From the New York Times-bestselling author, a volume on the history of human ingenuity and its attendant breakthroughs and busts—now available in paperback
The world is never finished catching up with Vaclav Smil. In Invention and Innovation, his latest and perhaps most readable book—now available in paperback, the prolific author 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.
Invention and Innovation in the media
The New Yorker featured Smil in their “Person of Interest” profile series.
An excerpt from the book on exponential growth in computer technology was published in the Wall Street Journal.
Smil contributed a list of the 12 innovations we need to save the planet for New Scientist.
An excerpt from the book on the short-sighted economic reasoning that led to leaded gas was published in Engadget.
Bill Gates reviewed the book and wrote that Smil “always strengthens [his] thinking.”
Politico covered Invention and Innovation and said that Smil “puts a sharp focus on the hype cycle that drives so many tech innovations.”
Kirkus Reviews called Invention and Innovation “an informative, entertaining package from a gifted, original thinker.”
Invention and Innovation is “a solid corrective to the notion that human inventiveness can tackle any challenge,” writes Publishers Weekly.
LitHub reviewed the book in its list of the most anticipated books of 2023, adding that “Smil reminds us that human beings tend to fail a lot more than they succeed.”