this anthology of the almost-accomplished has been on my to-read list for 14 years. a delight. pure ice cream.

This is a fascinating book about people and their tenuous claim to fame. I liked learning about the musical language "Solresol," promoted by Jean Francois Sudre and the use of blue glass to heal as promoted by A.J. Pleasanton.

This was an absolutely engaging and entertaining book. The perfect blend of history and whimsy. These formerly famous characters are often well connected to still famous names, but they have fallen to history. Collins tells their stories in an easy to read format that makes you curious to learn more. And he kindly provides an additional reading list, which is primarily full of rare books in this instance. I would highly recommend this book!

God loves a trier. A really charming book about those who almost changed the world

I very much enjoyed this. I didn't think that I'd be this interested in reading about failed ideas. I am left with wanting more. I wonder if there are other books with a similar theme, because I'd like to read them!

A bit of a disappointment this one. A collection on essays about obscure types who "almost" left a legacy behind but have slipped away into the unknown--from the Concord grape guy to a guy who spent his life trying to find habitable holes IN the earth to a guy who secretly built a 400 foot subway line under NY (complete with station!) in the mid 1850s w/out anyone above knowing (this was my favorite essay).

I love the quirky people but found this book as a whole just kind of dull. If a book is dull, that's kind of hard to hide from. Dull is dull no matter the quirk level.

This book has provided more conversation fodder for me than anything else I've ever read.

Delightful stories about obscure, amazing, strange people who were often vastly famous in their own time but in a century or two became entirely forgotten. The last couple entries are very much lesser, but the book is still great overall.

This ended up being SUCH a mixed bag for me. Some chapters I genuinely had fun with, but then again it was too much of a miscellaneous collection for me, especially since there were parts that totally failed to hold my interest. It’s more of a 2.5 but really, it’s right in the middle of the scale because I don’t know what to make of it as a whole.