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How to Invent Everything
How to Invent Everything: A Survival Guide for the Stranded Time Traveler | Ryan North
Get ready to make history. . . better. What would you do if you had a time machine that took you hundreds or thousands of years into the past . . . and then broke? How would you survive? Could you improve on civilization's original timeline? And how hard would it be to domesticate a giant wombat? In How to Invent Everything, bestselling author and time-travel enthusiast Ryan North answers all these questions so you don't have to. This guide contains all the science, engineering, mathematics, art, music, philosophy, facts, and figures required for even the most clueless stranded time traveler to build a civilization from the ground up. It will be one in which humanity matured quickly and efficiently, instead of spending 200,000 years stumbling around in the dark without language, not knowing that tying a rock to a string would unlock navigating the entire world, and thinking disease was caused by weird smells. How to Invent Everything is a deeply researched history of the key technologies that made each stage of human civilization possible (from writing and farming to buttons and birth control), but it's as entertaining as a good time-travel novel. It will make you smarter, more competent, and completely prepared either to be hurled back in time or to make fascinating cocktail-party small talk with a complete stranger.
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eol
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Mehso-so

Sometimes, the research here is only surface-level—the facts mildly suspicious—so if I‘m ever stranded in time, I won‘t trust this book further than I can throw it. Also, while both the premise—a manual from the future for when your time machine malfunctions, written by its shady manufacturer—and its execution are fun, parts of it dragged on, maybe because of all the footnotes. Still, I mostly enjoyed myself.

3.0/5

#nonfiction #science #history

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xicanti
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My aunt‘s coming to visit later this month and it‘s important to feed tasty things to your loved ones, so I made brownies (her fave) and sour cream coffee cake (my mum‘s fave) while I finished the tagged book. It ends with an audio-exclusive appendix on how to invent apple pie and ice cream. Totally appropriate for a spot of #audiobaking, even if you‘re an apple pie denier like me.

(I don‘t HATE it or anything, but it doesn‘t excite me.)

tpixie Yum! 3y
BkClubCare Hey! How'd I miss this post that mentions #applepie? 3y
xicanti @BkClubCare this is a great mystery of life. 3y
40 likes3 comments
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xicanti
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I took an #audiowalk with a free coffee and the tagged book, which is super fun. It‘s a great resource if you want to know just a little bit about all the plants, animals, technologies, and social systems humans have found useful throughout time. There‘s a great segment where Ryan North slags off Fahrenheit, too. I respect that SO MUCH.

Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks Beautiful 💙💙💙 3y
41 likes2 comments
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glitterkitty459
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Pickpick

This was a really cool nonfiction book! It's written in such a funny and engaging way. (Though I do admit I skimmed through some of the more technical chapters)

I was thinking this would be an awesome video game; like you would go to a random point in the past and have to invent things...

😁📚

88 likes6 stack adds
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NotCool
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If you look around yourself and see horses or protohorses (henceforth: “horsies”), great news: you and your civilization are playing on easy mode. If you don‘t see any horsies, look for substitutes. Image from https://tinyurl.com/y49rytwf

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The.Intentional.Reader
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Amazingly cool and humorous nonfiction book that reads as a repair manual for a stranded time traveler after his time machine malfunctions.

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Jen2
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Pickpick

Good fun!

98 likes5 stack adds
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Waynegjr
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2018 honorable mentions part 2.

How to Invent Everything by Ryan North
The Only Story by Julian Barnes
The Consuming Fire by John Scalzi
Eternal Life by Dora Horn

emtobiasz Ooh, I‘ve been looking at the Ryan North book as a Christmas present for my fiancé. Glad to see you liked it! 6y
Waynegjr @emtobiasz oh it‘s wonderful, especially for the Mental Floss type. Very funny and very well researched 6y
50 likes2 comments
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Expandingbookshelf
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Accurate

4 likes1 stack add
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Lauredhel
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Book mail! A Xmas present for my kid.

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RebelGrrrl
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My copy of Ryan North's How to Invent Everything arrived! It also came in a small box which pleased my cat greatly so everybody wins! Now excuse me, I'm going to learn to invent everything just in case I get stuck in the past ;-) #goodmailday #newbooks

5 likes1 stack add
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Waynegjr
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Is this my favorite book now?

33 likes2 stack adds
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Leftik
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Third of three #alaa18 haul pics: the rest!

tonyahoswalt Ah! I didn't think there were many other Littens at ALA! 6y
Leftik @tonyahoswalt I‘m not sure it even counts for how short my time was there!!!! 6y
5 likes2 comments
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Liberty
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Riverhead Books outdo themselves with each new catalog they send. This time, it‘s a wooden puzzle game to represent some of their big upcoming titles! 💯 📚❤️

jmtrivera So clever! 6y
114 likes6 stack adds1 comment