A Financial Times and Bloomberg Business Week Book of the Year

'Constantly surprising. It brims with innovations I didn't know about, as well as ones I thought I knew about but did not' The Times

From the tally-stick to Bitcoin, the canal lock to the jumbo jet, each invention in Tim Harford's fascinating new book has its own curious, surprising and memorable story, a vignette against a grand backdrop. Step by step, readers will start to understand where we are, how we got here, and where we might be going next.

'Packed with fascinating detail . . . Harford has an engagingly wry style and his book is a superb introduction to some of the most vital products of human ingenuity' Sunday Times

'Harford's richness of detail bespeaks skill both as an economic analyst and as a popular commentator. His sections on barbed wire, passports, the contraceptive pill, infant formula, the bar code and even that IKEA staple, the Billy bookcase, are well researched, racily written and genuinely thought-provoking . . . This is an entertaining book that might distract you from your gramophone for more than an evening and will find a secure place beside Harford's other books on your Billy bookcase' Times Literary Supplement