Inventology: How We Dream Up Things That Change The World

Description

Find out where great ideas come from. A businessman struggles with his luggage at an airport and pioneers the wheeled suitcase. An engineer watches people using walkie-talkies and dreams up the mobile phone. A printer is frustrated by his unpredictable inks and creates the Pantone colour system. Why were these particular people able to identify a problem, and how did they discover the solutions that everyone else missed? Where exactly did their great ideas come from, and how did they go about making them a reality? In pursuit of answers, Pagan Kennedy has spent her career examining the creative process, interviewing inventors and engineers, scientists, psychologists and economists in a bid to understand how we create. In Inventology Kennedy collects their wisdom and explores a series of landmark inventions, taking us through the processes by which we have come to dream up new products and technologies, and conceived solutions to 'impossible' problems. A must-read for anyone who is curious about imagination, design and innovation, Inventology will inspire and entertain, and will show you how to become more creative.

Promotion info

A journey into the creative process to find out where great ideas come from.

Reviews

"'Inventology' may be a real science; researchers are beginning to study it, and teachers are teaching it. Some 21st-century creations (crowdfunding, 3D printing) are breaking down barriers between new ideas and a useful product, so a golden age of innovation seems in the offing. A delightful account of how inventors do what they do." Kirkus Reviews (Starred Review)

Author description

Pagan Kennedy is a writer, journalist and former Knight Science Journalism Fellow at MIT, where she studied microbiology and neuro-engineering. She also held a Lemelson Fellowship at the Smithsonian Institute and is the author of several works of fiction and non-fiction. Her journalism has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, Boston Globe Magazine, The New York Times Book Review and other publications.