Rating: 

It debunked the myth of “build a better mouse trap and the world will beat a path to your door”

Nothing is invented suddenly – everything is built from the work of others. An inventor used all the knowledge available at the time, put different ideas and products together to ‘invent’ or innovate something new.

The second concept I found interesting was that many new ideas or ‘inventions’ never made it at the time.

A new idea or product requires several things to come together at once. First the public has to ready, there has to be a demand, second someone has to market it, get it out there to the public. It has to be easy to use or understand by the public.

What is interesting is that many discoveries or inventions are credited to a now famous person from history, when in fact several others had done the same work or made the same invention or discovery, but they never moved forward with it, got it into the hands of the right people.

Success was usually due to good business skills and clever marketing, not to mention finances to bankroll distribution or publicity.

And many inventions were created indirectly while trying to solve a different problem.

Being a Project Manager and tasked with solving problems, the most interesting concept Scott puts forth is that by clearly defining the problem up front, it almost solves itself. The solution becomes quite clear. The moral is: spend most of your time in defining the problem or project first, then executing a solution will be easy.

The book contains many real life examples of products or ideas from ancient history to more modern times. The computer revolution references were particularly interesting to me, being of that generation and working in the IT field.

The book contains a huge bibliography and copious foot notes for those that want additional information to substantiate Scott’s ideas. It also had a nice index that would normally only be found in a text book or reference book.

It was an inspiring book, made me want to revisit some of the ideas and products I had tinkered with in my garage now that I understand the forces at work behind great inventions.
It’s a book I would reference over and over again in order to re-inspire myself to continue any innovative Endeavour