"The Royal Institution's Christmas Lectures for Young People were begun in 1826 by Michael Faraday—one of Laithwaite's heroes—and Laithwaite gave the lectures in 1966. ...The 1966 lectures also appeared as a book, The Engineer in Wonderland. The title reflected the author's deep-seated belief that engineering was central to modern life: scientists can explain things, but almost every man-made object is the work of an engineer..."