How to Take Over the World: Practical Schemes and Scientific Solutions for the Aspiring Supervillain
- Downloads：7177
- Type：Epub+TxT+PDF+Mobi
- Create Date：2022-03-17 08:51:33
- Update Date：2025-09-06
- Status：finish
- Author：Ryan North
- ISBN：0593541537
- Environment：PC/Android/iPhone/iPad/Kindle
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Summary
A tongue-in-cheek introduction to the science of comic-book supervillainy， revealing the true potential of today's most advanced technologies
Taking over the world is a lot of work。 Any supervillain is bound to have questions: What's the perfect location for a floating secret base？ What zany heist will fund my immoral plans？ How do I control the weather， destroy the internet， and never， ever die？
In How to Take Over the World， bestselling author and award-winning comics writer Ryan North details a number of outlandish villainous schemes， drawing on known science and real-world technologies。 Picking up where How to Invent Everything left off， his explanations are as fun and informative as they are completely absurd。
As he instructs readers on how to take over the world， North also reveals how we can save it。 This sly guide to some of the greatest challenges and existential threats facing humanity accessibly explores ways to mitigate climate change， improve human life spans， prevent cyberterrorism， and finally make Jurassic Park a reality。
Taking over the world is a lot of work。 Any supervillain is bound to have questions: What's the perfect location for a floating secret base？ What zany heist will fund my immoral plans？ How do I control the weather， destroy the internet， and never， ever die？
In How to Take Over the World， bestselling author and award-winning comics writer Ryan North details a number of outlandish villainous schemes， drawing on known science and real-world technologies。 Picking up where How to Invent Everything left off， his explanations are as fun and informative as they are completely absurd。
As he instructs readers on how to take over the world， North also reveals how we can save it。 This sly guide to some of the greatest challenges and existential threats facing humanity accessibly explores ways to mitigate climate change， improve human life spans， prevent cyberterrorism， and finally make Jurassic Park a reality。
Reviews
Debbie
，
“A tongue-in-cheek introduction to the science of comic-book supervillainy， revealing the true potential of today’s most advanced technologies” （from the back cover）Many who read my reviews know that I do judge a book by its cover and I’m not much for reading a synopsis。 I may pick out a word here and there， but I never read the whole blurb since I want to discover as I read。In this case， I’m not sure what I was expecting， but certainly not the book I opened。 I thought it might be silly and full “A tongue-in-cheek introduction to the science of comic-book supervillainy， revealing the true potential of today’s most advanced technologies” （from the back cover）Many who read my reviews know that I do judge a book by its cover and I’m not much for reading a synopsis。 I may pick out a word here and there， but I never read the whole blurb since I want to discover as I read。In this case， I’m not sure what I was expecting， but certainly not the book I opened。 I thought it might be silly and full of comic book characters。 Nope。 It was filled with lots and lots of interesting facts related to outlandish ways to take over the world。 I was overwhelmed by the research it must have taken to write this。 And most of it was extremely interesting。➡Some Chapters:How to Start Your Own CountryControlling the Weather For The Perfect CrimeTime Travel➡Was it interesting？ Sure。Was it funny？ Not so much for me。 It felt like more of an attempt to make a non-fiction book more interesting。Did it sneak in some political leanings？ Yes， a little。Fact-based people will fall in love with all the information and stats。 It felt a bit too long for me， but I found this book much better than I imagined， whatever that was。 😆But I know I imagined something terrific since I was excited to read it！🎈My thanks to #Riverheadbooks for a gifted copy。 I was completely free to express my thoughts。 。。。more
Oliver Brackenbury
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I enjoyed this book so much I asked Ryan to come on my lit podcast so we could discuss it！ http://soimwritinganovel。com/2022/03/。。。 I enjoyed this book so much I asked Ryan to come on my lit podcast so we could discuss it！ http://soimwritinganovel。com/2022/03/。。。 。。。more
Steph
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This was such a fun read！ I honestly wasn’t exactly sure what to expect， but I not only learned a lot but I laughed while doing it！ Told with a perfect snarky dry humor and paired with fun illustrations and hilarious footnotes throughout， I enjoyed learning all the important things Stella and I will need to do to become supervillains and take over the world。 It definitely dives deep into science and technology， but is presented in a way that is easy to understand。 I’ll be keeping an eye on Chapt This was such a fun read！ I honestly wasn’t exactly sure what to expect， but I not only learned a lot but I laughed while doing it！ Told with a perfect snarky dry humor and paired with fun illustrations and hilarious footnotes throughout， I enjoyed learning all the important things Stella and I will need to do to become supervillains and take over the world。 It definitely dives deep into science and technology， but is presented in a way that is easy to understand。 I’ll be keeping an eye on Chapter 6 too… I just know the author will keep his promise to update it once he figures out that whole time travel business。 This was very informative while also fun to read， and while I don’t know that it will be for everyone I think my fellow nerds （but like villainous nerds of course） will really enjoy this one too！Thanks to @Riverhead for gifting me this ARC。 How to Take Over the World will be out on March 15！ 。。。more
Ryan North
，
Hey， I wrote this！ But I honestly think it's PRETTY GREAT。 I hope you do too！The book's a fun and funny deep dive into science and technology and history， all viewed through the lens of "wait， what if you really did want to pull off classic supervillain schemes here in the real world？" What do you actually need to build a floating base， and what kind of research is needed to clone dinosaurs to ride around on？ What sort of technology lets you dig to the Earth's core to hold it hostage？ And while Hey， I wrote this！ But I honestly think it's PRETTY GREAT。 I hope you do too！The book's a fun and funny deep dive into science and technology and history， all viewed through the lens of "wait， what if you really did want to pull off classic supervillain schemes here in the real world？" What do you actually need to build a floating base， and what kind of research is needed to clone dinosaurs to ride around on？ What sort of technology lets you dig to the Earth's core to hold it hostage？ And while we're at it， how close are we to curing death and living forever anyway？Like How to Invent Everything: A Survival Guide for the Stranded Time Traveler， the fictional premise of world domination is used to motivate learning about all this really cool science and technology， and yes it's full of jokes and great illustrations， but it's also a sincere book that's doing what it says on the cover: the plots are real， priced out， and all you need now is $55，485，551，900 USD to pull off every one of them （but don't worry: there's a heist included that turns an initial investment into an ongoing source of income too。）I hope you have fun with it！ 。。。more
Enid Wray
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OK。 I tried。 I really tried。 I’ve been plugging away at this for four （4） days now… and I’m still only 50% of the way through it。 The universe is sending me a message… I am， finally， prepared to listen。This is not what I was expecting。。 But then again， I’m not entirely sure what I was expecting。 Certainly this is no Squirrel Girl… although there are a lot of similarities to Dinosaur Comics… but Dinosaur’s came in small bite sized chunks。。。 This is just too much。There’s lots to like about this ti OK。 I tried。 I really tried。 I’ve been plugging away at this for four （4） days now… and I’m still only 50% of the way through it。 The universe is sending me a message… I am， finally， prepared to listen。This is not what I was expecting。。 But then again， I’m not entirely sure what I was expecting。 Certainly this is no Squirrel Girl… although there are a lot of similarities to Dinosaur Comics… but Dinosaur’s came in small bite sized chunks。。。 This is just too much。There’s lots to like about this title。 It’s an ass-backward guide to saving the planet - pointing out our excesses， and showing us how to address climate change （while we still have a chance， small albeit）。 He does a good job of pointing out the interesting history of ridiculous behaviour and ideas that has gotten us to where we are in the present moment。I get that he writes super hero comics… so obviously adopting the concept of ‘Supervillains’ - who by the way， are all of us collectively - as a conceit is only logical。 But it is a conceit that wears thin very quickly。 The playful jabs at ‘we humans’ are cheeky， yes。 But… Would the book be as good and gain the same kind of traction if it were not couched in ‘comic’ terms？ That’s a good question。 I get that the ‘villainy’ angle makes what w/could otherwise be a very ‘heavy’ conversation a little more lighthearted and perchance palatable… But I also appreciate， very quickly， that I am clearly not the reader for this book。 This is a moment where I wish I wasn’t retired， and still had purchasing power to make sure that this book ended up on the shelf in my school library。 The kids will eat this up… like they did all his other work that I had in the collection。 I hope that my replacement already has this on order。Had this ended at page 150， I probably would have been cool with it （although I’d already taken multiple breaks from it by that point…）。 But at page 200， with the prospect of 200 more pages to go… I’m done。Be forewarned though… Even though I am choosing to DNF this title - too much else on my TBR pile - I couldn't keep myself from popping out and googling and reading about all the cool projects he talks about （many of which I’m， sadly， all too familiar with， but many that I’ve never heard of before）。 There is some really fascinating stuff here… it’s a truly laudable compendium of miscellany。 I finally stopped doing that though because it was just too time consuming… prolonging my reading time beyond all reasonableness。 Thanks to the publisher and Edelweiss for granting me access to an early digital ARC for review。 。。。more
Audrey
，
A non-fiction self-help book about how to become the ultimate supervillain。 It was funny and also very informative; I found the chapter on how to take over a country by convincing them internet voting is a good idea especially valuable to my ultimate， inescapable aims。
Logan
，
5 out of 5 stars contingent on the author keeping his promise in Chapter 6 -- I'll be checking。This was a fun read， and what I enjoyed about the book most was the practicality of it。 There were options for world domination that could fit nearly any budget depending on your goals。 Secret bases come in all sorts of shapes， sizes and locales after all。Some of it was sad and/or enraging， depending on your personal ability to accept that humans are causing an environmental collapse that will catastro 5 out of 5 stars contingent on the author keeping his promise in Chapter 6 -- I'll be checking。This was a fun read， and what I enjoyed about the book most was the practicality of it。 There were options for world domination that could fit nearly any budget depending on your goals。 Secret bases come in all sorts of shapes， sizes and locales after all。Some of it was sad and/or enraging， depending on your personal ability to accept that humans are causing an environmental collapse that will catastrophically impact the majority of life on the planet （but it's not like the sun isn't going to do the same in billion years or so）， as well as the fact that the exponentially widening wealth inequality gap is enabling the ultra-rich to not only live however they want but also dictate how everyone else must live。 Those of us not okay with this status-quo must， as dedicated supervillains， figure out a way to reign in this madness and save the world。But these facts are facts， it's not the author's fault the world is dominated by such an absurd species。 The illustrations are very humorous， the footnotes are fantastic， and overall the book is equal parts history and science lesson， so you'll have a much better understanding of where life's come from and where it's going （which is a future universe filled with black holes until even they collapse and the final effects of entropy rip everything else apart）。{note I received an advanced copy via a Goodreads contest} 。。。more
Geoffrey
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