[jshprentz]

A similar book is Ryan North's "How to Invent Everything: A Survival Guide for the Stranded Time Traveler." It is framed as part of a user manual for a rental time machine that can travel as far back as 12,100,000 BCE and return to the present day. Should the time machine break during a visit to the past, the "Repair Guide" section of the manual helpfully explains: "There are no user serviceable parts inside ... ." The rest of the manual (about 400 pages) "contains all the science, engineering, mathematics, art, music, writing, culture, facts, and figures that are required for one human—without any specialized training—to build a civilization from the ground up."

[ornornor]

I read that book cover to cover when it came out and it was pretty cool. It won’t get us back to advanced semiconductors because there is just too much to reinvent to get there but it would get us back to 1930s type lifestyle with modern niceties on top.