Innovations

From the New York Times-bestselling author, a new volume on the history of human ingenuity—and its attendant breakthroughs and busts. The world is never finished catching up with Vaclav Smil. In his latest and perhaps most digestible book, Invention and Innovation, the prolific author—a...

How much should you pay for a return trip to the moon? How are Winnie the Pooh and the artificial heart related? Did teenagers exist before 1950? If not, who invented them? James May's 20th Century answers all these questions and more. In this exclusive download released to tie-in with the BBC...

Brought to you by Penguin. “Tanks are like dinner jackets”, an Australian general once commented, “you don’t need them very often, but when you do, nothing else will do.” An authoritative history of the tank and the remarkable individuals who designed them and fought in them, from a...

From an acclaimed Wall Street Journal reporter comes the first biography of the enigmatic leader of the AI revolution, charting his ascent within the tech world as well as his ambitions for this powerful new technology.

This riveting biography from the American Bar Association visits the spectacular life of Edwin Land, breakthrough inventor. At the time of his death, he stood third on the list of our most prolific inventors, behind only Thomas Edison and one of Edison's colleagues. Land's most famous...

Bloomsbury presents Superspy Science by Kathryn Harkup, read by Nicky Diss. ‘Witty and well researched.’ THE TIMES ‘A scientific dose of reality.’ MAIL ON SUNDAY ‘A fun and comprehensive exploration.’ LINDA McROBBIE ‘Endlessly fascinating.’ LIBRARY JOURNAL The science behind...

For decades, the tech industry has overwhelmingly been just a software industry. Silicon Valley’s big win was disrupting Yellow Cab. What about disrupting General Motors? General Mills? General Electric?

Nikola Tesla was a major contributor to the electrical revolution that transformed daily life at the turn of the 20th century....

From gunpowder to generative AI, the forces of disruption are repeatedly rewriting the rules of business, society, and human possibility. But what drives these revolutionary changes? In Epic Disruptions, innovation expert Scott Anthony weaves together the stories behind history's most...

One of our most innovative, popular thinkers takes on-in exhilarating style-one of our key questions: Where do good ideas come from?...

From the internationally acclaimed author of MINI PHILOSOPHY, here are 150 big ideas in bite-sized chunks. Every so often, a new idea comes along that changes everything. Vaccinations. Relativity. Fascism. Can we imagine a world before the invention of writing? What would Christianity have...

The science fiction of the 1960s promised us a future remade by technological innovation: We’d vacation in geodesic domes on Mars, have meaningful conversations with computers, and drop our children off at school in flying cars. Fast-forward 60 years....

Paul Kennedy, award-winning author of The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers and one of today’s most renowned historians, now provides a new and unique look at how World War II was won....

Over a 60-year career in public affairs, Vannevar Bush—engineer, inventor, educator, and public face of government-funded science—sought to eliminate roadblocks to innovation in science and technology....

Written for professionals, students, technologists, and all curious minds, this book demystifies complex AI concepts while offering actionable strategies for navigating rapid AI advancements.

This isn't a tech-babble narration or AI's self-portrait. It's an easy-to-grasp audio guide aimed at anyone and everyone—parents, executives, retirees—ready to embrace the future....

In this unique guide, you’re not just hearing about innovation—you're learning how to do it from the people behind some of the biggest breakthroughs of the last 50 years at one of the most influential and valuable companies in the world. Are there innovation truisms that hold from one...

The science behind the traits and quirks that drive creative geniuses to make spectacular breakthroughs What really distinguishes the people who literally change the world -- those creative geniuses who give us one breakthrough after another? What differentiates Marie Curie or Elon Musk from the...

The only contemporary history of the birth of Silicon Valley - from the reporter who had a ringside seat to it all....

A journey inside the minds that build our world. Dubai's Burj Khalifa - the world's tallest building - looks nothing like Microsoft's Office Suite, and digital surround sound doesn't work like a citywide telecommunication grid. Yet these engineering feats have much in common. Applied Minds...

A history of the engineering marvels behind one of America's most innovative and beloved entertainment experiences When Disneyland opened to the public in 1955, it demystified the hidden world of factory automation through its extraordinary new attractions. In this fascinating book, Roland...

Named a Best Book of 2019 by NPR “How might we mitigate losses caused by shortsightedness? Bina Venkataraman, a former climate adviser to the Obama administration, brings a storyteller’s eye to this question. . . . She is also deeply informed about the relevant science.” —The New York...

Written in his early 60s, Tesla looks back on the events that shaped his life as the inventor of our modern world....

The conventional wisdom on how technology will change the future is wrong. Mark Mills lays out a radically different and optimistic vision for what's really coming. The mainstream forecasts fall into three camps. One considers today as the "new normal," where ordering a ride or food on a...

This cutting-edge guide not only shows how AI is transforming our careers, lives, businesses, and more, but also provides easy, actionable steps to make AI work for us.

Experience the world's most promising technological innovations and the science behind them in this entertaining photo-rich book. For futurists and sci-tech enthusiasts, every moment reveals advances powering our future, with on-site interviews, deep explainers, and helpful visuals.

A rollicking, enlightening examination of humanity’s changing relationship to creativity, written from the perspectives of the Greek Muses. The thing that sets humans apart from other animals is our ability to create, to imagine how one thing could become something else. For millennia, art and...

Uncover the thrilling popular science history of how brilliant inventors conquered darkness to build the modern world. Perfect for your daily commute, this engaging historical journey transports you from the smoky, fire-lit nights of the past into the high-energy laboratories of the nineteenth...

Master the captivating engineering history of civilization through its most revolutionary mechanical invention. Perfect for an enlightening morning commute, this awe-inspiring journey transforms everyday physics into an engaging narrative of human ingenuity. Without relying on complex equations...

Step into a dramatic narrative history of the technological breakthrough that empowered humanity to conquer the dark. Perfect for your evening commute or late-night listening, this illuminating journey traces our leap from flickering tallow flames to the humming power grids of the industrial age...