Bunch of Amateurs: Inside America's Hidden World of Inventors, Tinkerers, and Job Creators What is it that drives the success of America and the identity of its people? Jack Hitt thinks it's because we're all a bunch of amateurs. America’s self-invented tinkerers are back at it in their metaphorical garages—fiddling with everything from solar-powered cars to space elevators. In Bunch of Amateurs, Jack Hitt draws a fascinating look at amateurs and their pursuits—from a tattooed young woman in the Bay Area trying to splice a jellyfish’s glow-in-the-dark gene into common yogurt to a space fanatic on the brink of developing the next generation of telescopes from his mobile home. Beginning with Ben Franklin’s kite, Hitt argues that history is bound up in a cycle of amateur surges, each one driving us to rediscover the true heart of the American dream. Amateur pursuits are too often criticized as outdated practices until a Mark Zuckerberg steps out of his dorm room with the rare but crucial success story. According to Hitt, we are poised at another frontier that will lead, once more, to the newest incarnation of the American dream. |
Contents
GUNGYWAMPING | 1 |
ONCE MORE TO THE GATES | 25 |
THE TRUTH ABOUT BIRDS | 48 |
A CONFEDERACY OF DABBLERS | 104 |
A COMEDY OF AMATEURS | 145 |
EYEING HEAVEN | 201 |
THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS | 249 |
Other editions - View all
Bunch of Amateurs: Inside America's Hidden World of Inventors, Tinkerers ... Jack Hitt No preview available - 2013 |
Common terms and phrases
Adovasio amateur ancient archaeology Arkansas asked astronomers bacteria Barron biohacking bird birder blog Bobe bones brain called Caucasoid century Clovis Clovis point Cornell Cowell create culture discovery Dobson Dobsonian European evidence exoplanets famous Fitz forest Foucault Test Franklin galaxies Gallagher garage gene Genet glass Gungywampers happened Harrison human idea improvisational Indians invented ivory-billed woodpecker Jack Hitt John Adams John Dobson Kennewick kids kind known look Lopez magazine massive mirror Native Americans never obsessed ornithologists Paleo-Indians Patterson pileated planet pre-Clovis professional Prum Robbins robot scientific scientists sense Sibley Sibley's sighting skeleton skull Solutrean star story swamp synthetic biology talk telescope tell theory there's thing thousand tiny tion told tree truth trying turn uncanny valley universe weekend woods word wrote