How We Got to Now

Six Innovations That Made the Modern World

| 4.35 | 12,415 ratings and reviews

Recommended by James Altucher, Bill Gross, Chris Dixon, and 3 others. See all reviews

Ranked #26 in Invention, Ranked #46 in History Of Science — see more rankings.

From the New York Times–bestselling author of Where Good Ideas Come From and Everything Bad Is Good for You, a new look at the power and legacy of great ideas.In this illustrated history, Steven Johnson explores the history of innovation over centuries, tracing facets of modern life (refrigeration, clocks, and eyeglass lenses, to name a few) from their creation by hobbyists, amateurs, and entrepreneurs to their unintended historical consequences. Filled with surprising stories of accidental genius and brilliant mistakes—from the French publisher who invented the phonograph before... more
Buy on Amazon

Reviews and Recommendations

We've comprehensively compiled reviews of How We Got to Now from the world's leading experts.

James Altucher Founder/StockPickrAlso add to this: “How We Got to Now” by Steven Johnson. Basically: don’t believe the myth of the lonely genius. Ideas come from a confluence of history, “the adjacent possible” specific geographic locations, etc. The connections Johnson makes are brilliant. For instance, The Gutenberg Press (which, in itself, was invented because of improvements in sewing looms), made everyone realize they had bad vision. So the science of lenses was created. So microscopes were eventually created. So germs were eventually discovered. So modern medical science was discovered. And so on. Johnson is a thinker... (Source)

Bill Gross Founder/IdealabThis book really showed me the amazing pathways that led to innovations that make our lives work today. The stories are told almost like a dramatic mystery to make the history come to life with excitement and aha moments. (Source)

Chris Dixon Recommends this book

Rankings by Category

How We Got to Now is ranked in the following categories:

Similar Books

If you like How We Got to Now, check out these similar top-rated books:

Learn: What makes Shortform summaries the best in the world?

Learn More