The New Cool
 The book begins with a prologue set at the 2009 FIRST Championship in Atlanta and describes the exciting environment there. It then switches back to the kickoff event in January 2009 and describes Dean Kamen and how he founded FIRST. Afterwards, it details the history of team 1717 and the program that it is a part of, the Dos Pueblos Engineering Academy. Then the book describes how the 2009 team winds its way through a 6 week build season, enduring many struggles from mechanical failures to a bout of sickness. A chapter is dedicated to team 217, the Thunderchickens, who attempt to construct a robot with military style precision, and to team 395, 2TrainRobotics, whose students must deal with issues related to being in the poor inner city, as well as to team 67, Heroes of Tomorrow. After the build season, team 1717 competes in two regional competitions, Los Angeles and Sacramento. The team loses in the finals at Los Angeles, and wins in Sacramento after going undefeated. 1717 then competes in the FIRST Championship, where it loses to a heavily favored team in the division finals.