1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910370255003321

Autore

Wills Ian

Titolo

Thomas Edison: Success and Innovation through Failure / / by Ian Wills

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Cham : , : Springer International Publishing : , : Imprint : Springer, , 2019

ISBN

3-030-29940-6

Edizione

[1st ed. 2019.]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (255 pages)

Collana

Studies in History and Philosophy of Science, , 0929-6425 ; ; 52

Disciplina

621.3092

Soggetti

Philosophy

Technology—History

Management

Industrial management

Philosophy of Technology

History of Technology

Innovation/Technology Management

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references.

Nota di contenuto

Chapter 1. Introduction -- Part I: Edison and Failure Chapter -- 2. Success, Failure and Innovation: the Carbon Microphone -- Chapter 3. Failure and Success -- Chapter 4. Innovation and Systems -- Chapter 5. Innovation Must Fail -- Chapter 6. Catastrophic Failure -- Part II: Edison Science and Invention -- Chapter 7. Inventive Success: the Phonograph -- Chapter 8. Scientific Failure: Etheric Force -- Part III: Edison's World -- Chapter 9. Thomas Edison and Patents -- Chapter 10. The Edisonian Method: Trial and Error -- Part IV: Reversing Edison -- Chapter 11. Reverse Engineering -- Chapter 12. Epilogue -- Bibliography -- Notes.

Sommario/riassunto

This book develops a systematic approach to the role of failure in innovation, using the laboratory notebooks of America's most successful inventor, Thomas Edison. It argues that Edison's active pursuit of failure and innovative uses of failure as a tool were crucial to his success. From this the author argues that not only should we expect innovations to fail but that there are good reasons to want them to fail. Using Edison's laboratory notebooks, written as he worked and before



he knew the outcome we see the many false starts, wrong directions and failures that he worked through on his way to producing revolutionary inventions. While Edison's strengths in exploiting failure made him the icon of American inventors, they could also be liabilities when he moved from one field to another. Not only is this book of value to readers with an interest in the history of technology and American invention, its insights are important to those who seek to innovate and to those who employ and finance them.