Invention and innovation : a brief history of hype and failure
(Book)
Author
Published
Cambridge, Massachusetts : The MIT Press, [2023]., , ©2023.
Physical Desc
219 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm.
Status
Okemos - Non-Fiction
600 Smil
1 available
600 Smil
1 available
South Lansing - Non-Fiction
600 Smil
1 available
600 Smil
1 available
Description
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Copies
Location | Call Number | Status |
---|---|---|
Okemos - Non-Fiction | 600 Smil | Available |
South Lansing - Non-Fiction | 600 Smil | Available |
More Details
Published
Cambridge, Massachusetts : The MIT Press, [2023]., , ©2023.
Format
Book
Language
English
Notes
General Note
Includes index.
Description
"The world is never finished catching up with Vaclav Smil. In his latest and perhaps most readable book, Invention and Innovation, the prolific author—a favorite of Bill Gates—pens an insightful and fact-filled jaunt through the history of human invention. Impatient with the hype that so often accompanies innovation, Smil offers in this book a clear-eyed corrective to the overpromises that accompany everything from new cures for diseases to AI. He reminds us that even after we go quite far along the invention-development-application trajectory, we may never get anything real to deploy. Or worse, even after we have succeeded by introducing an invention, its future may be marked by underperformance, disappointment, demise, or outright harm. Drawing on his vast breadth of scientific and historical knowledge, Smil explains the difference between invention and innovation, and looks not only at inventions that failed to dominate as promised (such as the airship, nuclear fission, and supersonic flight), but also at those that turned disastrous (leaded gasoline, DDT, and chlorofluorocarbons). And finally, most importantly, he offers a 'wish list' of inventions that we most urgently need to confront the staggering challenges of the twenty-first century. Filled with engaging examples and pragmatic approaches, this book is a sobering account of the folly that so often attends human ingenuity—and how we can, and must, better align our expectations with reality." --publisher's website.
Citations
APA Citation, 7th Edition (style guide)
Smil, V. (2023). Invention and innovation: a brief history of hype and failure . The MIT Press.
Chicago / Turabian - Author Date Citation, 17th Edition (style guide)Smil, Vaclav. 2023. Invention and Innovation: A Brief History of Hype and Failure. The MIT Press.
Chicago / Turabian - Humanities (Notes and Bibliography) Citation, 17th Edition (style guide)Smil, Vaclav. Invention and Innovation: A Brief History of Hype and Failure The MIT Press, 2023.
MLA Citation, 9th Edition (style guide)Smil, Vaclav. Invention and Innovation: A Brief History of Hype and Failure The MIT Press, 2023.
Note! Citations contain only title, author, edition, publisher, and year published. Citations should be used as a guideline and should be double checked for accuracy. Citation formats are based on standards as of August 2021.
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