How to Invent Everything by Ryan North: Civilisation as Shared Knowledge
At first glance, Ryan North’s How to Invent Everything looks like a prepper’s dream—or perhaps a post-apocalyptic one. It is not really a guide to surviving disaster, however, so much as a handbook for reconstructing civilisation after its accumulated knowledge has become inaccessible. That distinction matters. The book is less concerned with stockpiling food or building a bunker than with a more interesting question: how much of the modern world could be rebuilt by someone who knew the right principles but had none of the necessary infrastructure? And no, reading it did not turn me into a prepper. Cover image: How to Invent Everything by Ryan North, published by Riverhead Books. Used here for purposes of review and commentary. A Manual from Another Timeline The book presents itself as an emergency manual supplied with the FC3000 time machine. If the machine fails and strands its user in the past, the manual is supposed to help them survive, accelerate...