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

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.


From the Trade Paperback edition.

网友对The Idea Factory: Bell Labs and the Great Age of American Innovation的评论

配得上这书名的机构少之又少啊

因为有工作上的涉及，以及对英文比较感兴趣，所以买了，原版精装价格有点贵，不过一本好书的价值总是大于它的售价的，赞一个吧，虽然还没着手看，有空翻翻。

书中讲述了垄断对重大发明的促进促进作用，虽非主流观点，但依然值得一观。

Anyone interested in science and technology can hardly be ignorant of Bell Labs. Discoveries like the structure of the transistor and the presence of universal background radiation are key moments in 20th century progress. Still, the stories behind these leaps forward are often less well-known than they deserve to be. Fortunately, Mr. Gertner has written an excellent book to fill in the gaps and tell so much more.

Born in the 1920's to solve specific problems for the phone company, it is easy to forget how important an aspect that was to most of the scientists at Bell Labs. In its early years these men developed solutions for sending long distance phone calls across the country and, eventually, around the world. The cables, amplifiers, and vacuum tubes they developed were meant not only to improve phone service but also last for decades without breaking down. Their incredible push for quality control would influence corporations around the world.

Ultimately more important, however, was the processes put in place to allow the best scientists freedom to discover. Everything from trolling colleges for the best graduates to designing laboratory spaces to encourage collaboration to giving opportunities for scientists to follow their own interests would lead an incredible series of steps forward: the aforementioned transistor and radio telescope as well as solar panels, satellites, lasers, cellular phone structure, computer technology and more. (There were failures as well, of course; notably, the Picturephone, where the marketing failures would presage AT&T's struggles when it was no longer a monopoly.)

The story is inherently fascinating, but Mr. Gertner deserves a lot of credit for making a very readable book. The best aspect is how he tells the story through its people and places. A number of small-town boys like Mervin Kelly and the great minds to follow--Bill Shockley, Walter Brattain, Claude Shannon, for example--get plenty of attention from Gertner. Their interactions and personalities are the driving force behind the discoveries. He also describes the legendary sites like the West Street building, Murray Hill, and Holmdel and how they contributed to the success of those who worked there.

Somehow, the work done at Bell Labs is simultaneously among the best/worst known pieces of scientific history. Perhaps because their work was done under the auspices of a corporation it has been somewhat passed over. Mr. Gertner has done a real service by bringing this important slice of history to public attention.

The Idea Factory is a book that inspired further reading for me and that is something I can appreciate. Having read "The Innovators" and "How we got to Now" prior to this book I was familiar with the individuals such at Brattain, Bardeen, Shockley & Shannon so it was nice to see Mr. Gertner go into even more detail about those gentlemen along with Baker, Kelly, etc.

I appreciated this book because I learned about a monopoly that the government allowed, and how because of that it encouraged so much invention and innovation from one place. This fascinates me, because there are so many companies who do not come up with original ideas and concepts anymore. With so much competition and quarterly statements to keep up with, a lot of companies seem to just do what's necessary to please their shareholders and to keep the stock price high. Because AT&T was a monopoly it gave them YEARS to work on perfecting and inventing new technologies that would improve the planet, create industries, and provide more adjacent possibilities.

It makes you look at Monopolies differently, Being born in the 90's I see certain "local monopolies" and I dislike them greatly because I feel like they provide 3rd rate service and are complacent because they have nothing to worry about, this seems like a "local monopoly" that actually may have been enjoyed since they actually worked very hard to invent new products and services constantly. I guess them licensing their patents as apart of a government agreement was a great thing to keep Bell Labs in business, but it was also the same thing that hurt them in the long run.

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