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Ingenious: A True Story of Invention, Automotive Daring, and the Race to Revive America
An epic tale of invention, in which ordinary people’s lives are changed forever by their quest to engineer a radically new kind of car In 2007, the X Prize Foundation announced that it would give $10 million to anyone who could build a safe, mass-producible car that could travel 100 miles on the energy equivalent of a gallon of gas. The challenge attracted more than one hundred teams from all over the world, including dozens of amateurs. Many designed their cars entirely from scratch, rejecting decades of thinking about what a car should look like. Jason Fagone follows four of those teams from the build stage to the final race and beyond—into a world in which destiny hangs on a low drag coefficient and a lug nut can be a beautiful talisman. The result is a gripping story of crazy collaboration, absurd risks, colossal hopes, and poignant losses. In an old pole barn in central Illinois, childhood sweethearts hack together an electric-powered dreamboat, using scavenged parts, forging their own steel, and burning through their life savings. In Virginia, an impassioned entrepreneur and his hand-picked squad of speed freaks pool their imaginations and build a car so light that you can push it across the floor with your thumb. In West Philly, a group of disaffected high school students come into their own as they create a hybrid car with the engine of a Harley motorcycle. And in Southern California, the early favorite—a start-up backed by millions in venture capital—designs a car that looks like an alien egg. Ingenious is a joyride. Fagone takes us into the garages and the minds of the inventors, capturing the fractious yet beautiful process of engineering a bespoke machine. Suspenseful and bighearted, this is the story of ordinary people risking failure, economic ruin, and ridicule to create something vital that Detroit had never pulled off. As the Illinois team wrote in chalk on the wall of their barn, "SOMEBODY HAS TO DO SOMETHING. THAT SOMEBODY IS US."
386 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2013
24 people are currently reading
620 people want to read
About the author
Jason Fagone
9 books191 followersI've written about science, sports, and culture for Wired, GQ, Men's Journal, Esquire, NewYorker.com, The New York Times Magazine, The Atlantic, Slate, Philadelphia, and the 2011 edition of The Best American Sports Writing. A few years ago, I wrote a book called "Horsemen of the Esophagus," about competitive eating and the American dream. For the last three years, I've been working on my next book, "Ingenious," which will be published this November. It's about inventors and cars. I live outside of Philadelphia with my wife and daughter.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 47 reviews
January 8, 2014
Jason Fagone wrote one of the best magazine pieces I'd read in a long time about former Syracuse and Indianapolis Colt wide receiver Marvin Harrison (Spoiler alert: He's apparently not a great guy). After reading it, I started following Fagone on Twitter, and so of course when I saw this book was coming out, I added it to my to-read list.
And I was not disappointed.
The storytelling flare that Fagone showed in the GQ piece is given a greater scope in Ingenious, the story of the automotive X Prize -- the race to build a car that gets the equivalent of 100 MPG. I should stop here to note that I know nothing about cars. Nothing. I couldn't change my own oil. Hell, I can barely change a tire. But it didn't matter here. It's not necessary to be a gearhead to enjoy this book.
And that's because, as much as it's a book about cars and the culture that's arisen around them and the threat that culture poses to the world's future, it's really a book about inventiveness and the central role the ingenious spirit has played in America. Fagone does a great job of painting the historical picture here --how's this for an amazing stat: the Model T got roughly 18 mpg; in 2008 the average American car got 20 mpg--and weaving the background of why something like the X Prize was so needed.
But what really makes this book are the portraits of the contestants. A team of amateurs in rural Illinois makes an entire car -- chassis and all! -- from hand. Another team sets out to build "the Very Light Car," a car that weighs just 825 pounds. Another team is a bunch of high school kids from West Philadelphia (yep, the same place the Fresh Prince fled to head to Bel Air). Fagone gives us their stories and makes their pursuit of the millions of dollars in prize money high drama. I found myself rooting for all of the teams, feeling devastated when they suffered set backs.
A fun read and a book that taught me quite a bit about the challenges of engineering a better car. Highly recommended.
And I was not disappointed.
The storytelling flare that Fagone showed in the GQ piece is given a greater scope in Ingenious, the story of the automotive X Prize -- the race to build a car that gets the equivalent of 100 MPG. I should stop here to note that I know nothing about cars. Nothing. I couldn't change my own oil. Hell, I can barely change a tire. But it didn't matter here. It's not necessary to be a gearhead to enjoy this book.
And that's because, as much as it's a book about cars and the culture that's arisen around them and the threat that culture poses to the world's future, it's really a book about inventiveness and the central role the ingenious spirit has played in America. Fagone does a great job of painting the historical picture here --how's this for an amazing stat: the Model T got roughly 18 mpg; in 2008 the average American car got 20 mpg--and weaving the background of why something like the X Prize was so needed.
But what really makes this book are the portraits of the contestants. A team of amateurs in rural Illinois makes an entire car -- chassis and all! -- from hand. Another team sets out to build "the Very Light Car," a car that weighs just 825 pounds. Another team is a bunch of high school kids from West Philadelphia (yep, the same place the Fresh Prince fled to head to Bel Air). Fagone gives us their stories and makes their pursuit of the millions of dollars in prize money high drama. I found myself rooting for all of the teams, feeling devastated when they suffered set backs.
A fun read and a book that taught me quite a bit about the challenges of engineering a better car. Highly recommended.
November 26, 2013
Can regular people with clever ideas design a better, more fuel-efficient car, or is that something only possible with the big-money resources available to the major auto manufacturers? In 2007, the X Prize Foundation put up $10 million to answer that question and Ingenious is the story of four of the teams vying for that prize.
Quite simply, this book is fantastic. True, it’s a book about a car contest, so there is plenty to keep any car enthusiast interested, but for me, the strength of the book lies in the vivid portrait of the colorful cast of characters. Author Jason Fagone seems to know just when to tell the story from his objective point of view, which is honest but respectful, and when to step out of the way and let the words of the characters drive the narrative. The result is a rich account of the characters and events from multiple perspectives that reads like a novel. This is science-writing at its best.
Fagone is also very good at taking complex concepts and making them easy to understand without dumbing them down, and most importantly, he makes the book fun to read. I had a favorite team I was rooting for, but I also found myself cheering for other teams for one reason or another at different points throughout the book. If you need people to cheer for (and don’t we all) Ingenious has plenty to choose from.
Quite simply, this book is fantastic. True, it’s a book about a car contest, so there is plenty to keep any car enthusiast interested, but for me, the strength of the book lies in the vivid portrait of the colorful cast of characters. Author Jason Fagone seems to know just when to tell the story from his objective point of view, which is honest but respectful, and when to step out of the way and let the words of the characters drive the narrative. The result is a rich account of the characters and events from multiple perspectives that reads like a novel. This is science-writing at its best.
Fagone is also very good at taking complex concepts and making them easy to understand without dumbing them down, and most importantly, he makes the book fun to read. I had a favorite team I was rooting for, but I also found myself cheering for other teams for one reason or another at different points throughout the book. If you need people to cheer for (and don’t we all) Ingenious has plenty to choose from.
December 13, 2013
Remember when America seemed to be a nation of inventors? Back when Tom Edison, Henry Ford and Harvey Firestone hung out together? Whatever happened to that country?
That's the subtext of Jason Fagone's fun and fascinating book about four of the teams that competed in the recent X Prize competition to build a better car. In 2007, the X Prize Foundation announced that it would give $10 million to anyone who could build a safe, mass-producible car that could travel 100 miles on the energy equivalent of a gallon of gas. Of the 100 teams that competed, Fagone profiles the triumphs and travails of four of them: a West Philly high school group who create a hybrid car with the engine of a Harley motorcycle; a Midwestern bureaucrat who dreams of glory by using scavenged parts put together in a pole-barn to create an electric car of his own design; a California start-up backed by millions in venture capital with a car that resembles an alien egg; and a goofy Virginia real estate entrepreneur whose Very Light Car can be pushed by your thumb -- but runs on gas.
Fagone follows the four teams along their twisting and turning path, showing how the process pulls them together but also tears them apart. The outcome is surprising, and so are the consequences of some of the inventors' choices.
I had one small quibble with the book -- keeping track of all the team members proved to be difficult at times, making me wish that Fagone had provided a list of the characters at the front of the book. But otherwise, I have to say that all in all, "Ingenious" is one sweet ride.
That's the subtext of Jason Fagone's fun and fascinating book about four of the teams that competed in the recent X Prize competition to build a better car. In 2007, the X Prize Foundation announced that it would give $10 million to anyone who could build a safe, mass-producible car that could travel 100 miles on the energy equivalent of a gallon of gas. Of the 100 teams that competed, Fagone profiles the triumphs and travails of four of them: a West Philly high school group who create a hybrid car with the engine of a Harley motorcycle; a Midwestern bureaucrat who dreams of glory by using scavenged parts put together in a pole-barn to create an electric car of his own design; a California start-up backed by millions in venture capital with a car that resembles an alien egg; and a goofy Virginia real estate entrepreneur whose Very Light Car can be pushed by your thumb -- but runs on gas.
Fagone follows the four teams along their twisting and turning path, showing how the process pulls them together but also tears them apart. The outcome is surprising, and so are the consequences of some of the inventors' choices.
I had one small quibble with the book -- keeping track of all the team members proved to be difficult at times, making me wish that Fagone had provided a list of the characters at the front of the book. But otherwise, I have to say that all in all, "Ingenious" is one sweet ride.
November 14, 2013
I love books about cars, history, and invention. Ingenious, Jason Fagone’s new book has all of that set against the background of the 2008 recession and the collapse of the American automotive industry. I know. I was there glued to every minute of the Senate hearings on the bailout. By the time of the hearings – November 2008 – the Automotive X PRIZE was underway and I was the manager of the EVX Team, one of the teams highlighted in Jason Fagone’s terrific story about the quest to build cars that get 100 MPGe.
The X PRIZE challenge was intended to send a loud and clear message to Detroit about making fuel efficient cars that people want to buy and drive. While it’s not apparent if that message was articulated by the competition, what became clear was that groups of inventors, engineers, and entrepreneurs could do what the big automakers would not or could not do.
The book weaves the drama of the competition with the lives of the main characters in the book. Even though I met them all in person, I was repeatedly amused or astonished by the background that Jason provided. I also greatly enjoyed the automotive history that was part and parcel of the book.
I came away from the book with a new understanding of how the efforts of the X PRIZE teams is part of the larger “maker” movement that is growing in old industrial cities like Philadelphia and Brooklyn. The book made me hungry to see what the next group of tinkerers and dreamers produce.
The X PRIZE challenge was intended to send a loud and clear message to Detroit about making fuel efficient cars that people want to buy and drive. While it’s not apparent if that message was articulated by the competition, what became clear was that groups of inventors, engineers, and entrepreneurs could do what the big automakers would not or could not do.
The book weaves the drama of the competition with the lives of the main characters in the book. Even though I met them all in person, I was repeatedly amused or astonished by the background that Jason provided. I also greatly enjoyed the automotive history that was part and parcel of the book.
I came away from the book with a new understanding of how the efforts of the X PRIZE teams is part of the larger “maker” movement that is growing in old industrial cities like Philadelphia and Brooklyn. The book made me hungry to see what the next group of tinkerers and dreamers produce.
November 27, 2013
To the number of nice reviews here, I'll add a few more things.
This is a book as much about passionate people trying to solve a hard important problem as is is about technology. I found it to be an engaging story.
The start of it is found here:
http://blog.longreads.com/post/661100...
Road Trip! If you are in NC,VA,DC,NJ,NY,MA area in December 2013 , you have a chance to see the author Jason Fagone and Kevin Smith of the Illuminati Motorworks and their car: Seven. This should be a cool event.
Dec 8, Cars & Croissants, NJ, 8:30 a.m.
Dec 8, The Hacktory, Philadelphia PA, 3 p.m.
Dec 8, EV meetup at Nauna’s, Montclair NJ, 7 p.m.
Dec 9, TK
Dec 10, Princeton Public Library, Princeton NJ
Dec 11, Makerbar, Hoboken NJ, 7 p.m.
Dec 12, powerHouse Books/Brooklyn Brainery, Brooklyn, 7 p.m. (please RSVP on Facebook)
Dec 13, iStrategyLabs, Washington D.C., 6 p.m.
Dec 14, The School in Rose Valley, Rose Valley PA, 3 p.m.
Dec 15, Fullsteam Brewery, Durham NC, 3 p.m.
Dec 16, New Dominion Bookshop, Charlottesville VA, 5:30 p.m.
This is subject to change. For up-to-date details, I would look here.
http://www.jasonfagone.com/events/
More details of the Illuminati MotorWorks team found here
http://illuminatimotorworks.org/
This is a book as much about passionate people trying to solve a hard important problem as is is about technology. I found it to be an engaging story.
The start of it is found here:
http://blog.longreads.com/post/661100...
Road Trip! If you are in NC,VA,DC,NJ,NY,MA area in December 2013 , you have a chance to see the author Jason Fagone and Kevin Smith of the Illuminati Motorworks and their car: Seven. This should be a cool event.
Dec 8, Cars & Croissants, NJ, 8:30 a.m.
Dec 8, The Hacktory, Philadelphia PA, 3 p.m.
Dec 8, EV meetup at Nauna’s, Montclair NJ, 7 p.m.
Dec 9, TK
Dec 10, Princeton Public Library, Princeton NJ
Dec 11, Makerbar, Hoboken NJ, 7 p.m.
Dec 12, powerHouse Books/Brooklyn Brainery, Brooklyn, 7 p.m. (please RSVP on Facebook)
Dec 13, iStrategyLabs, Washington D.C., 6 p.m.
Dec 14, The School in Rose Valley, Rose Valley PA, 3 p.m.
Dec 15, Fullsteam Brewery, Durham NC, 3 p.m.
Dec 16, New Dominion Bookshop, Charlottesville VA, 5:30 p.m.
This is subject to change. For up-to-date details, I would look here.
http://www.jasonfagone.com/events/
More details of the Illuminati MotorWorks team found here
http://illuminatimotorworks.org/
August 20, 2013
Story of four teams competing for the ten million dollar X Prize in automotive engineering. A page- turner, even if you can't tell an engine from a transmission.
October 13, 2013
The automobile industry stagnated decades ago. In 1908 the Model T Ford got 25 miles to the gallon. A century later the average American car gets only 28 miles to the gallon. In contrast only 66 years after the Wright Brothers flew the first airplane in 1903, astronaut Neil Armstrong walked on the moon. It seems that once the car became big business the automobile companies no longer risked innovation.
Despite all of the romantic stories told about him, the truth is that Charles Lindberg flew across the Atlantic to win the $25,000 offered by Orteg Prize to the first person who flies nonstop from New York to Paris. Inspired by the transformative power of such a prize, space flight enthusiast Peter Diamandis created the X Prize in May 1996 offering $10 million to the first team that could launch three passengers into space to an altitude of 100 kilometers, bring then back safely to earth, and do it all again within two weeks. Attracted by the money and glory of winning, billionaire entrepreneur Richard Branson financed the engineering genius of Burt Rutan. They won the prize in October 2004, and now Virgin Galactic—the world’s first commercial space airline—is selling tickets for tourists to visit space.
Could such a prize invigorate innovation in the automobile industry? In April 2007 Diamandis announced the draft rules for the Automotive X prize. The rules continued to evolve, but always focused on demonstrating a practical car that achieved a fuel efficiency of at least 100 MPGe. Two years later the X prize foundation announced 111 teams had been accepted as official entrants.
The unlikely stories of several teams unfold in this engrossing book.
With the help of his childhood sweetheart and wife Jen Danzinger, Kevin Smith quit his boring job with the EPA to spend all of his time and all of their savings creating Illuminati Motor Works and building the “battery operated dreamboat” in Diverton, Illinois. Could a teardrop shaped, gull winged, electric powered dreamboat from a 1930’s classic car show have any chance?
Real-estate investor and automobile enthusiast Oliver Kuttner formed Edison2, the “Team Favored by Physics,” to build the “Very Light Car”, in Lynchburg Virginia. Using a custom machined light-weight lug nut to start the conversation, he inevitably ends the conversation by explaining “The car is light because the car is light.”
High school students from The West Philly Hybrid X Team, an after-school club, entered two cars in the competition as they posed the question ”Can High School Students build a car better than Detroit?” They had reason to be optimistic, the team had already won the Tour de Sol—an international competition for solar powered cars—twice.
Aptera Motors was a California startup financed by $50 million in venture capital. They pursued the X Prize to win the credibility their three-wheeled electric car would need for a successful launch into the market.
The book is a thrilling joyride. It is a wonderful celebration of innovation, invention, engineering, risk-taking, adventure, creativity, courage, and total commitment. It reinvigorates the lost American traditions of engineering—daring to take the risk to build something new and useful because we can; because we must.
Despite all of the romantic stories told about him, the truth is that Charles Lindberg flew across the Atlantic to win the $25,000 offered by Orteg Prize to the first person who flies nonstop from New York to Paris. Inspired by the transformative power of such a prize, space flight enthusiast Peter Diamandis created the X Prize in May 1996 offering $10 million to the first team that could launch three passengers into space to an altitude of 100 kilometers, bring then back safely to earth, and do it all again within two weeks. Attracted by the money and glory of winning, billionaire entrepreneur Richard Branson financed the engineering genius of Burt Rutan. They won the prize in October 2004, and now Virgin Galactic—the world’s first commercial space airline—is selling tickets for tourists to visit space.
Could such a prize invigorate innovation in the automobile industry? In April 2007 Diamandis announced the draft rules for the Automotive X prize. The rules continued to evolve, but always focused on demonstrating a practical car that achieved a fuel efficiency of at least 100 MPGe. Two years later the X prize foundation announced 111 teams had been accepted as official entrants.
The unlikely stories of several teams unfold in this engrossing book.
With the help of his childhood sweetheart and wife Jen Danzinger, Kevin Smith quit his boring job with the EPA to spend all of his time and all of their savings creating Illuminati Motor Works and building the “battery operated dreamboat” in Diverton, Illinois. Could a teardrop shaped, gull winged, electric powered dreamboat from a 1930’s classic car show have any chance?
Real-estate investor and automobile enthusiast Oliver Kuttner formed Edison2, the “Team Favored by Physics,” to build the “Very Light Car”, in Lynchburg Virginia. Using a custom machined light-weight lug nut to start the conversation, he inevitably ends the conversation by explaining “The car is light because the car is light.”
High school students from The West Philly Hybrid X Team, an after-school club, entered two cars in the competition as they posed the question ”Can High School Students build a car better than Detroit?” They had reason to be optimistic, the team had already won the Tour de Sol—an international competition for solar powered cars—twice.
Aptera Motors was a California startup financed by $50 million in venture capital. They pursued the X Prize to win the credibility their three-wheeled electric car would need for a successful launch into the market.
The book is a thrilling joyride. It is a wonderful celebration of innovation, invention, engineering, risk-taking, adventure, creativity, courage, and total commitment. It reinvigorates the lost American traditions of engineering—daring to take the risk to build something new and useful because we can; because we must.
October 29, 2013
Do you wonder about those people that work to create machines, to invent and to build things that haven't existed before? Where do they get their ideas? how do they deal with failures? What drives them? Those are the kinds of questions asked in "Ingenious", in this case about energy efficient cars created to compete for the Automotive X Prize in 2010. The cars are the focus at times, and Fagone describes the philosophy behind each car and some of the technical aspects of the cars in an unthreatening way for those that aren't science whizzes. But where I thought the book really shined is in its focus on the individuals and the teams. You saw the folks that were approaching this contest as businessmen trying to start a business, or as teachers using the contest as a way to show what students and schools could do. But you also saw folks that approached the creation of their cars as dreamers, building the highest efficiency electric car so far, or focusing on generating efficiency through a single-minded push to lower the weight of a car and maybe to change the automotive industry.
I felt myself cheering for some teams and against others, but you are sort of lead in that direction by the writing. As an Illinoisan, I chose downstater Illuminati Motor Works as my favorite. Check their website for pictures of their car and updates beyond the book. I drove past their home town of Divernon, Illinois last week while I was reading this book (not while driving!) and was tempted to try to find their headquarters...
The writing was crisp and engaging. Fagone has written about sports, and this felt a bit like an extended piece on a sporting contest, familiar despite being about a one time event related to tinkering and design. I found that the book made me want to know more about some of the other teams that competed and built vehicles in the X Prize contest, and I believe that a bit more reporting on these other teams would have made this even better, even if going beyond the America-based teams that this book focused on.
I think makers of all kinds would find this of interest, but I really hope that this book gets traction among school-age kids thinking about working in the automotive field or other vocation trades -- I think this gives a good story to base a career on. It had the feel of "Soul of a New Machine", a book about computers that I read in high school that lead me to a career in information technology. This provides the same kind of uplifting story with a feeling that you are at the beginning of something big.
I won this uncorrected proof from a Goodreads First Reads contest, but that fact did not bias this review.
I felt myself cheering for some teams and against others, but you are sort of lead in that direction by the writing. As an Illinoisan, I chose downstater Illuminati Motor Works as my favorite. Check their website for pictures of their car and updates beyond the book. I drove past their home town of Divernon, Illinois last week while I was reading this book (not while driving!) and was tempted to try to find their headquarters...
The writing was crisp and engaging. Fagone has written about sports, and this felt a bit like an extended piece on a sporting contest, familiar despite being about a one time event related to tinkering and design. I found that the book made me want to know more about some of the other teams that competed and built vehicles in the X Prize contest, and I believe that a bit more reporting on these other teams would have made this even better, even if going beyond the America-based teams that this book focused on.
I think makers of all kinds would find this of interest, but I really hope that this book gets traction among school-age kids thinking about working in the automotive field or other vocation trades -- I think this gives a good story to base a career on. It had the feel of "Soul of a New Machine", a book about computers that I read in high school that lead me to a career in information technology. This provides the same kind of uplifting story with a feeling that you are at the beginning of something big.
I won this uncorrected proof from a Goodreads First Reads contest, but that fact did not bias this review.
September 8, 2013
My dad made sure I could change my own oil and change a tire, but I wasn’t sure I would be able to follow a book about building cars from scratch. Thankfully, it was so interesting I didn’t even have to worry about that. Ingenious follows teams who are competing in the X Prize, trying to create cars that will meet certain efficiency standards (100 miles on the energy equivalent of a gallon of gas). All the teams involved were interesting and I definitely found myself rooting for a couple of them. I suppose I could have gone online and found out the results, but I let myself experience it through the book and I was not disappointed. There were a few times that I wished there was a chart to keep the characters straight. This is one of the problems I have with reading on an ereader – I tend to be the kind of person who flips back and forth and I haven’t figured out how to do that yet. Recommended for: people who like science and competition and stories.
December 4, 2013
These crazy people tried to build a better car ... not just a slightly better car, a much better car. This is their story or stories. Ingenious is the history of the automotive x-prize, a cash prize awarded to the winners of a competition to build a next generation fuel efficient vehicle.
The major automotive manufacturers didn't participate. Instead you have entrepreneurs and tinkerers. A public school.
I found this book to be rather interesting. I like a bit of history mixed with science. I'm slightly embarrassed that I didn't know who won or the outcome of the x-prize. Reaching the end was a bit satisfying except for the part where I still can't go and buy a 100mpg car.
Ah well.
The major automotive manufacturers didn't participate. Instead you have entrepreneurs and tinkerers. A public school.
I found this book to be rather interesting. I like a bit of history mixed with science. I'm slightly embarrassed that I didn't know who won or the outcome of the x-prize. Reaching the end was a bit satisfying except for the part where I still can't go and buy a 100mpg car.
Ah well.
February 16, 2018
This book was an odd mix of over-detail and interesting detail. At times I had to put effort into pushing through but finally became invested in the outcome of the X Prize for the most energy efficient car. Having heard so much over the years about the Prius and the Roadster (Musk shooting one in space was INCREDIBLY AWESOME), it was educational to learn about the super light car, with which I was unfamiliar. Even though Fagone included a personal narrative of two of the couples in this book, it was hard to feel connected to any of the people included in his narrative, but I did really enjoy the story of the West Philly team that was woven throughout the book.
August 5, 2016
I guess it says something about why we have such highly polluting, fuel inefficient motor vehicles that many copies of this well-written and interesting book sit unread on my library's shelves. Nominally, this is a book about a multimillion dollar contest to develop an extraordinary car in both fuel efficiency and pollution control while still meeting much of the driving capabilities we expect from "normal" cars. The author follows multiple contestant teams through the long process of developing and testing their entries. The author gets us to know the heart of the people involved as well as the technical, financial, and political hurdles they must overcome. In the end, the reader has a deep connection with them all. More to the point, the reader has a much better understanding of what it takes for anyone to build a product, find a niche, and all the other aspects of taking parts of the real world and turning them into something of benefit. As the author says about one of the contestants, "I only know he can't be killed. Bomb everything to rubble and watch him gather scrap. The Internet goes dark and he lights a match. And not him alone, but all ingenious kin: every kid in a shop, every girl and guy in a garage, every hacker and maker with no hope of bailout by bank or by nation."
December 31, 2013
If you are interested in cars, technology, engineering, tinkering (have taken tools to your toys as a kid), and pushing the envelope, then you will enjoy this book.
The book describes the highs and lows of various competitors during the X car prize contest -- design a fuel efficient car. What each team thinks will make a car efficient and how they go about trying to achieve it is truly remarkable and a great example of combining creativity with practicality.
While the narration does digress in the middle, it holds the interest all the way through.
In the end, you will feel this is what science, engineering, and creativity is all about -- pushing the boundaries.
The book describes the highs and lows of various competitors during the X car prize contest -- design a fuel efficient car. What each team thinks will make a car efficient and how they go about trying to achieve it is truly remarkable and a great example of combining creativity with practicality.
While the narration does digress in the middle, it holds the interest all the way through.
In the end, you will feel this is what science, engineering, and creativity is all about -- pushing the boundaries.
April 5, 2014
Honestly, I was really not expecting to like this book as much as I did. I know absolutely nothing about cars except that you put gas in and it goes, but this book made me understand more about the potential future. The character stories were interesting and riveting, I felt emotional when some of the teams were eliminated and really was pulling for others. I wish that the contest and the cars had gotten the attention that they deserve and the backing from actual car makers. Here's hoping that the future will see some of these cars and ideas realized.
I definitely recommend this book whether you know anything about cars or not.
I definitely recommend this book whether you know anything about cars or not.
December 26, 2013
A fast fun read about a topic I knew little about before picking up this book. Well written, easy to follow, and I wished it was a little longer!
July 19, 2022
This book is about the X Prize -- specifically for the 100 MPGe car. The author follows four of the contestants and chronicles their challenges, failures and successes.
But it is also about quite a bit more. The book is about a spirit of inventiveness and practicality, Yankee ingenuity, that is being lost. Fewer of us make physical, tangible things. And our world needs better, energy efficient things more, much more, than it needs social media software, internet advertising, or financial innovation. How did we get here? The author offers an observation on page 190:
"Then something sad happened. In the eighties and nineties, in the name of budget savings and short-term profits, the engines of American invention forfeited their powers. NASA ramped down, struggling to find a mission that made sense in the absence of the Soviet Union. Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush pushed defense spending at the expense of science and technology -- DARPA veered into making military machinery. Corporations outsourced jobs and factories to other countries, making it harder to quickly scale up ideas in America. Bell Labs was spun off into Lucent Technologies, which later sold itself to a French company. By 2009, only one thousand people worked at Bell Labs, down from thirty thousand in the early 2000s."
People need shelter, clothing, clean water, food and transportation. We need energy, in various formats, to get all those things. It seems much of the US effort and fortune is headed in other directions. As I write this, the top 10 companies on the NYSE by valuation are: Apple, Saudi Aramco, Microsoft, Alphabet/Google, Amazon, Tesla, Berkshire Hathaway, United Healthcare, Meta/Facebook, and Johnson & Johnson. Six out of those 10 do not make things. We do need some of the 6 companies' offerings in our modern economy (we need healthcare!), but if Apple, Microsoft, Alphabet/Google, Amazon, and Meta/Facebook disappeared tomorrow, that would not be an existential event. We'd be fine in the long run, perhaps better without Facebook.
Since the rise of the MBAs in the 80s our economic lives have been distorted by the predominance of finance. We need financial markets to make things work, but finance should serve the needs of organizations that make things we truly need and for the last 40 years it's been the other way around -- and now we are dealing with the ramifications.
But it is also about quite a bit more. The book is about a spirit of inventiveness and practicality, Yankee ingenuity, that is being lost. Fewer of us make physical, tangible things. And our world needs better, energy efficient things more, much more, than it needs social media software, internet advertising, or financial innovation. How did we get here? The author offers an observation on page 190:
"Then something sad happened. In the eighties and nineties, in the name of budget savings and short-term profits, the engines of American invention forfeited their powers. NASA ramped down, struggling to find a mission that made sense in the absence of the Soviet Union. Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush pushed defense spending at the expense of science and technology -- DARPA veered into making military machinery. Corporations outsourced jobs and factories to other countries, making it harder to quickly scale up ideas in America. Bell Labs was spun off into Lucent Technologies, which later sold itself to a French company. By 2009, only one thousand people worked at Bell Labs, down from thirty thousand in the early 2000s."
People need shelter, clothing, clean water, food and transportation. We need energy, in various formats, to get all those things. It seems much of the US effort and fortune is headed in other directions. As I write this, the top 10 companies on the NYSE by valuation are: Apple, Saudi Aramco, Microsoft, Alphabet/Google, Amazon, Tesla, Berkshire Hathaway, United Healthcare, Meta/Facebook, and Johnson & Johnson. Six out of those 10 do not make things. We do need some of the 6 companies' offerings in our modern economy (we need healthcare!), but if Apple, Microsoft, Alphabet/Google, Amazon, and Meta/Facebook disappeared tomorrow, that would not be an existential event. We'd be fine in the long run, perhaps better without Facebook.
Since the rise of the MBAs in the 80s our economic lives have been distorted by the predominance of finance. We need financial markets to make things work, but finance should serve the needs of organizations that make things we truly need and for the last 40 years it's been the other way around -- and now we are dealing with the ramifications.
July 30, 2022
Full disclosure: The author is a friend. This book starts out in 2007, following four teams aiming to win that year's X Prize, $10 million to "anyone who could build a safe, mass-producible car that could travel 100 miles on the energy equivalent of a gallon of gas." The four teams are diverse as the US - an Illinois couple who build a car by hand, a group of inner-city high schoolers from West Philly, a venture-capital backed Silicon Valley startup, and a German real estate entrepreneur who loves car racing. Fagone embeds himself with the teams, and the human interest stories are as compelling as the engineering feats and resulting competition. I'm not a car person and know next to nothing about engineering, but Fagone has a great skill for relaying complex concepts in a way that's not only easy to understand, but fascinating. He's also a master at showcasing broader social, cultural, and policy trends through the framing of the prize, the automobile industry, and those drawn to compete. As soon as I finished the book, I started Googling the participants to see how their ventures have fared all these years later - and hope there could be a sequel (or shorter "where are they now?" article).
March 14, 2025
I almost forgot about the X prize, particular the one back in 2008 to 2010 for automobiles. The challenge was to build a car that could go over 100 MPGe. Full disclosure, I'm NOT an EV guy. I don't see how moving emissions from the tailpipe to the power plant's smoke stacks is a win for the environment. Ever see a Lithium mine? Ever see how much electricity is lost in transmission?
Anyway, back to this interesting book. Jason Fagone did a good job moving the story alIong, not getting too bogged down in any of the details. He also did a pretty good job of letting the competitors character come through.
I've always like cars, and learning more about them, how they work, how they can be improved on a massive scale. It's depressing to think it's 2025 and our cars' average fuel economy has stagnated in the 20 to 30 mpg range for so long. Come on Honda, Toyota and domestic (whatever that means) car companies - you can do better, you must do better. But this book does a great job in proving just how damn difficult it is to build cars, especially ones designed to get over 100 MPGe. Good book and I enjoyed it.
Anyway, back to this interesting book. Jason Fagone did a good job moving the story alIong, not getting too bogged down in any of the details. He also did a pretty good job of letting the competitors character come through.
I've always like cars, and learning more about them, how they work, how they can be improved on a massive scale. It's depressing to think it's 2025 and our cars' average fuel economy has stagnated in the 20 to 30 mpg range for so long. Come on Honda, Toyota and domestic (whatever that means) car companies - you can do better, you must do better. But this book does a great job in proving just how damn difficult it is to build cars, especially ones designed to get over 100 MPGe. Good book and I enjoyed it.
April 20, 2022
I picked this up purely on the basis of this author’s reputation. I read, ‘The Woman Who Smashed Codes, ‘ which he did a wonderful job (5 stars) researching and writing. This isn’t 5 stars in my opinion, but not for the lack of writing skill, but more a function of the book’s subject and age. There has been an enormous amount of activity regarding auto electrification in 14 years.
Mr. Falcone does a marvelous job developing the stories of all the participants for the X Prize as well as providing the requisite history of auto electrification in an engaging manner. His writing is great and I recommend the book enthusiastically as a wonderful addition to automotive history.
There has been so much malicious meddling by the established car industry to subvert the electric option as well as ignorant greed it is a wonder we have today’s electric automotive momentum. It really comes down to Elon Musk succeeding in spite of the adversity and overwhelming barriers to entry. The irony is he didn’t participate in the X Prize for reasons the reader of this book will discover.
Mr. Falcone does a marvelous job developing the stories of all the participants for the X Prize as well as providing the requisite history of auto electrification in an engaging manner. His writing is great and I recommend the book enthusiastically as a wonderful addition to automotive history.
There has been so much malicious meddling by the established car industry to subvert the electric option as well as ignorant greed it is a wonder we have today’s electric automotive momentum. It really comes down to Elon Musk succeeding in spite of the adversity and overwhelming barriers to entry. The irony is he didn’t participate in the X Prize for reasons the reader of this book will discover.
June 22, 2018
Interesting story about a few teams of engineers competing for the Automotive X Prize. Ten million dollars is highly motivating for startups or other rag-tag gangs of hobbyist engineers but another day at the office for major motor companies, so it mostly came down to the indie groups. It covers their personal stories as much as their endless quest to perfect their designs.
In the end it's a bit sad because we know the short term ending already. If people cared about efficiency, car companies would be churning out Edison2s instead of SUVs. But Ingenious is still inspiring. Human ingenuity might still solve the problems human society won't.
In the end it's a bit sad because we know the short term ending already. If people cared about efficiency, car companies would be churning out Edison2s instead of SUVs. But Ingenious is still inspiring. Human ingenuity might still solve the problems human society won't.
March 31, 2019
It reads like an action novel in some ways. Lots of suspense about what will happen, and additional suspense because it is non-fiction and so the authour cannot pick the winner a whoever has the best story.
It was a little long for me, and I would have been interested to know more about the technical aspects of the cars (more pictures too), but that's all personal bias based on who I am, and not based on what the book should objectively be.
It was a little long for me, and I would have been interested to know more about the technical aspects of the cars (more pictures too), but that's all personal bias based on who I am, and not based on what the book should objectively be.
March 8, 2024
A refreshing change of a read. A nice story about the X-Prize competition, it isn't some groundbreaking book with new astounding information about a new Thomas Edison or Nikola Tesla, but everyday regular inventors, entrepreneurs and car enthusiasts.
It was a joy to read the book, hear the background of other people and learn more about the history of the car and the industry. Definitely recommended if you are interested about cars.
It was a joy to read the book, hear the background of other people and learn more about the history of the car and the industry. Definitely recommended if you are interested about cars.
April 26, 2018
A nice, if technically a bit lightweight, look at the competition for the X Prize automotive awards for fuel efficient vehicles. It covers in fair detail four of the teams and touches on some of the others. My only gripe is that it reads a bit like a soap opera with multiple cliffhangers and emotional scenes, but then I'm a nerdy engineer type. It's a fast read.
April 15, 2020
I'd give this a 5 for flow of reading. Out of the four teams I wanted the team with all the money and nice t-shirts and shit to lose. Which they did. The high school kids lost, but they are young so losing is a good thing. The illuminati team were dreamers but I'm not sad they lost. I like Oliver, I'm glad he won. I feel bad about his wife leaving him. Makes me proud to be an engineer.
September 17, 2018
Interesting and inspiring read about a race to create a more fuel efficient car. Sprinkled with swearing, but worth your time.
December 9, 2019
Not a real page turner, but interesting look at a topic I don’t read about much.
April 20, 2020
DNF. Not enough technical details. I don't care what breed of dogs that someone on a team owns. This is more of a biography book than an engineering book.
May 20, 2015
In 2007, the X Prize Foundation announced that it would give $10 million to anyone who could build a safe, mass-producible car that could travel 100 miles on the energy equivalent of one gallon of gas. The challenge attracted more than one hundred teams from all over the world. Jason Fagone follows four of those teams in
Ingenious: A True Story of Invention, Automotive Daring, and the Race to Revive America
.
The X Prize Foundation is most famously known for its first challenge to launch a spacecraft capable of carrying three people to 100 kilometers above the earth's surface, twice within two weeks. The XPrize is modeled on the prize that got Lindbergh to fly across the Atlantic. (He was not just an adventurer; He was flying for the Orteig Prize of $25,000.) The X Prize founder uses the "bald appeal of human greed to achieve an idealistic goal." Like the Orteig Prize, the Space X prize had very simple rules.
The Progressive Insurance Automotive X Prize was a bit more muddled. Originally it was supposed to be a cross country race. Then it became a series of tests at the Michigan International Speedway. It had three categories: Mainstream, Alternative Tandem, and Alternative side-by-side.
Fagone looks at these four teams as the prepare for and compete for the prize.
Oliver Kuttner's Edison2 cars get the most ink. His theme was a relentless focus on reducing weight and improving aerodynamics. He had a car for each of the three categories.
Team Illuminati was literally built in the cornfields of Illinois. The team was lead by a part-time tinkerer using electric motors.
The West Philly Hybrid X Team was mostly students from the after school program at a West Philadelphia High School. Their goal was to make existing mainstream cars more efficient. They rebuilt a Ford GT using biodiesel and a Ford Focus with a hybrid electric gas system.
Aptera chose to go with a lightweight three-wheeled coupe. This was the best funded team of the four.
The book is well-written and enjoyable to read. At times I struggled to keep track of which team was which. Eventually, Edison2 elbows the other teams out of the narrative and takes a more prominent role in the book. I think that's because the team leader was a big robust character all by himself.
The narrative itself drags and lacks the suspense of a good climax because of the design of the competition. The tests happened over a series of weeks in June and July of 2010. The winner was announced later in September.
There are bits of the subtitle sprinkled in the book about how to revive innovation and development in America. The goal of the X Prize is encourage that kind of innovation and forward-thinking. As the prize rules got muddled for the automotive competition, so the narrative of this book got muddled.
Disclaimer: The publisher provided me with a review copy of the book.
The X Prize Foundation is most famously known for its first challenge to launch a spacecraft capable of carrying three people to 100 kilometers above the earth's surface, twice within two weeks. The XPrize is modeled on the prize that got Lindbergh to fly across the Atlantic. (He was not just an adventurer; He was flying for the Orteig Prize of $25,000.) The X Prize founder uses the "bald appeal of human greed to achieve an idealistic goal." Like the Orteig Prize, the Space X prize had very simple rules.
The Progressive Insurance Automotive X Prize was a bit more muddled. Originally it was supposed to be a cross country race. Then it became a series of tests at the Michigan International Speedway. It had three categories: Mainstream, Alternative Tandem, and Alternative side-by-side.
Fagone looks at these four teams as the prepare for and compete for the prize.
Oliver Kuttner's Edison2 cars get the most ink. His theme was a relentless focus on reducing weight and improving aerodynamics. He had a car for each of the three categories.
Team Illuminati was literally built in the cornfields of Illinois. The team was lead by a part-time tinkerer using electric motors.
The West Philly Hybrid X Team was mostly students from the after school program at a West Philadelphia High School. Their goal was to make existing mainstream cars more efficient. They rebuilt a Ford GT using biodiesel and a Ford Focus with a hybrid electric gas system.
Aptera chose to go with a lightweight three-wheeled coupe. This was the best funded team of the four.
The book is well-written and enjoyable to read. At times I struggled to keep track of which team was which. Eventually, Edison2 elbows the other teams out of the narrative and takes a more prominent role in the book. I think that's because the team leader was a big robust character all by himself.
The narrative itself drags and lacks the suspense of a good climax because of the design of the competition. The tests happened over a series of weeks in June and July of 2010. The winner was announced later in September.
There are bits of the subtitle sprinkled in the book about how to revive innovation and development in America. The goal of the X Prize is encourage that kind of innovation and forward-thinking. As the prize rules got muddled for the automotive competition, so the narrative of this book got muddled.
Disclaimer: The publisher provided me with a review copy of the book.
January 31, 2014
An interesting tale of invention
This is a story of invention in old sense of the word. This is about what people in America are capable of when thrown back on their heels and forced to improvise in an inclement financial environment. It is about the ordinary men and women whose lives have been transformed by a remarkable quest that combines all the elements of preparing for Olympics, NASCAR race and junkyard wars.
When gas prices were going up and oil reserves were going down, X prize foundation in California offered a ten million dollar prize in 2007 to anyone who could build a safe mass-producible car that gives one hundred miles per gallon of gas. More than one hundred teams from all over the country jumped on this opportunity. The author picks four teams and follows their accomplishments and failures; one group of garage hackers from Illinois, the second team from Lynchburg, VA, the third from California and the fourth one is an inner-city high school. In 2010 they tested their discoveries in a series competition at a NASCAR track in Michigan.
This is a fascinating account of people and their lives engaged in a remarkable endeavor. What motivated these people is exploring a new terrain. A challenge to their thinking and doing something that they can be proud of. The work of Henry Ford at his Michigan farm and Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak at their California garage were all anonymous when they worked on their projects, but pursued their dreams relentlessly and eventually their inventions made this country very proud. This is a thoroughly an enjoyable book and I had fun reading it.
This is a story of invention in old sense of the word. This is about what people in America are capable of when thrown back on their heels and forced to improvise in an inclement financial environment. It is about the ordinary men and women whose lives have been transformed by a remarkable quest that combines all the elements of preparing for Olympics, NASCAR race and junkyard wars.
When gas prices were going up and oil reserves were going down, X prize foundation in California offered a ten million dollar prize in 2007 to anyone who could build a safe mass-producible car that gives one hundred miles per gallon of gas. More than one hundred teams from all over the country jumped on this opportunity. The author picks four teams and follows their accomplishments and failures; one group of garage hackers from Illinois, the second team from Lynchburg, VA, the third from California and the fourth one is an inner-city high school. In 2010 they tested their discoveries in a series competition at a NASCAR track in Michigan.
This is a fascinating account of people and their lives engaged in a remarkable endeavor. What motivated these people is exploring a new terrain. A challenge to their thinking and doing something that they can be proud of. The work of Henry Ford at his Michigan farm and Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak at their California garage were all anonymous when they worked on their projects, but pursued their dreams relentlessly and eventually their inventions made this country very proud. This is a thoroughly an enjoyable book and I had fun reading it.
March 9, 2015
Jason Fagone’s second book has delivered a truly innovative story about four groups of extraordinary men who take on the monster that is the automotive industry. Ingenious follows four teams in a race to revive the gasoline crisis.
In 2007 the X Prize Foundation announced that they would give 10 million dollars to anyone who could create a car capable of being mass produced, that could get 100 miles on the energy equivalent to one gallon of gas. Jason Fagone follows four teams that all have different views on the contest. A team called Edison2 lead by multimillionaire Oliver Kuttner focuses on lightness and aerodynamics. This extraordinary car gives Detroit a run for its money. A group of out of touch students from West Philadelphia builds a ground breaking hybrid with the engine of a motorcycle. A couple from Illinois builds a twenties modeled electric car made from scrap steel and all of their entire life’s savings. Aptera Motors, a start up company out of California funded by millions builds a car that turns some heads but is sure to amaze. When these four teams’ different ideas meet at the Michigan International Speedway the race is on.
Anyone who likes constant change of the automotive industry and innovation in modern cars will love Ingenious. The novel looks through a different lens on technology and takes a new approach on handling the greed crazed CEO’s of Detroit. Anyone looking for an up to date, nonfiction book that looks in the economical and mechanical problems of the world would like Ingenious. The book is a great insight into the automotive world but also keeps you interested.
In 2007 the X Prize Foundation announced that they would give 10 million dollars to anyone who could create a car capable of being mass produced, that could get 100 miles on the energy equivalent to one gallon of gas. Jason Fagone follows four teams that all have different views on the contest. A team called Edison2 lead by multimillionaire Oliver Kuttner focuses on lightness and aerodynamics. This extraordinary car gives Detroit a run for its money. A group of out of touch students from West Philadelphia builds a ground breaking hybrid with the engine of a motorcycle. A couple from Illinois builds a twenties modeled electric car made from scrap steel and all of their entire life’s savings. Aptera Motors, a start up company out of California funded by millions builds a car that turns some heads but is sure to amaze. When these four teams’ different ideas meet at the Michigan International Speedway the race is on.
Anyone who likes constant change of the automotive industry and innovation in modern cars will love Ingenious. The novel looks through a different lens on technology and takes a new approach on handling the greed crazed CEO’s of Detroit. Anyone looking for an up to date, nonfiction book that looks in the economical and mechanical problems of the world would like Ingenious. The book is a great insight into the automotive world but also keeps you interested.
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