Contrary to popular wisdom, you don’t have to be an ace electrician, a coding prodigy, or a mechanical master to come up with a game-changing invention! You just need curiosity, a strong desire to fix a problem that you see in the world, and the determination to see your ideas become reality—and this book, which will teach you everything you need to go from zero to inventor.
Everyone wants to be the next Bill Gates or Steve Jobs, but there’s never been a clear road map to becoming a wildly successful innovator—until now. In The Total Inventor’s Manual, you’ll learn to get that great idea out of your brain and into the real world with a crash course in ideation, prototyping, and testing. Includes clever, can-do lessons in CAD, 3D-printing, laser-cutting, electronics, robotics, coding, and more.
Whether you’re riding the Kickstarter wave or hitting the venture capital beat, get your idea funded—and protect it with a proper patent. Then learn to refine your prototype’s look and feel to give it a boost in the market.
Bring your invention to the masses with tips on manufacturing processes and best practices, plus solid advice for beginners on running a supply chain.
Discover how to effectively position your product in the marketplace, deal with consumer feedback, and run—or sell—your newly successful company.
Sean Michael Ragan is co-founder and editorial director of Foundry.net, a prominent blogger, and a former editor of MAKE Magazine. His freelance work has appeared in several books as well as Popular Science, ReadyMade, Chemical & Engineering News, and The Wall Street Journal.
Founded in 1872, Popular Science is one of the world’s largest science and technology magazine. Each month, Popular Science reports on the intersection of science and everyday life, delivering a new look at the future now. It’s the ultimate guide to what’s new and what’s next. Popular Science is one of the oldest continuously published magazines in the United States, and is published in five languages and nine countries.
Adafruit publishes a wide range of writing and video content, including interviews and reporting on the maker market and the wider technology world. Our standards page is intended as a guide to best practices that Adafruit uses, as well as an outline of the ethical standards Adafruit aspires to. While Adafruit is not an independent journalistic institution, Adafruit strives to be a fair, informative, and positive voice within the community – check it out here: adafruit.com/editorialstandards
Stop breadboarding and soldering – start making immediately! Adafruit’s Circuit Playground is jam-packed with LEDs, sensors, buttons, alligator clip pads and more. Build projects with Circuit Playground in a few minutes with the drag-and-drop MakeCode programming site, learn computer science using the CS Discoveries class on code.org, jump into CircuitPython to learn Python and hardware together, TinyGO, or even use the Arduino IDE. Circuit Playground Express is the newest and best Circuit Playground board, with support for CircuitPython, MakeCode, and Arduino. It has a powerful processor, 10 NeoPixels, mini speaker, InfraRed receive and transmit, two buttons, a switch, 14 alligator clip pads, and lots of sensors: capacitive touch, IR proximity, temperature, light, motion and sound. A whole wide world of electronics and coding is waiting for you, and it fits in the palm of your hand.
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Python for Microcontrollers – Adafruit Daily — Python on Microcontrollers Newsletter: CircuitPython 2025 Wraps, Focus on Using Python, Open Source and More! #CircuitPython #Python #micropython @ThePSF @Raspberry_Pi
EYE on NPI – Adafruit Daily — EYE on NPI Maxim’s Himalaya uSLIC Step-Down Power Module #EyeOnNPI @maximintegrated @digikey
