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Title: Innovate Like Edison: The Success System of America's Greatest Inventor
ISBN: 0525950311
Author:
Michael Gelb
Sarah Miller Caldicott
Publicate Date: 2007-10-25
Publish: 2007-10-25
List Price: $25.95
Average Customer Rating: 5.0
Format: Hardcover
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Amazon Lowest New Price: $2.48
Amazon Lowest Used Price: $2.35
Amazon Merchant Price: $17.13
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| Customer Review: |
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1: An Informative and Engaging Exploration of The Innovation Process
I have used "Innovate Like Edison" as one of several texts in a graduate course on Creativity & Innovation for new product developers. This book is exceptional, in that it explores the innovation process at several levels. We get to know Edison's personal style from his creativity practices, his notebooks and sketches, and photos of him with contemporaries. We also learn about his leadership style and sometimes quirky management practices, along with the unique culture he created at Menlo Park. And lastly, we see Edison as the systems thinker, not only creating "breakthrough" inventions, but also designing in parallel with an invention the entire market framework and supply chain network that would make the invention truly transformational. In this sense, it might be said that Steve Jobs took a page from the Edison playbook in creating the iPod.
I have used Innovate Like Edison as a natural companion to handbooks on creativity methods, as well as other textbooks that cover critiques and current research relative to the innovation process. Gelb's book "How to think like Leonardo da Vinci" is also an excellent companion for this book, and I have included it in my course readings, although the Engineering work and inventions described in the Edison book are probably more familiar to most students.
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2: Loved this!!!
This is packed full of information. Something you need to go over and over again in your mind. I'm grateful to have it. Thank u Michael and Sarah for putting this together.
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3: Practical History: A Terrific Mix!!
Thomas Alva Edison was one of the largest personalities in our history. Gelb and Miller-Caldicott took on a daunting challenge in writing a book that both did justice to this amazing man and made it relevant to the world three-quarters of a century later. Their product is relevant, practical, and engaging.
The authors do a terrific job painting a historical portrait of Edison. It starts with Nancy Edison pulling her son out of school at an early age because she recognized his need to learn by immersing himself in a topic and freely experimenting with what he learned. They also chronicle his early entrepreneurial days as a newspaper boy on the railroads, and then tracking Edison through his adult life. The historical elements of the book are well done and make for a compelling story in and of itself.
What makes this book stand out is the authors' ability to merge that history into a practical framework that describes Edison's genius. The framework allows readers to understand and internalize the many complex facets and abilities of the inventor's personality. The book divides these into five distinctive, but never mutually exclusive, competencies that provide a clarity and cohesiveness to Edison's complex approach to innovation. The melding of history and application is at the core of this book's success.
The authors cap their efforts with an engaging evaluation and development tool that allows readers to measure their innovation profile against the ideal. Completing the exercise is a terrific review of the book and the lessons taught. It provides insight for future personal development and suggestions for improving your innovation quotient.
This is a terrific book for anyone who wants or needs to improve their ability to innovate.
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4: Good Read on Edison
For an informative picture of the life of Edison as seen through the lense of innovation, this is a good book. It is a blend of a biography and an innovation how-to book. If the history of science appeals to you, so will this book.
You will definitely learn more about the character of Edison. Coupled with it will be the authors' interpretation of Edison's approaches distilled into five sets of five techniques (25 total) for practicing innovation. I think the 5 x 5 configuration is a bit contrived, but nonetheless, the points are reasonably genuine. In the end, I'd probably settle on a handful that were most meaningful because you certainly won't push 25 lines of thinking at once. You'll find the table of 25 near the end of the last main chapter; read the table before you start the book.
If anything, the book will convince you that a high energy level and intense dedication helped Edison as a person achieve his greatness. We do not all possess characteristics like being able to sleep only 4 - 6 hours a night, having a family that puts up with 18-hour work days, etc., so Edison as a personal model is a bit beyond the reach of most of us. It is a bit dangerous to take the exception to extract the rules. The authors don't seem to grasp that point.
Nor do the authors grasp the huge change in the level of technology and the costs of experimentation that have occured since Edison ran his Menlo Park lab and today's world of R&D. That's not to say their points about how to approach innovation are invalid, just that the context is radically different than it was in 1880 - 1920 and at least bears noting. To wit, a digital photocopier is a far cry from a mimeograph machine (if you know what the later is).
All that said, this is an easy book to read and will prompt your thinking on how to promote innovation, either personally or in your organization. Buy it, you'll like it as much for the history as the methodology it describes.
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5: Not another think like somebody else kind of thing
This is one more of think like Davinci, Einstein, Isaac Newton kind of silly books written by someone who never created anything in his life. Please no more.
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