The Idea Factory: Bell Labs and the Great Age of American Innovation by Jon Gertner (PDF)

Description

The definitive history of America’s greatest incubator of innovation and the birthplace of some of the 20th century’s most influential technologies“Filled with colorful characters and inspiring lessons . . . The Idea Factory explores one of the most critical issues of our time: What causes innovation?” —Walter Isaacson, The New York Times Book Review“Compelling . . . Gertner’s book offers fascinating evidence for those seeking to understand how a society should best invest its research resources.” —The Wall Street JournalFrom its beginnings in the 1920s until its demise in the 1980s, Bell Labs-officially, the research and development wing of AT&T-was the biggest, and arguably the best, laboratory for new ideas in the world. From the transistor to the laser, from digital communications to cellular telephony, it’s hard to find an aspect of modern life that hasn’t been touched by Bell Labs. In The Idea Factory, Jon Gertner traces the origins of some of the twentieth century’s most important inventions and delivers a riveting and heretofore untold chapter of American history. At its heart this is a story about the life and work of a small group of brilliant and eccentric men-Mervin Kelly, Bill Shockley, Claude Shannon, John Pierce, and Bill Baker-who spent their careers at Bell Labs. Today, when the drive to invent has become a mantra, Bell Labs offers us a way to enrich our understanding of the challenges and solutions to technological innovation. Here, after all, was where the foundational ideas on the management of innovation were born.

User’s Reviews

Editorial Reviews: Review “Filled with colorful characters and inspiring lessons . . . The Idea Factory explores one of the most critical issues of our time: What causes innovation?” —Walter Isaacson, The New York Times Book Review“Riveting . . . Mr. Gertner’s portraits of Kelly and the cadre of talented scientists who worked at Bell Labs are animated by a journalistic ability to make their discoveries and inventions utterly comprehensible—indeed, thrilling—to the lay reader. And they showcase, too, his novelistic sense of character and intuitive understanding of the odd ways in which clashing or compatible personalities can combine to foster intensely creative collaborations.” —Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times“One of the best innovation-focused books I’ve read: It’s a wide-ranging, detailed, and deeply fascinating look at the New Jersey lab which has been churning out useful discoveries since the early 1900s.” —The Boston Globe“Fascinating history . . . the research behind The Idea Factory is astonishing.” —Slate Book Review“Compelling . . . Gertner’s book offers fascinating evidence for those seeking to understand how a society should best invest its research resources.” —The Wall Street Journal“An expansive new history . . . does an impressive job of illuminating many of Bell Labs’ key technological triumphs.” —Wired.com About the Author Jon Gertner grew up in Berkeley Heights, New Jersey, just a few hundred yards away from Bell Labs. He has been a writer for the New York Times Magazine since 2004 and is an editor at Fast Company magazine. He lives in Maplewood, New Jersey, with his wife and two children.

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐Bell labs was one of greatest basic research labs in the country. They invented devices that reduced the size of telephony equipment from a room full of electro-mechanical switches to a device you could hold with one finger. Unfortunately, there was a great deal of political and personal infighting that made the lab less effective than it actually was. This remind me of Xerox Parc, another great lab just like Bell, ‘two peas in a pod’. Xerox was trending toward the electronic engineering that actually led them to a computer. Bur management pulled the strings saying that Xerox was the greatest copier manufacturer in the world and didn’t want to become involved with computers, much to their dismay later when another computer company stole their ideas and ran the them making millions.

⭐This is an amazing account of a company and the people who were responsible for some of the most revolutionary technologies in history. The story is full of interesting and inspiring characters who came together, in part out of curiosity, to change the world. My synthesis is that Bell Labs’ success came down to having smart and creative people, supportive leaders, and lots of money. Read this book and either decide for yourself or learn how they did it. Highly recommend the book.

⭐Well organized and clearly writen, this is a history of technology that everyone can understand and enjoy. I started reading this book, logically, on page 1, but please consider reading the last chapter first. The final chapter examines Bell Labs in the context of current technology focused companies and organizations. With that in mind, the story of Bell Labs is even more engaging.I think corporate leaders of non-tech companies will learn a good deal about how to effectively manage their organization and encourage innovation. Bell Labs greatest product was clear and focused thinking and problem solving What organization today wouldn’t benefit from a bit more of that?I also recommend this as good reading for a high school student who is trying to decide on a course of college study and future career. If you’re bored after 50 pages, a career in technology probablly shouldn’t be your first choice. If you can’t put it down because you have identified new heros in you life, then it might be worthwhile to explore an education in math, physics, and computer science. I’m well beyond that stage, but I definitely found the book to be inspiring and have highlighted a number of points that I hope to discuss with friends.

⭐I worked for this esteemed research and development institution for many years. I wasn’t aware of the inventions in the early years of Bell Labs. I highly recommend reading this book. Those who worked for A&T Bell Labs, or AT&T but not in its R&D org, this books is a must have.

⭐Great story on innovation and a substantial institution I never considered or understood the impact they have had before reading this book. Anyone interested in history should give it a read. Also contains interesting character profiles and explorations into creativity, on different approaches to innovation and the people who draw it out.

⭐Outstanding and memorable. The Idea Factory (TIF) deals with part of the science carried out during the XX century. The book will be enjoyable to a wide audience; majors in physics, chemistry, mathematics, and engineers. Social sciences students likely will appreciate TIF because the author focusses not only on the scientific products at Bell Labs but also on the personal life of main actors while at the same time addressing the discoveries and innovations in the context of the whole century. Jon Gertner also presents a sociological discussion on what places in USA such abundance of brilliance could repeat. I “discovered” TIF when reading book reviews at Physics Today and what made me get to the book was that I wanted to know about Bell Labs which I have seen in many scientific papers as authors’ affiliations. Oh boy, I did not expect the ride Jon Gertner had prepared for me. TIF turned out to be a lot more that I had possibly imagined. Yes, I did get exposed to outstanding research at Bell Labs, and I admit I did not know about Claude Shannon or John Pierce. Page after page I found myself reading; scientific details, historical facts, interviews excerpts, comments on archived documents, and of course an uplifting authors’ prose. By all means I did not expect to feel strongly motivated to do my research. Thank you Jon. What a book. Remarkable!

⭐A great book on Bell Labs. If you’re even slightly interested in the history and technologies that have come out of Bell Labs, give this a go.

⭐This is a great read. Never knew how much they did.

⭐Jon Gertner’s book is the story of the rise, growth, and eventual winding down of Bell Labs, one of the greatest research institutions of all times. It would take a massive multi-volume history to cover everything that Bell Labs did, so the author concentrates on on the period between the 1930s and the 1970s, and follows some the the key players and their research through that period.However, he also explains very clearly the political and economic decisions that enabled AT&T to support its huge R&D division over such an extended period. He explains how the problems facing AT&T as the USA’s monopoly long distance carrier, operating over inter-continental distances, combined to form the unique, and highly productive, blend of scientists and engineers that was the Lab. This discussion is essential to understanding how Bell labs was able to achieve what it did, and the author handles the subject matter very clearly.The book covers Bell Labs’ seminal work on multiplexing, information theory, transistors, lasers, fiber optics, communications satellites, the cosmic microwave background, and mobile phone networks, among other things. Not everything Bell Labs did was a resounding success, though. There were failures as well as successes. For instance, in the early 1960s the Labs was instrumental in developing the Picturephone. This device turned out to be a major flop and an embarrassment with minimal sales after a lot of money and reputations had been staked on its success!The book is well written, informative and easy to read. If you want discover how the basic inventions that underpin the defining technologies of the 21st Century were made, then this book is a must read.

⭐This is a must read for an engineer, scientist or physicist of any age. The Bell labs were structured as a multi-discipline organisation unique in its day and never since emulated. The inventions created in this environment underpin everything we take for granted today.Solid state components, silicon chips, lasers, microwaves, solar panels, fibre optics, cellular phone networks, modems, subscriber trunk dialling, Satellite communications………

⭐For a history book and, perhaps even more so, one about technology this book almost kept me on the edge of my seat about what was to be told next. Early periods in the characters history jut brought so much home about how they leapt forward in Bell Labs when the rest of the world was still not tech savvy.Overall a good read, even if the last couple of chapters, in summing up, were for me a little less gripping.

⭐Fabulous book, packed with the kind of facts you want in a biography like this: Easy to dip in and out of, with many small sections, but integrated into a picture of a marvellous organization in full context.

⭐Great research that has been turned into an easy read. Describes a quite amazing organisation and time.

Keywords

Free Download The Idea Factory: Bell Labs and the Great Age of American Innovation in PDF format
The Idea Factory: Bell Labs and the Great Age of American Innovation PDF Free Download
Download The Idea Factory: Bell Labs and the Great Age of American Innovation 2013 PDF Free
The Idea Factory: Bell Labs and the Great Age of American Innovation 2013 PDF Free Download
Download The Idea Factory: Bell Labs and the Great Age of American Innovation PDF
Free Download Ebook The Idea Factory: Bell Labs and the Great Age of American Innovation