How to invent everything

Stranded in history? This is the book for you

Author: Ryan North

Publisher: Virgin Books UK / Riverhead Books US Price: £16.99 / $27

Release date: Out now

As we looked at the contents of Ryan North’s light-hearted trip (literally) through history, we laughed out loud. It’s not often that a contents page makes you laugh, but then most history books don’t have chapters titled ‘Major schools of philosophy summed up in a few quippy sentences about high-fives’. We flicked straight to the page, and to our surprise and joy the chapter quite literally did what the title had promised.

This ‘history’ book is unlike any you will have ever read. In fact, it reads more like science fiction in some places. The premise is that this is an instruction manual for a time machine that gets stuck in the past. Within ten pages you’re told that if it’s broken, you won’t be able to fix it. Instead it gives you all the instructions on how to accelerate human evolution.

It works brilliantly, especially when coupled with North’s (sorry, we mean Chronotix Solutions’ copywriter’s) relaxed and humorous tone. At one point, when describing how to splint a broken bone, the author says how painful it is, and therefore if you do it to yourself it is extremely badass and you should definitely tell people afterwards.

There are excellent illustrations, an astonishing breadth of topics and enough science to keep most readers entertained. Above all, this book is an exceptionally entertaining read and well worth a look.