Invention and Innovation

A Brief History of Hype and Failure


Edition: US - Paperback / softback
Price:
Sale priceHK$131.00 Regular priceHK$200.00
Stock:
Re-stocking soon
Product Info
English
232 pages 5.69 x 8.75 x 0.6 in
Approx. weight: 0.69 lb
Publication date: 03 Sep,2024
Barcode: 9780262551014 The MIT Press

More books in English for Age -
  • History of engineering and technology
  • Inventions and inventors
  • History of science

Description

By: Vaclav Smil     
From the New York Times-bestselling author, a new volume on the history of human ingenuity—and its attendant breakthroughs and busts.


Included in BILL GATES's 2023 Holiday Reading List
Included in Lit Hub’s Most Anticipated Books of 2023
Included in The Next Big Idea Club’s February 2023 Must-Read Books

"Every Smil book that I own is marked up with lots of notes that I take while reading. Invention and Innovation is no exception. Even when I disagree with him, I learn a lot from him...he always strengthens my thinking."
—Bill Gates, Gates Notes

The world is never finished catching up with Vaclav Smil. In his latest and perhaps most readable book, Invention and Innovation, the prolific author—a favorite of Bill Gates—pens an insightful and fact-filled jaunt through the history of human invention. Impatient with the hype that so often accompanies innovation, Smil offers in this book a clear-eyed corrective to the overpromises that accompany everything from new cures for diseases to AI. He reminds us that even after we go quite far along the invention-development-application trajectory, we may never get anything real to deploy. Or worse, even after we have succeeded by introducing an invention, its future may be marked by underperformance, disappointment, demise, or outright harm.

Drawing on his vast breadth of scientific and historical knowledge, Smil explains the difference between invention and innovation, and looks not only at inventions that failed to dominate as promised (such as the airship, nuclear fission, and supersonic flight), but also at those that turned disastrous (leaded gasoline, DDT, and chlorofluorocarbons). And finally, most importantly, he offers a “wish list” of inventions that we most urgently need to confront the staggering challenges of the twenty-first century.

Filled with engaging examples and pragmatic approaches, this book is a sobering account of the folly that so often attends human ingenuity—and how we can, and must, better align our expectations with reality.

You may also like

熱銷中 Top Trending

View all
Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Hot Mess (Book 19)
Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Hot Mess (Book 19)
Sale priceHK$85.00 Regular priceHK$210.00
In stock
The Midnight Library-Modern and contemporary fiction: general and literary-買書書 BuyBookBook
The Midnight Library
Sale priceFrom HK$79.00 Regular priceHK$105.00
Re-stocking soon
Diary of a Young Girl, The (Paperback) (Anne Frank) PRHUS
Diary of a Young Girl, The (Paperback) (Anne Frank)
Sale priceHK$57.00 Regular priceHK$80.00
In stock
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow
Sale priceFrom HK$77.00 Regular priceHK$120.00
In stock
The Trumpet of the Swan (E.B. White) Harpercollins US
The Trumpet of the Swan (E.B. White)
Sale priceHK$60.00 Regular priceHK$72.00
In stock
Lessons in Chemistry-Fiction: general and literary-買書書 BuyBookBook
Lessons in Chemistry
Sale priceFrom HK$86.00 Regular priceHK$130.00
In stock
Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, The (Taylor Jenkins Reid)-Fiction: 歷史故事 Historical-買書書 BuyBookBook
Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, The (Taylor Jenkins Reid)
Sale priceHK$75.00 Regular priceHK$117.00
In stock
Football School Star Players-Nonfiction: 人物傳記 Biography-買書書 BuyBookBook
Football School Star Players
Sale priceHK$57.00 Regular priceHK$91.00
In stock
Velveteen Rabbit, The-Fiction: 兒童繪本 Picture Books-買書書 BuyBookBook
Velveteen Rabbit, The
Sale priceHK$53.00 Regular priceHK$60.00
In stock
Football School Terrific Teams (Alex Bellos)-Fiction: 歷史故事 Historical-買書書 BuyBookBook
Football School Terrific Teams (Alex Bellos)
Sale priceHK$57.00 Regular priceHK$91.00
In stock
Guinness World Records 2025-Nonfiction: 參考百科 Reference & Encyclopedia-買書書 BuyBookBook
Guinness World Records 2025
Sale priceHK$195.00 Regular priceHK$286.00
In stock
Billy and the Mini Monsters #16 Monsters at Easter
Billy and the Mini Monsters #16 Monsters at Easter
Sale priceHK$46.00 Regular priceHK$84.00
In stock
Holes (Louis Sachar) PRHUS
Holes
Sale priceFrom HK$59.00 Regular priceHK$81.00
In stock
Atomic Habits : the life-changing million-copy #1 bestseller (James Clear)-Nonfiction: 心理勵志 Self-help-買書書 BuyBookBook
Atomic Habits (EXP)
Sale priceFrom HK$125.00 Regular priceHK$180.00
In stock
Football Superstars - Messi Rules (Simon Mugford)-Nonfiction: 人物傳記 Biography-買書書 BuyBookBook
Football Superstars - Messi Rules (Simon Mugford)
Sale priceHK$59.00 Regular priceHK$91.00
In stock
Wink-Children’s / Teenage fiction: General and modern fiction-買書書 BuyBookBook
Wink
Sale priceFrom HK$59.00 Regular priceHK$90.00
In stock
Football Superstars - Mbappe Rules (Simon Mugford)-Nonfiction: 人物傳記 Biography-買書書 BuyBookBook
Football Superstars - Mbappe Rules (Simon Mugford)
Sale priceHK$59.00 Regular priceHK$91.00
In stock
Match Attax Annual 2025 (Match Attax)-Children’s / Teenage general interest: Hobbies, quizzes, toys and games-買書書 BuyBookBook
Match Attax Annual 2025 (Match Attax)
Sale priceHK$79.00 Regular priceHK$130.00
In stock
Gangsta Granny (Paperback)(David Walliams)(Tony Ross) Harpercollins (UK)
Gangsta Granny (Paperback)(David Walliams)(Tony Ross)
Sale priceHK$62.00 Regular priceHK$96.00
In stock
Billionaire Boy (Paperback) (David Walliams) (Tony Ross) Harpercollins (UK)
Billionaire Boy (Paperback) (David Walliams) (Tony Ross)
Sale priceHK$60.00 Regular priceHK$96.00
In stock
Bad Guys, The #14 in They're Bee-Hind You! (Aaron Blabey) Scholastic
Bad Guys, The #14 in They're Bee-Hind You! (Aaron Blabey)
Sale priceHK$29.11 Regular priceHK$63.00
In stock
Mac B Kid Spy #03 Top Secret Smackdown (Paperback)(UK) (Mac Barnett) Scholastic UK
Mac B Kid Spy #03 Top Secret Smackdown (Paperback)(UK) (Mac Barnett)
Sale priceHK$59.00 Regular priceHK$84.00
In stock
Wings of Fire #01 The Dragonet Prophecy (Paperback)(Tui T. Sutherland) - 買書書 BuyBookBook
Wings of Fire #01 The Dragonet Prophecy (Tui T. Sutherland)
Sale priceHK$62.00 Regular priceHK$72.00
In stock
Wuthering Heights-Fiction: 經典傳統 Classic & Traditional-買書書 BuyBookBook
Wuthering Heights
Sale priceHK$79.00 Regular priceHK$117.00
In stock
Longman Weekly English Gramma Exercises (with Gramma Video)-Supplemental: 英文科 English-買書書 BuyBookBook
Longman Weekly English Gramma Exercises (with Gramma Video)
Sale priceHK$71.00 Regular priceHK$83.00
In stock
World's Worst Children, The #1 (Black and White version)-Fiction: 幽默搞笑 Humorous-買書書 BuyBookBook
World's Worst Children, The #1 (Black and White version)
Sale priceHK$63.00 Regular priceHK$104.00
In stock
The Great Detective Sherlock Holmes#1 The Phantom Cry-Fiction: 偵探懸疑 Detective & Mystery-買書書 BuyBookBook
The Great Detective Sherlock Holmes#1 The Phantom Cry
Sale priceHK$58.00 Regular priceHK$68.00
In stock

Recently viewed