Epic Disruptions: 11 Innovations That Shaped Our Modern World

A kaleidoscopic look at how eleven disruptive innovations--including the iPhone, the transistor, disposable diapers, and Julia Child’s The Art of French Cooking--reshaped industries and societies, propelling humanity toward new frontiers.

From gunpowder to generative AI, the forces of disruption are repeatedly rewriting the rules of business, society, and human possibility. But what drives these revolutionary changes?

In Epic Disruptions, innovation expert Scott Anthony masterfully weaves together the fascinating stories behind history’s most transformative disruptions--from ninth-century China to twenty-first-century Silicon Valley. Through eleven pivotal innovations, including the printing press, mass-produced automobiles, the McDonald’s revolutionary food system, and the iPhone, Anthony reveals the hidden patterns behind world-changing breakthroughs.

But Epic Disruptions goes beyond just celebrating invention. Through vivid storytelling and sharp analysis, Anthony introduces the iconoclasts who dared to think differently--the Renaissance-era scientists, French cooking enthusiasts, and corporate visionaries who saw opportunities others missed. He reveals how disruption actually happens.

As artificial intelligence and other technologies promise to unleash another wave of transformation, Epic Disruptions arrives at the perfect moment--offering innovators and curious readers a page-turning exploration of how radical change reshapes industries, launches new powers, and, yes, occasionally changes everything.

Scott D. Anthony is a clinical professor of strategy at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College, where his research and teaching focus on the adaptive challenges of disruptive change. Scott previously spent more than 20 years at Innosight, a growth strategy consultancy founded by Harvard Business School professor Clayton Christensen. He served as Innosight’s elected Managing Partner from 2012 to 2018.

Epic Disruptions is Scott’s ninth book. His previous works include Seeing What’s Next, The Little Black Book of Innovation, and Dual Transformation.

Thinkers50 named him the world’s ninth most influential management thinker in 2023 and named him the world’s leading innovative thinker in 2017.