Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

A fascinating insight into the designs that have shaped our century, this at-a-glance guide takes us through a chronologically organized one-hundred-year progression of the world's most influential designs. The author has selected a classic piece of industrial or applied design for each year of the century. He discusses the origin of each design and explains why it was a classic of its time, citing key cultural, social, and political events that place each of the designs in an historical context.

Some of the designs that have changed and shaped our lives include: Eastman's beloved "Brownie" camera (1900); the shapely Coca-Cola bottle (1915); the "Butterfly" chair (1938); the bombastic "Model 1015" Wurlitzer jukebox (1947); the "Selectric" electric typewriter (1961); and spanning the remaining years of the century, from the 1960s through the 1980s, the impossible-to-imagine-life-without items like the indispensable ballpoint pen, electric razor, food processor, portable radio-cassette, and computer mouse. The book's concluding entries feature cutting-edge home furnishings and appliances of the 1990s.