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The Idea Factory: Bell Labs and the Great Age of American Innovation
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The Idea Factory: Bell Labs and the Great Age of American Innovation Paperback - 2013

by Jon Gertner

The definitive history of America's greatest incubator of technological innovation. In this first full portrait of the legendary Bell Labs, Gertner takes readers behind one of the greatest collaborations between business and science in history.


Summary

The definitive history of America's greatest incubator of technological innovation
 
In this first full portrait of the legendary Bell Labs, journalist Jon Gertner takes readers behind one of the greatest collaborations between business and science in history. Officially the research and development wing of AT&T, Bell Labs made seminal breakthroughs from the 1920s to the 1980s in everything from lasers to cellular elephony, becoming arguably the best laboratory for new ideas in the world. Gertner's riveting narrative traces the intersections between science, business, and society that allowed a cadre of eccentric geniuses to lay the foundations of the information age, offering lessons in management and innovation that are as vital today as they were a generation ago.

From the publisher

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 Journal

From 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.

Details

  • Title The Idea Factory: Bell Labs and the Great Age of American Innovation
  • Author Jon Gertner
  • Binding Paperback
  • Edition Reprint
  • Pages 432
  • Volumes 1
  • Language ENG
  • Publisher Penguin Books
  • Date 2013-02-26
  • Illustrated Yes
  • ISBN 9780143122791 / 0143122797
  • Weight 0.79 lbs (0.36 kg)
  • Dimensions 8.39 x 5.49 x 0.94 in (21.31 x 13.94 x 2.39 cm)
  • Ages 18 to UP years
  • Grade levels 13 - UP
  • Themes
    • Chronological Period: 20th Century
  • Library of Congress subjects Technological innovations - United States -, Telecommunication - United States - History
  • Dewey Decimal Code 384

Media reviews

“An expansive new history . . . does an impressive job of illuminating many of Bell Labs’ key technological triumphs.”

Citations

  • New York Times Book Review, 04/07/2013, Page 28

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.
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