Inventors at Work: Interviews with 16 Notable American Inventors

Gathers interviews with the inventors of the Gossamer Condor, the pacemaker, the Mercury Space Capsule, the dye laser, the microprocessor, and the Apple II computer

Brown here conducts in-depth interviews with 16 notable inventors, from independent tinkerers to professional research and design specialists. In his foreword, BBC writer-producer Burke (Connections) notes that the subjects tend to "look at the world in a highly idiosyncratic manner," are "refreshingly and sometimes sharply individualistic" and have "provocative views" about the effects of formal education on imaginative and creative thinking. Paul MacCready explains how he solved the puzzle of human-powered flight by watching birds soar. Steven Wozniak, designer of the Apple II computer, talks about ideas suddenly clicking: "Maybe my learning is subliminal. . . . You think it out in your sleep." Nat Wyeth, inventor of the plastic soft-drink bottle, discusses the influence on him of his father, illustrator N. C. Wyeth. Other subjects include Jacob Rabinow (postal sorting), Raymond Kurzweil (voice-operated word processing), Harold Rosen (geosynchronous satellite), Bob Gundlach (xerography and imaging science) and Ted Hoff (microprocessor). Invention becomes an art in these accounts of serendipitous associations and "lateral thinking." 20,000 first printing; major ad/promo.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.

This is an interesting collection of 16 interviews conducted by a journalist. It covers a diverse group of inventorsfrom Marvin Camras who invented magnetic recording, to Gordon Gould who invented the laser, to Steve Wozniak whose Apple computer began the personal computer industry. The interviews read smoothly and the author's messagethat we must become more like these inventors in order to deal with rapid technological changeis valid. For general, informed, and young readers. Hilary D. Burton, Lawrence Livermore National Lab., Livermore, Calif.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.