
A short history of the innovations that have shaped human progress
From Conversations
Published 2/20/2026

From Conversations
Published 2/20/2026
We rarely stop to wonder who invented the wheel, the alphabet or the printing press but so much of what feels fundamental to daily life was once a bold, untested idea, and someone had to think it up first.In The Shortest History of Innovation, Andrew Leigh traces that long thread of human ingenuity…