“How to Invent Everything: A Survival Guide for the Stranded Time Traveller” by Ryan North

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Rating: 4/5 Stars

A fun book that uses the premise of a time traveller stranded in the past and having the make the best of things by starting off humanity on the path of civilisation. The means of doing this is by bypassing the trial and errors that humanity went through and going straight to the solutions needed to set up a working modern civilisation.

The book starts off with tips of the stranded time traveller to find out where and when he might be. Assuming the traveller is lucky and ends up in a certain time period where modern man was around but civilisation hasn’t been established yet, the book goes on with the basis of setting up a civilisation, namely getting a spoken and written language, a ‘rational’ system of numbers and establishing the scientific method.

Farming is then introduced so that people’s basis calorie needs are satisfied and can devote energy to other matters. Units of measurements (length, weights, etc.) are added, followed by more details on how to farm more productively (selective breeding and crop rotation). A list of plants and animals that are useful are also given.

Once people can be properly fed, industry is then added. Basic farming technology is added (the plough and harness), followed by ways to preserve food. Mining machinery is added, leading to more machines and the beginnings of the industrial age all the way to electrical machines.

Other basic items of civilisation are introduced like clocks, thermometers, sewing, birth control, housing materials (cement and concrete), paper and transport (bicycles, boats, airplanes) are added. The basics of medicine and first aid are added and the book ends of ‘luxuries’ like music and the basics of computers.

With that, the stranded time traveller might be able to ‘kick-start’ humanity on the path of civilisation and end up where he or she started, with the abilities to build a time machine to go back in time.

Book read from 2020/02/18 to 2020/03/04