous but fun: Candy balls and Alka Seltzer proved “just the right thing” for triggering devices in lethal weaponry, some very bright ideas became disasters, but an ingenious time was usually had by all, quite often by making fools of the British military bureaucracy.

JM

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J. P. McFadden

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Winston Churchill’s Toyshop: The Invention and Making of England’s Secret Weapons, by Stuart Macrae (Walker, 228 pp., $6.95). Very often great men are also great gadgeteers (although with, say, Aquinas, the gadgets were purely mental). Churchill was an outstanding example. His memory scarred by the dull-witted slaughter in WW I’s trenches (he was himself largely responsible for that war’s only great innovation, the tank), he gave free rein to his imagination in the Second War, collecting a group of inventive men who not only made realities of his own fancies, but also came up with a bewildering array of original weapons themselves. Anyone who enjoys either military history or problem-solving will like this book. The author was one of the top men in the whole operation, and obviously loved his job (and Churchill). The work was dangerous but fun: Candy balls and Alka Seltzer proved “just the right thing” for triggering devices in lethal weaponry, some very bright ideas became disasters, but an ingenious time was usually had by all, quite often by making fools of the British military bureaucracy.