INVENTION AND INNOVATION

u003cbu003eFrom the u003ciu003eNew York Timesu003c/iu003e-bestselling author, a new volume on the history of human ingenuity—and its attendant breakthroughs and busts.u003c/bu003eu003cbru003eu003cbru003eThe world is never finished catching up with Vaclav Smil. In his latest and perhaps most readable book, u003ciu003eInvention and Innovationu003c/iu003e, 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.u003cbru003eu003cbru003eDrawing on his vast breadth of scientific and historical knowledge, Smil explains the difference between invention and innovation. He then looks at three different types of inventions.u003cbru003eu003cbru003eInventions that failed to dominate as promised:u003cbru003eu003culu003eu003cliu003eAirshipsu003c/liu003eu003cliu003eNuclear fissionu003c/liu003eu003cliu003eSupersonic flightu003c/liu003eu003c/ulu003eu003cbru003eInventions that turned disastrous:u003cbru003eu003culu003eu003cliu003eLeaded gasoline u003c/liu003eu003cliu003eDDTu003c/liu003eu003cliu003eChlorofluorocarbonsu003c/liu003eu003c/ulu003eu003cbru003eInventions we have long been promised (and that would be highly beneficial):u003cbru003eu003culu003eu003cliu003eTravel in vacuum (hyperloop)u003c/liu003eu003cliu003eNitrogen-fixing cerealsu003c/liu003eu003cliu003eNuclear fusionu003c/liu003eu003c/ulu003eu003cbru003eFinally, he offers a “wish list” of inventions that we most urgently need to confront the staggering challenges of the twenty-first century.u003cbru003eu003cbru003eFilled 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.