Inventology EXPORT - Softcover

Kennedy, Pagan

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0593073479 ISBN 13: 9780593073476

Publisher: Bantam Press, 2015

Synopsis

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About this title

From the Back Cover

A delightful account of how inventors do what they do. Kirkus Reviews, starred review

People often become convinced they have to make a tradeoff between two desirable qualities that are impossible to achieve at the same time. Imagine you re building an electric car; you will require a lot of battery power so that the car can travel for hundreds of miles before it has to charge up again. But as soon as you begin adding batteries, you also add weight, making the car so heavy that it won t go very far. The obvious solution (add more batteries) seems to cancel itself out. Faced with this paradox, your imagination may shut down, and you may find you can t seem to generate any ideas. When we believe that we must pick between A and B, our mind fails because we forget to search for a third or fourth or fifth possibility that skirts the seeming conundrum. For instance, what if you could transform the entire car into a giant battery and use its structural parts like the hood and the door to store energy? Indeed, several groups of researchers are now investigating this ingenious work-around; they re developing carbon-fiber material that would transform the car s body into a power-storage system. This approach involves a whole new way of thinking about batteries no longer would the power-storage devices be considered a burden on the car. Instead, the batteries would become the car (or the laptop, or the phone).

from INVENTOLOGY
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From the Inside Flap

Find out where great ideas come from.

A doctor realizes that an innocent-looking tube is killing his patients.A father cleans up after his toddler andbuilds a sippy cup that won t spill. An engineer dreams of a different world and pioneers the cell phone.

By studying breakthroughs like these, we can learn how people imagine their way around impossible problems to discover groundbreaking answers. Pagan Kennedy reports on how enduring methods of invention can be adapted tothe twenty-first century, as millions of us deploy tools like crowdfunding, big data, and 3-D printing to address our needs or realize our dreams.
Inventologydraws on fresh research and the surprising stories behind many inventions old and new to reveal the steps that most reliably produce discovery. As Kennedy shows, recent advances in technology and communication have placed us at the cusp of a golden age; it s now more possible than ever before to transform ideas into actuality. This myth-shattering book is a must-read for anyone who is eager to understand how the most amazing, important new things come into the world.
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Edition details

• Publisher: Bantam Press
• Publication date: 2015
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0593073479
• ISBN 13: 9780593073476
• Binding: Paperback