The Idea Factory, Jon Gertner
The Idea Factory, Jon Gertner
1 Rating(s)
List: $29.99 | Sale: $21.00
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The Idea Factory
Bell Labs and the Great Age of American Innovation

Author: Jon Gertner

Narrator: Chris Sorensen

Unabridged: 17 hr 28 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Recorded Books

Published: 04/27/2012


Synopsis

In The Idea Factory, New York Times Magazine writer Jon Gertner reveals how Bell Labs served as an incubator for scientific innovation from the 1920s through the 1980s. In its heyday, Bell Labs boasted nearly 15,000 employees, 1,200 of whom held PhDs and 13 of whom won Nobel Prizes. Thriving in a work environment that embraced new ideas, Bell Labs scientists introduced concepts that still propel many of today's most exciting technologies.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Andrej on December 29, 2015

The Idea Factory is a fascinating book for anyone interesting in the process of innovation. The book follows the particular example of Bell Labs, which at its peak in ~1940-70 was a 1000+ PhD behemoth conducting full-stack research/development/deployment in communications, with decades of runway ena......more

Goodreads review by Aaron on May 09, 2012

Bell Labs was probably the most important scientific institution of the 20th century. Check out this list: transistors, semiconductors, microwave towers, digital transmission, satellites, radio astronomy, information theory, quality control, fiber optics, undersea cabling, CCDs, cell phones, video p......more

Goodreads review by Laura on May 04, 2012

3 stars for a general audience, 4 stars for an audience interested in the history of technology. The book did a very good job of describing an almost magical place and time, and almost caused me to mourn the demise of the old monopolistic phone company, which certainly is a large part of the reason s......more

Goodreads review by Jason on January 25, 2025

An excellent history of Bell Labs with a great combination of science, innovation, business, capsule biographies, and the like. It is amazing to contemplate the journey as the world shifted from "inventors" to scientists working together to invent stuff in a way that pre-dated the Manhattan project......more

Goodreads review by Shane on January 20, 2020

A friend of ours, at the helm of a leading-edge R&D team within a tech giant, first recommended this book to us. As he prepared for his role, this book provided useful examples of how to do innovation well within a large company. For those of us looking for ways to generate creativity and innovation......more