Overview

"""Invention Is a Mother is a sharp, wickedly funny look at science, fiction, life, death, pitch meetings, insane flights of fancy, and technology that will either kill you or save you. It made me laugh in despair and laugh in joy. I loved it."" -Will Leitch, author of How Lucky RESPONSIBILITY IS OVERRATED As a recently graduated and happily unemployed engineer, Shaughnessy shirks responsibility whenever possible. He coasts through life, sidestepping every opportunity to follow in his father Walton's footsteps, until Walton begins to suspect that he has MFD (mysterious fatal disease). The family coerces Shaughnessy to use his identiTee-a half-baked technology of programmable identity-to impersonate his father at Critical Think Inc. There, he is immediately entangled in the development of an irrational consumer product: portable parking. Pressured to innovate in the face of absurd challenges and the visionary CEO's fantastical demands, Shaughnessy teeters on the edge between breakthrough and breakdown. Funny at its most profound Fans of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Good Omens, or Vonnegut's novels will enjoy laugh-out-loud collisions with the limits of reason. Rob Brownell's Invention Is a Mother is an insider's appreciation for the artistic minds of technologists amid a corporation's unrealistic expectations for innovation. In his career as a mechanical engineer, Rob Brownell designed consumer products ranging from children's toys to medical devices. He is named on nearly thirty patents. In 2017, he was diagnosed with ALS and was later confined to a wheelchair where he writes by means of voice control. His first novel, Invention Is a Mother, was launched on Kickstarter in June 2022, closing at more than 400% funded. During that campaign, fans of the book raised over $11k in donations for Team Gleason, a nonprofit that provides assistive technology to ALS patients."

Full Product Details

9798985926408

Table of Contents

Reviews

Rob Brownell's sharply written Invention Is a Mother somehow manages to be witty, absurd, playful, imaginative, cynical, sad, compelling, heartfelt, and darkly hilarious all in one. Full of boozy wormholes, sentient appliances, multiple Jesuses, automated buffets, and many other colorful sci-fi abstractions, this book will not only make you think and feel, but also smile. -Dan Marshall, author of Home Is Burning Fans of oddball science fiction are going to love Rob Brownell's new novel, Invention Is a Mother. Starting with a quirky cast, an unlikely hero, and a bunch of superfluous technology, Rob crafts a romp through startup land that is fun and moves fast. Invention Is a Mother is potentially the new Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy-be the first one on your block to get a copy ahead of what I predict will be a legion of readers. -Bill Burnett, co-author of Designing Your Life and Designing Your New Work Life Invention Is a Mother is a sharp, wickedly funny look at science, fiction, life, death, pitch meetings, insane flights of fancy, and technology that will either kill you or save you. It made me laugh in despair and laugh in joy, which are the best two ways to laugh. I loved it. -Will Leitch, author of How Lucky

Rob Brownell's sharply written Invention Is a Mother somehow manages to be witty, absurd, playful, imaginative, cynical, sad, compelling, heartfelt, and darkly hilarious all in one. Full of boozy wormholes, sentient appliances, multiple Jesuses, automated buffets, and many other colorful sci-fi abstractions, this book will not only make you think and feel, but also smile. -Dan Marshall, author of Home Is Burning Fans of oddball science fiction are going to love Rob Brownell's new novel, Invention Is a Mother. Starting with a quirky cast, an unlikely hero, and a bunch of superfluous technology, Rob crafts a romp through startup land that is fun and moves fast. Invention Is a Mother is potentially the new Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy-be the first one on your block to get a copy ahead of what I predict will be a legion of readers. -Bill Burnett, co-author of Designing Your Life and Designing Your New Work Life Invention Is a Mother is a sharp, wickedly funny look at science, fiction, life, death, pitch meetings, insane flights of fancy and technology that will either kill you or save you. It made me laugh in despair and laugh in joy, which are the best two ways to laugh. I loved it. -Will Leitch, author of How Lucky

"""Rob Brownell's sharply written Invention Is a Mother somehow manages to be witty, absurd, playful, imaginative, cynical, sad, compelling, heartfelt, and darkly hilarious all in one. Full of boozy wormholes, sentient appliances, multiple Jesuses, automated buffets, and many other colorful sci-fi abstractions, this book will not only make you think and feel, but also smile."" -Dan Marshall, author of Home Is Burning ""Fans of oddball science fiction are going to love Rob Brownell's new novel, Invention Is a Mother. Starting with a quirky cast, an unlikely hero, and a bunch of superfluous technology, Rob crafts a romp through startup land that is fun and moves fast. Invention Is a Mother is potentially the new Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy-be the first one on your block to get a copy ahead of what I predict will be a legion of readers."" -Bill Burnett, co-author of Designing Your Life and Designing Your New Work Life ""Invention Is a Mother is a sharp, wickedly funny look at science, fiction, life, death, pitch meetings, insane flights of fancy, and technology that will either kill you or save you. It made me laugh in despair and laugh in joy, which are the best two ways to laugh. I loved it."" -Will Leitch, author of How Lucky"

Author Information

Rob Brownell grew up in rural Virginia. Over the course of his thirty-five-year career as a mechanical engineer, he designed consumer products ranging from children's toys to medical devices. He is named on nearly thirty patents for his work with Function Engineering, a Silicon Valley design firm. Once upon a time, he worked on Apple's ill-fated Newton digital assistants. An untalented but persistent musician, he found joy crafting and playing banjos until ALS confined him to a wheelchair. Contrary to the fiction you might eventually read in his obituary, he is not bravely battling the disease-he is struggling to maintain a sense of humor. Writing through voice control has mercifully extended his creative life.

Tab Content 6

Customer Reviews

Recent Reviews

Countries Available