Edison and the Rise of Innovation

Starred review from November 11, 2013
Thomas Edison is a household name that many connect with the electric light bulb, but few know the extent of his contributions to science and engineering. Archivist and historian DeGraaf surveys Edison's life of innovation in this enthralling pictorial biography that will awaken any reader's creative urge. From Edison's first patented invention, a vote recorder, to his exhaustive examination of storage batteries, and his keen interest in a domestic rubber source, which inspired him to learn plant biology and collect plants around the U.S., Edison was imaginative and canny. Edison's can-do, sky's the limit attitude led him to build a chemical plant to obtain carbolic acid rather than accept a chemical company's three month lag time. It took Edison and his team only 19 days to develop a method for producing the desired chemicals and build a fully functioning production plant from the ground up. Filled with photographs of Edison at work along with images of the many detailed notebooks kept in a communal method by Edison and his staff, DeGraaf captures the dynamic processes behind each achievement in a long and impressive career. The result is not only a tribute to history's greatest innovator but a guide for today's entrepreneurs.

October 15, 2013

Drawing on the collections that he oversees as an archivist of the Thomas Edison National Historical Site, DeGraaf provides an amply illustrated biographical portrait of its namesake. The corporate records, scientific notebooks, and personal correspondence relating to Edison and his endeavors provide detail in a narrative that demythologizes Edison by including failed ventures such as his Portland cement works along with his well-known triumphs. Rather than simply presenting his subject as an inventive genius, DeGraaf reveals Edison as a shrewd manager of personnel, as well as of fiscal and material assets--including developing himself as a celebrity brand. By hiring skilled craftsmen, creating multiple business entities to manage and capitalize on his patents, and reinvesting profits from successful inventions to finance new products, Edison constructed some of the first large-scale, well-stocked independent research and development laboratories intended to address a variety of technological concerns. Arranged roughly chronologically, these chapters detail Edison's major research projects. Smaller sidebars give details of minor projects, his home life, and other tangents. VERDICT A worthy and visually pleasing mid-length biography recommended for those who prefer Edison the businessman and social phenomenon to the scientist. With a foreword by Bill Gates.--Wade M. Lee, Univ. of Toledo Lib.

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