Bunch of Amateurs: A Search for the American Character
(Adobe EPUB eBook, Kindle Book, OverDrive Read)

Book Cover
Average Rating
Author:
Hitt, Jack
Published:
Crown 2012
Format:
Adobe EPUB eBook, Kindle Book, OverDrive Read
Status:
Available from OverDrive
Description
WHAT IS IT THAT DRIVES THE SUCCESS OF AMERICA AND THE IDENTITY OF ITS PEOPLE? ACCLAIMED WRITER AND CONTRIBUTING EDITOR TO THIS AMERICAN LIFE JACK HITT THINKS IT’S BECAUSE WE’RE ALL A BUNCH OF AMATEURS.
America’s self-invented tinkerers are back at it in their metaphorical garages—fiddling with everything from solar-powered cars to space elevators. In Bunch of Amateurs, Jack Hitt visits a number of different garages and has written a fascinating book that looks at America’s current batch of amateurs and their pursuits. From a tattooed young woman in the Bay Area trying to splice a fish’s glow-in-the-dark gene into common yogurt (all done in her kitchen using salad spinners)
to a space fanatic on the brink of developing the next generation of telescopes from his mobile home, Hitt not only tells the stories of people in the grip of a passion but argues that America’s history is bound up in a cycle of amateur surges.
Beginning with Ben Franklin’s kite and leading all the way to the current TV hit American Idol, Hitt argues that the nation’s
love of self-invented obsessives has always driven the country to rediscover the true heart of the American dream. Amateur pursuits are typically lamented as a world that just passed until a Sergey Brin or Mark Zuckerberg steps out of his garage (or dorm room) with the rare but crucial success story. In Bunch of Amateurs, Hitt argues that America is now poised to pioneer at another frontier that will lead, one more time, to the newest version of the American dream.
Also in This Series
Formats
Adobe EPUB eBook
Works on all eReaders (except Kindles), desktop computers and mobile devices with reading apps installed.
Sample Sample 
Kindle Book
Works on Kindles and devices with a Kindle app installed.
Sample Sample 
OverDrive Read
Sample Sample 
Need Help?
If you are having problem transferring a title to your device, please fill out this support form or visit the library so we can help you to use our eBooks and eAudio Books.
More Like This
More Copies In Prospector
Loading Prospector Copies...
Other Editions and Formats
Choose a Format
Book
      Show Edition
On Shelf
Lafayette Nonfiction Area
609.2 Hit
Place Hold
OverDrive eBook
      Show Edition
Available Online
Online OverDrive Collection
Online OverDrive Collection
Check Out OverDrive
Subjects
Subjects
History
Technology
Nonfiction
Borrower Reviews
Librarian Reviews
Reviews from GoodReads
Loading GoodReads Reviews.
Citations
APA Citation (style guide)

Jack Hitt. (2012). Bunch of Amateurs: A Search for the American Character. Crown.

Chicago / Turabian - Author Date Citation (style guide)

Jack Hitt. 2012. Bunch of Amateurs: A Search for the American Character. Crown.

Chicago / Turabian - Humanities Citation (style guide)

Jack Hitt, Bunch of Amateurs: A Search for the American Character. Crown, 2012.

MLA Citation (style guide)

Jack Hitt. Bunch of Amateurs: A Search for the American Character. Crown, 2012.

Note! Citation formats are based on standards as of July 2022. Citations contain only title, author, edition, publisher, and year published. Citations should be used as a guideline and should be double checked for accuracy.
Copy Details
LibraryOwnedAvailable
Shared Digital Collection11
Lafayette Public Library00
Staff View
Grouped Work ID:
19895811-78e7-ad03-d127-51ff7de043f3
Go To Grouped Work
Needs Update?:
No
Date Added:
Jan 08, 2015 12:38:13
Date Updated:
Dec 09, 2020 19:17:58
Last Metadata Check:
Apr 14, 2024 03:59:59
Last Metadata Change:
Jun 04, 2023 04:21:27
Last Availability Check:
Apr 14, 2024 04:00:00
Last Availability Change:
Apr 09, 2023 08:52:25
Last Grouped Work Modification Time:
Apr 19, 2024 01:38:31

OverDrive Product Record

images
    • cover:
        • href: https://img1.od-cdn.com/ImageType-100/0111-1/{543FDE1A-71FF-43E9-8E29-8478C07162C8}Img100.jpg
        • type: image/jpeg
    • thumbnail:
        • href: https://img1.od-cdn.com/ImageType-200/0111-1/{543FDE1A-71FF-43E9-8E29-8478C07162C8}Img200.jpg
        • type: image/jpeg
    • cover150Wide:
        • href: https://img1.od-cdn.com/ImageType-150/0111-1/543/FDE/1A/{543FDE1A-71FF-43E9-8E29-8478C07162C8}Img150.jpg
        • type: image/jpeg
    • cover300Wide:
        • href: https://img1.od-cdn.com/ImageType-400/0111-1/543/FDE/1A/{543FDE1A-71FF-43E9-8E29-8478C07162C8}Img400.jpg
        • type: image/jpeg
formats
      • identifiers:
            • type: ISBN
            • value: 9780307955180
            • type: PublisherCatalogNumber
            • value: 80762
      • name: Adobe EPUB eBook
      • id: ebook-epub-adobe
      • identifiers:
            • type: ASIN
            • value: B006E511ZI
            • type: PublisherCatalogNumber
            • value: 80762
      • name: Kindle Book
      • id: ebook-kindle
      • identifiers:
            • type: ISBN
            • value: 9780307955180
            • type: PublisherCatalogNumber
            • value: 80762
      • name: OverDrive Read
      • id: ebook-overdrive
otherFormatIdentifiers
      • type: ISBN
      • value: 0307393755
mediaType
eBook
primaryCreator
    • role: Author
    • name: Jack Hitt
title
Bunch of Amateurs
dateAdded
2012-05-03T17:13:51.01-04:00
contentDetails
      • href: https://link.overdrive.com/?websiteID=114&titleID=674871
      • type: text/html
      • account:
          • name: Front Range Downloadable Library (CO)
          • id: 1100
sortTitle
Bunch of Amateurs A Search for the American Character
crossRefId
674871
subtitle
A Search for the American Character
id
543fde1a-71ff-43e9-8e29-8478c07162c8
starRating
3.5

OverDrive MetaData

isPublicDomain
False
formats
      • fileName: BunchofAmateurs_9780307955180_674871
      • partCount: 0
      • fileSize: 2412786
      • identifiers:
            • type: ISBN
            • value: 9780307955180
            • type: PublisherCatalogNumber
            • value: 80762
      • rights:
            • type: Copying
            • value: 0
            • type: Printing
            • value: 0
            • type: Lending
            • value: 0
            • type: ReadAloud
            • value: 0
            • type: ExpirationRights
            • value: 0
      • name: Adobe EPUB eBook
      • isReadAlong: False
      • id: ebook-epub-adobe
      • onSaleDate: 5/15/2012
      • samples:
            • source: From the book
            • formatType: ebook-epub-adobe
            • url: https://excerpts.cdn.overdrive.com/FormatType-410/0111-1/543/FDE/1A/BunchofAmateursASearchfortheAmericanC9780307955180.epub
            • source: From the book
            • formatType: ebook-overdrive
            • url: https://samples.overdrive.com/?crid=543FDE1A-71FF-43E9-8E29-8478C07162C8&.epub-sample.overdrive.com
      • fileName: BunchofAmateurs_674871
      • partCount: 0
      • fileSize: 0
      • identifiers:
            • type: PublisherCatalogNumber
            • value: 80762
            • type: ASIN
            • value: B006E511ZI
      • name: Kindle Book
      • isReadAlong: False
      • id: ebook-kindle
      • onSaleDate: 5/15/2012
      • samples:
            • source: From the book
            • formatType: ebook-epub-adobe
            • url: https://excerpts.cdn.overdrive.com/FormatType-410/0111-1/543/FDE/1A/BunchofAmateursASearchfortheAmericanC9780307955180.epub
            • source: From the book
            • formatType: ebook-overdrive
            • url: https://samples.overdrive.com/?crid=543FDE1A-71FF-43E9-8E29-8478C07162C8&.epub-sample.overdrive.com
      • fileName: BunchofAmateurs_9780307955180_674871
      • partCount: 0
      • fileSize: 0
      • identifiers:
            • type: ISBN
            • value: 9780307955180
            • type: PublisherCatalogNumber
            • value: 80762
      • name: OverDrive Read
      • isReadAlong: False
      • id: ebook-overdrive
      • onSaleDate: 5/15/2012
      • samples:
            • source: From the book
            • formatType: ebook-epub-adobe
            • url: https://excerpts.cdn.overdrive.com/FormatType-410/0111-1/543/FDE/1A/BunchofAmateursASearchfortheAmericanC9780307955180.epub
            • source: From the book
            • formatType: ebook-overdrive
            • url: https://samples.overdrive.com/?crid=543FDE1A-71FF-43E9-8E29-8478C07162C8&.epub-sample.overdrive.com
keywords
      • value: Education
      • value: Invention
      • value: Cultural Studies
      • value: us history
      • value: Biography
      • value: Inventions
      • value: Craft
      • value: Business
      • value: culture
      • value: Nature
      • value: work
      • value: Writing
      • value: philosophy
      • value: american history
      • value: American
      • value: World History
      • value: Engineering
      • value: art
      • value: Creativity
      • value: Engineer
      • value: psychology
      • value: Innovation
      • value: Design
      • value: History
      • value: Essays
      • value: Technology
      • value: Sociology
      • value: Economics
      • value: history books
      • value: historical books
      • value: gifts for history buffs
      • value: American history books
      • value: sociology books
      • value: engineering books
      • value: history gifts
      • value: history buff gifts
      • value: history lovers gifts
      • value: history teacher gifts
      • value: engineering gifts
      • value: engineer gifts
creators
      • role: Author
      • fileAs: Hitt, Jack
      • bioText: JACK HITT is a contributing editor to the New York Times Magazine, Harper’s, and public radio’s This American Life. He also writes for Rolling Stone, GQ, Wired, and, of course, Garden & Gun. He has won the Peabody Award, as well as the Livingston and Pope Foundation Awards. His stories can be heard on This American Life’s greatest hits CD, Lies, Sissies & Fiascoes, and The Best Crimes and Misdemeanors: Stories from The Moth. He is the author of a solo theater performance, currently touring, entitled Making Up the Truth.
      • name: Jack Hitt
imprint
Crown
publishDate
2012-05-15T00:00:00-04:00
isOwnedByCollections
True
title
Bunch of Amateurs
fullDescription
WHAT IS IT THAT DRIVES THE SUCCESS OF AMERICA AND THE IDENTITY OF ITS PEOPLE? ACCLAIMED WRITER AND CONTRIBUTING EDITOR TO THIS AMERICAN LIFE JACK HITT THINKS IT’S BECAUSE WE’RE ALL A BUNCH OF AMATEURS.
America’s self-invented tinkerers are back at it in their metaphorical garages—fiddling with everything from solar-powered cars to space elevators. In Bunch of Amateurs, Jack Hitt visits a number of different garages and has written a fascinating book that looks at America’s current batch of amateurs and their pursuits. From a tattooed young woman in the Bay Area trying to splice a fish’s glow-in-the-dark gene into common yogurt (all done in her kitchen using salad spinners)
to a space fanatic on the brink of developing the next generation of telescopes from his mobile home, Hitt not only tells the stories of people in the grip of a passion but argues that America’s history is bound up in a cycle of amateur surges.
Beginning with Ben Franklin’s kite and leading all the way to the current TV hit American Idol, Hitt argues that the nation’s
love of self-invented obsessives has always driven the country to rediscover the true heart of the American dream. Amateur pursuits are typically lamented as a world that just passed until a Sergey Brin or Mark Zuckerberg steps out of his garage (or dorm room) with the rare but crucial success story. In Bunch of Amateurs, Hitt argues that America is now poised to pioneer at another frontier that will lead, one more time, to the newest version of the American dream.
popularity
162
links
    • self:
        • href: https://api.overdrive.com/v1/collections/v1L1BvwAAAA25/products/543fde1a-71ff-43e9-8e29-8478c07162c8/metadata
        • type: application/vnd.overdrive.api+json
id
543fde1a-71ff-43e9-8e29-8478c07162c8
starRating
3.5
images
    • cover:
        • href: https://img1.od-cdn.com/ImageType-100/0111-1/{543FDE1A-71FF-43E9-8E29-8478C07162C8}Img100.jpg
        • type: image/jpeg
    • thumbnail:
        • href: https://img1.od-cdn.com/ImageType-200/0111-1/{543FDE1A-71FF-43E9-8E29-8478C07162C8}Img200.jpg
        • type: image/jpeg
    • cover150Wide:
        • href: https://img1.od-cdn.com/ImageType-150/0111-1/543/FDE/1A/{543FDE1A-71FF-43E9-8E29-8478C07162C8}Img150.jpg
        • type: image/jpeg
    • cover300Wide:
        • href: https://img1.od-cdn.com/ImageType-400/0111-1/543/FDE/1A/{543FDE1A-71FF-43E9-8E29-8478C07162C8}Img400.jpg
        • type: image/jpeg
isPublicPerformanceAllowed
False
languages
      • code: en
      • name: English
subjects
      • value: History
      • value: Technology
      • value: Nonfiction
publishDateText
05/15/2012
otherFormatIdentifiers
      • type: ISBN
      • value: 9780307393753
mediaType
eBook
shortDescription
WHAT IS IT THAT DRIVES THE SUCCESS OF AMERICA AND THE IDENTITY OF ITS PEOPLE? ACCLAIMED WRITER AND CONTRIBUTING EDITOR TO THIS AMERICAN LIFE JACK HITT THINKS IT’S BECAUSE WE’RE ALL A BUNCH OF AMATEURS.
America’s self-invented tinkerers are back at it in their metaphorical garages—fiddling with everything from solar-powered cars to space elevators. In Bunch of Amateurs, Jack Hitt visits a number of different garages and has written a fascinating book that looks at America’s current batch of amateurs and their pursuits. From a tattooed young woman in the Bay Area trying to splice a fish’s glow-in-the-dark gene into common yogurt (all done in her kitchen using salad spinners)
to a space fanatic on the brink of developing the next generation of telescopes from his mobile home, Hitt not only tells the stories of people in the grip of a passion but argues that America’s history is bound up in a cycle of amateur...
sortTitle
Bunch of Amateurs A Search for the American Character
crossRefId
674871
subtitle
A Search for the American Character
publisher
Crown
bisacCodes
      • code: HIS054000
      • description: History / Social History
      • code: TEC056000
      • description: Technology & Engineering / History
      • code: TEC057000
      • description: Technology & Engineering / Inventions
More Details
Street Date:
05/15/2012
Language:
English
ISBN:
9780307955180
ASIN:
B006E511ZI