Publisher's Synopsis
Invention is getting an idea and making it work ... once.
But, invention is just the start. Innovation is doing the larger
long-term work of making that invention work reliably and
repeatedly-then succeeding at the harder task of convincing
people to use it. We need both invention and innovation.
People have thrived on this planet because they invented and
innovated around dangers. They faced dangers of cold and
dangerous predators such as lions and bears. They learned to
capture fire, maintain it, and even start it fresh for warmth, for
cooking more digestible food, and for chasing away those
predators. That was a series of inventions that people adopted
and developed as part of the much bigger set of energy
innovations. Those innovations led to furnaces, foundries,
cars, and civilization in general.
When wood grew scarce in the 1600s, people in Great Britain
built better stoves and got serious about mining coal. To better
mine the coal, they developed steam engines to pump water
from the mines. There were many steam engines, but James
Watt designed a much, much better steam engine. Watt, the
mechanic, and his entrepreneurial business partner, Mathew
Boulton, were an entrepreneurial team who birthed the
Industrial Revolution of steam railroads and factories.
21st Century new dangers include potential excessive
climate warming crop failures caused by that warming, and
exhaustion of certain key resources. Some of the innovations
needed are described in the forthcoming Saving the World
Before Breakfast: The Earth Alone Can Save Us by this author.
The quotes in this book are here to inspire you with the
wisdom and success of innovators who succeeded. A few
provide humor at those who scoffed at any chance of success.
Finally, they are included to warn you of the hard road ahead
lest you take on tasks that may be impossible, but to encourage
you if you do take that road
