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The Strangest Idea in the World
  • Published: 25 April 2027
  • ISBN: 9780241732205
  • Imprint: Viking Non Fiction
  • Format: Hardback
  • Pages: 416
  • RRP: $55.00

The Strangest Idea in the World

A Quest To Find The Secret Source of All Discoveries

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A fascinating and groundbreaking non-fiction adventure, by a stellar experimental psychologist, on how scientific discovery really happens

Here’s the biggest mystery in human history: Why did it take us 300,000 years to invent the toilet? In fact, why did discovering everything take so long? Why do some discoveries and inventions happen so much faster than others?

Adam Mastroianni, a brilliant populariser with contagious enthusiasm, draws on the little-known scientific histories - from the invention of the wheelie suitcase and the toilet to big medical advances - to show five stages of discovery that lead to a breakthrough, like building a tolerance for weirdness and realising that nobody actually knows what they’re doing.

In his debut book Mastroianni offers an answer: it’s hard for humans to discover things because every stage of discovery is, in the short term, a bad idea. We didn’t evolve to do it. But there's good news. We can build a better world—if we embrace the strange.

The Strangest Idea in the World is unlike any other book. With hidden pages, visual tricks, secret endings and interactivity throughout, it busts myths about science, celebrating curious people during an adventure of seeking the truth.
  • Published: 25 April 2027
  • ISBN: 9780241732205
  • Imprint: Viking Non Fiction
  • Format: Hardback
  • Pages: 416
  • RRP: $55.00
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About the author

Adam Mastroianni

Adam Mastroanni is an experimental psychologist – with a PhD from Harvard, where he studied with widely-acclaimed author Professor Daniel Gilbert – and a comedy teacher and writer. He now focuses on his Substack, Experimental History. Adam has also written for The New York Times and The Atlantic.
AM

Praise for The Strangest Idea in the World

Through discovery and innovation we achieve miracles. But people show remarkably little curiosity about this aspect of human history: what are discovery and innovation, why do they happen to us and not to rabbits or rocks and why don't they happen more often? Adam Mastroianni's ingenious and delightful book explores how we have to fight our own natures to change the world for the better.

Matt Ridley, author of How Innovation Works