In Hollywood biopics, inspiration strikes great inventors like a bolt of lightning.

An accident, a random thought, an apparently unconnected remark - any of these things can provide the trigger that the screen hero of heroine needs to perfect an invention.

The movies make it seem all too easy, of course, but a surprising number of inventions really have sprung from just such a "eureka" moment. This title looks at the instances when some of the world's greatest inventions were conceived.

It demonstrates how sheer creative genius enables a few lucky individuals to look right through the problem, and come up with a solution that has eluded rivals.

Also considered are other aspects of innovative technology, such as the simultaneous and independent invention of a new device by researchers on opposite sides of the world. Conversely, some inventions take years of struggle and endeavour and show how (in Thomas Edison's words) genius is "1 per cent inspiration and 99 per cent perspiration".

The book dedicates a section to these non-eureka moments.