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How to Invent Everything

A Survival Guide for the Stranded Time Traveler

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How to Invent Everything

Written by: Ryan North
Narrated by: Ryan North
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About this listen

 An NPR Best Book of 2018

"How to Invent Everything is such a cool book. It's essential reading for anyone who needs to duplicate an industrial civilization quickly." --Randall Munroe, xkcd creator and New York Times-bestselling author of What If?

The only book you need if you're going back in time

What would you do if a time machine hurled you thousands of years into the past. . . and then broke? How would you survive? Could you improve on humanity's original timeline? And how hard would it be to domesticate a giant wombat?

With this book as your guide, you'll survive--and thrive--in any period in Earth's history. Bestselling author and time-travel enthusiast Ryan North shows you how to invent all the modern conveniences we take for granted--from first principles. This illustrated manual contains all the science, engineering, art, philosophy, facts, and figures required for even the most clueless time traveler to build a civilization from the ground up. Deeply researched, irreverent, and significantly more fun than being eaten by a saber-toothed tiger, How to Invent Everything will make you smarter, more competent, and completely prepared to become the most important and influential person ever. You're about to make history. . . better. History & Culture World Time Travel Technology Witty Survival
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Most Relevant
I love Time Travel, and this book was frickin awesome.
Taught me a lot too.
I absolutely recommend it.

This Book is an asset to any Time Traveller.

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This book would be enjoyable to anyone and it is a must have for any doomsday prepper. Definitely a book to read more than once just to get the best out of all the information in there. My favourite so far.

Most interesting survival book

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Some day, your time machine might get irreparably damaged and Doc won't be around to help you. So, take control of your timeline and get back any creature comforts you could be missing whether you're in the stone age or find yourself lost during the crusades. This guide is to time travel what the Hitch Hikers Guide is to the galaxy.

A must for the glovebox of every DeLorean!

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I felt this book had a pleasant sense of humour which paired quite nicely with the silly theme of the book. I learned a fair few things I didn't know before and was happy to follow along as Ryan described I might one day reinvent everything.
10/10 would read again

A good way to make the day go by

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If you like Salt-N-Pepa’s “Shoop”, and you should, or just love learning things in funny and original ways, this book is for you. The author uses plenty of humour combined with precise, but not inaccessible language, to give you a real insight into how human society developed and how you can do it faster.

Hilarious and funny

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