Fifty Inventions That Shaped the Modern Economy
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Narrated by:
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Roger Davis
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By:
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Tim Harford
About this listen
A lively history seen through the 50 inventions that shaped it most profoundly, by the best-selling author of The Undercover Economist and Messy.
Who thought up paper money? What was the secret element that made the Gutenberg printing press possible? And what is the connection between The Da Vinci Code and the collapse of Lehman Brothers?
Fifty Inventions That Shaped the Modern Economy paints an epic picture of change in an intimate way by telling the stories of the tools, people, and ideas that had far-reaching consequences for all of us. From the plough to artificial intelligence, from Gillette's disposable razor to IKEA's Billy bookcase, best-selling author and Financial Times columnist Tim Harford recounts each invention's own curious, surprising, and memorable story.
Invention by invention, Harford reflects on how we got here and where we might go next. He lays bare often unexpected connections: how the bar code undermined family corner stores and why the gramophone widened inequality. In the process, he introduces characters who developed some of these inventions, profited from them, and were ruined by them, as he traces the principles that helped explain their transformative effects. The result is a wise and witty book of history, economics, and biography.
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Critic reviews
"One of the joys of Tim Harford’s Fifty Inventions That Shaped the Modern Economy is that it presents this perspective on economic growth so that the most casual reader can grasp it... It's great fun to dip into individual chapters of Fifty Inventions. Mr. Harford succeeds in teaching about productivity, economic growth, monopoly, regulation and other essential topics without resorting to technical terminology and intimidating charts and tables. Such a feat requires a kind of inventiveness in itself.” (Wall Street Journal)
“Tim Harford is a master at picking out the perfect little story that explains some huge economic principle... He’s been my go-to guy for learning about the economics and math behind the world at large... perfectly crafted to light up the pleasure centers of my nerd brain.” (Roman Mars, 99% Invisible)
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The modern American economy was the creation of four men: Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller, Jay Gould, and J. P. Morgan. They were the giants of the Gilded Age, a moment of riotous growth that established America as the richest, most inventive, and most productive country on the planet. Acclaimed author Charles R. Morris vividly brings these men and their times to life. The Tycoons tells the incredible story of how these four determined men wrenched the economy into the modern age, inventing a nation of full economic participation that could not have been imagined earlier.
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Good book wrong title
- By Hectoris on 10-06-16
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Americana
- A 400-Year History of American Capitalism
- By: Bhu Srinivasan
- Narrated by: Scott Brick, Bhu Srinivasan
- Length: 21 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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From the days of the Mayflower and the Virginia Company, America has been a place for people to dream, invent, build, tinker, and bet the farm in pursuit of a better life. Americana takes us on a 400-year journey of this spirit of innovation and ambition through a series of Next Big Things - the inventions, techniques, and industries that drove American history forward: from the telegraph, the railroad, guns, radio, and banking, to flight, suburbia, and sneakers, culminating with the Internet and mobile technology at the turn of the 21st century.
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Excellent history!
- By L. Maranto on 10-14-17
By: Bhu Srinivasan
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Capitalism in America
- A History
- By: Alan Greenspan, Adrian Wooldridge
- Narrated by: Ray Porter
- Length: 16 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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From the legendary former Fed Chairman and the acclaimed Economist writer and historian, the full, epic story of America's evolution from a small patchwork of threadbare colonies to the most powerful engine of wealth and innovation the world has ever seen.
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Explains a lot
- By Scott on 02-18-19
By: Alan Greenspan, and others
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Smaller Faster Lighter Denser Cheaper
- How Innovation Keeps Proving the Catastrophists Wrong
- By: Robert Bryce
- Narrated by: Steven Menasche
- Length: 9 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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In this provocative and optimistic rebuke to the catastrophists, Robert Bryce shows how innovation and the inexorable human desire to make things Smaller Faster Lighter Denser Cheaper is providing consumers with Cheaper and more abundant energy, Faster computing, Lighter vehicles, and myriad other goods. That same desire is fostering unprecedented prosperity, greater liberty, and yes, better environmental protection.
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I thought I was getting a book on the future.
- By Grant on 08-02-14
By: Robert Bryce
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The World Is Flat
- Further Updated and Expanded
- By: Thomas L. Friedman
- Narrated by: Oliver Wyman
- Length: 27 hrs and 15 mins
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When scholars write the history of the world twenty years from now, what will they say was the most crucial development in the first few years of the twenty-first century? The attacks on the World Trade Center on 9/11 and the Iraq war? Or the convergence of technology and events that allowed India, China, and so many other countries to become part of the global supply chain for services and manufacturing, creating an explosion of wealth in the middle classes of the world's two biggest nations?
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If you like cliches...
- By Jonathan Shultz on 09-08-07
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The Boom
- How Fracking Ignited the American Energy Revolution and Changed the World
- By: Russell Gold
- Narrated by: Patrick Lawlor
- Length: 11 hrs and 28 mins
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Russell Gold, a brilliant and dogged investigative reporter at The Wall Street Journal, has spent more than a decade reporting on one of the biggest stories of our time: the spectacular, world-changing rise of "fracking". Recognized as a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and a recipient of the Gerald Loeb Award for his work, Gold has traveled along the pipelines and into the hubs of this country’s energy infrastructure; he has visited frack sites from Texas to North Dakota; and he has conducted thousands of interviews with engineers and wildcatters, CEOs and roughnecks, environmentalists and politicians.
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Somehow the author manages to stay balanced
- By Emily C on 05-28-14
By: Russell Gold
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The Mobile Wave
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The Mobile Wave argues that the changes brought by mobile computing are so big and widespread that it’s impossible for us to see it all, even though we are all immersed in it. Saylor explains that the current generation of mobile smart phones and tablet computers has set the stage to become the universal computing platform for the world. In the hands of billions of people and accessible anywhere and anytime, mobile computers are poised to become an appendage of the human being and an essential tool for modern life.
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Commonplace knowledge peppered with buzzwords
- By Amazon Customer on 10-22-13
By: Michael Saylor
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The Rational Optimist
- How Prosperity Evolves
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Story
Life is getting better at an accelerating rate. Food availability, income, and life span are up; disease, child mortality, and violence are down all across the globe. Though the world is far from perfect, necessities and luxuries alike are getting cheaper; population growth is slowing; Africa is following Asia out of poverty; the Internet, the mobile phone, and container shipping are enriching people's lives as never before.
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Personal
- By Robert F. Jones on 09-15-17
By: Matt Ridley
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What's Mine Is Yours
- The Rise of Collaborative Consumption
- By: Roo Rogers, Rachel Botsman
- Narrated by: Kevin Foley
- Length: 8 hrs and 12 mins
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The recent changes in our economic landscape have only exposed and intensified a phenomenon: an explosion in sharing, bartering, lending, trading, renting, gifting, and swapping. From enormous marketplaces such as eBay and Craigslist to emerging sectors such as peer-to-peer lending (Zopa), "swap trading" (Swaptree), and car sharing (Zipcar), Collaborative Consumption is disrupting outdated modes of business and reinventing not only what we consume but how we consume.
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An Important Topic
- By Roy on 11-06-10
By: Roo Rogers, and others
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Garbology
- Our Dirty Love Affair with Trash
- By: Edward Humes
- Narrated by: Joe Barrett
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The average American produces 102 tons of garbage across a lifetime, and $50 billion in squandered riches are rolled to the curb each year. But our bins are just the starting point for a strange, impressive, mysterious, and costly journey that may also represent the greatest untapped opportunity of the century. In Garbology, Edward Humes investigates trash - what's in it; how much we pay for it; how we manage to create so much of it; and how some families, communities, and even nations are finding a way back from waste to discover a new kind of prosperity.
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A phenomenal read & serious eye-opener
- By Andy Feicht on 10-07-18
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The Prosperity Paradox
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Clayton M. Christensen, the author of such business classics as The Innovator’s Dilemma and the New York Times best-seller How Will You Measure Your Life, and coauthors Efosa Ojomo and Karen Dillon reveal why so many investments in economic development fail to generate sustainable prosperity and offers a groundbreaking solution for true and lasting change.
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Simplistic, lack of insights
- By D. Cameron on 05-24-21
By: Clayton M. Christensen, and others
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What listeners say about Fifty Inventions That Shaped the Modern Economy
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- D & C Kochersberger
- 12-02-17
Great book - odd narration
The content is an extremely interesting group of summaries tracking the author's estimation of history's most important inventions, some obvious and many not so much. I am sure we can all quibble with his choices to one extent or another, but it is as good of a list as any other I have read.
But, the narrator's choice of accent when reading quotations is distracting in its lack of any apparent authenticity. It is not enough to ruin the experience or anything; it's just very noticeable. At first I thought he was just ridiculing the particular speaker, but the accent seems applied to everyone quoted. It is like an odd amalgamation of an old time radio voice, Jimmy Stewart and a foreigners' impression of a southern American. Please just... Stop. To be fair though, when he is not suffering from this quirk, the reading was very well performed.
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- Momprof
- 12-28-22
Thought-provoking but lags a bit
There are some wonderful stories and throughlines in this book. I found it thought-provoking and worth sharing with friends. However, this is one example of a book where I believe the author would have been a better narrator, which goes against my usual opinion on that matter. The American accent of the narrator was quite distracting because it was so bad. And, although his narration was precise and technically strong, it lacked spark.
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- Jesse M
- 06-29-18
Amazing Book
This book is as great as Freakonomics, and possibly better. Tim Harford is one of the best writers and economists of our age and we're lucky to have his books to read. I was always fascinated by the inventions he discussed and I felt as though I finally appreciated so many aspects of our modern life that I had always seen, but never quite understood. Tim Harford unveils the fascinating economics and technological forces behind music, farming, the internet, and so much more. I highly recommend the book to anyone who is interested in freakonomics-type stuff. Also the narration was very good too. I always got excited to get back to listening to the book.
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- Andrew Darlow
- 12-22-22
A Very Good Overview of Many Great Inventions
I liked hearing the stories of these 50 important inventions. I particularly like the specific people who are covered as the stories unfold.
I learned some things that I had not known about some of the topics, despite watching or reading quite a bit about some of them in the past. One omission, based, admittedly, on my somewhat limited knowledge of the topic, was that there was no mention of hemp in the section of paper. If you look the topic up, I think you might find it fascinating (and a bit depressing).
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- Rahul Thathoo
- 01-10-18
Blindly listen to this book
Cannot Not recommend it highly. Super informative with insightful commentary. I learnt a lot from this book. I can see myself listening to it again many times.
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- Zach Brunson
- 06-19-23
Fun and Interesting
This is a great idea: lots of short and interesting discussions about inventions throughout history, but with a common thread to compare and contrast against - in this case, Tim Harford uses the economy as his foil for discussion. Definitely worth a read.
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- Jack Ruskin
- 05-19-24
Incredibly insightful.
Very interesting to hear about innovations from an economist’s perspective. This shows some important ways to improve
Innovation and make it more effective.
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- LawDog
- 01-24-23
Great book, narrator needs to stick to his own accent
Great book on content. Harford is always informative and this was a very educational journey. I was a little disappointed that he didn’t narrate it himself (especially given that he’s done it for other books and many podcasts) but I was pleased with the narrator, who’s got a good “book reading” voice. That is, until he decided to try to use an American accent for American voices. It’s just bizarre. It’s like something from a sitcom where a foreigner tries to pass as American but it just comes off hilariously bad. It’s not enough to downgrade the book as a whole, and it’s not even a knock on the narrator, who I otherwise liked. But I was embarrassed for the guy for much of the book.
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- Film Fanatic
- 05-01-22
Enjoyable book
I rarely read/listen to nonfiction, but I loved this one. I first found Tim Hartford's "Cautionary Tales" podcast, but loved this book even more than the podcast. I have to say, I'd prefer it if Tim Hartford had read this audiobook himself. I'm back on Audible browsing for more of his books.
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- Johnny Monsarrat
- 09-24-18
mildly interesting
This book contains many interesting stories, but also some that I'd heard before or seemed stretched out too much, filler. Some of the choices for 50 inventions seemed like they wouldn't have a place even on a top 100 list. Others were more ideas than inventions. solid but not perfect, 4 stars.
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2 people found this helpful