Ryan North: How to Invent Everything

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?

Don’t worry: in How to Invent Everything, bestselling author and time-travel enthusiast Ryan North has figured out the answers to those four questions — and more — just for you. This guide contains all the science, engineering, mathematics, art, music, philosophy, facts, and figures required for even the most clueless time traveler to build a civilization from the ground up. Your new world will be one in which humanity matured quickly and efficiently, instead of doing what we did (i.e., spending 200,000 years stumbling around without language, thinking disease was caused by weird smells, and living completely oblivious to the fact that tying a rock to a string would unlock navigating the entire world).

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 fun and entertaining as a good time-travel novel. It will make you smarter, more competent, and completely prepared to thrive — in any point in history. And, on the off chance you don’t one day find yourself stranded in time, this fascinating guide to the ideas and technologies that made us who we are today will at least allow you to make some really interesting cocktail-party small talk with a complete stranger.

Join us in the Rare Book Room as Ryan talks about his latest book! He’ll be joined in conversation by pals Christopher Hastings (Dr. McNinja, Gwenpool, Wet Hot American Summer) and Carly Monardo (Nick Jr., Cartoon Network, Magnet Theater).