The Story of the Saxophone

What a truly wild life Adolphe Sax had. Who knows if the saxophone would have been invented if his father had not left him be? But also, maybe this ten-year-old boy would have been poisoned fewer than three times. Perhaps even zero times.

Even without the assorted tribulations of Adolphe's life, this was a fascinating book about how strong negative reactions to change are, and also how quickly those attitudes can change. Culture and demand are slippery things, and this is a really well-done tribute to an instrument and its inventor, with endpapers featuring dozens of famous saxophonists to boot. As 1) an adult 2) who does not think or care about saxophones at all, I was enamored.