Edison and the Rise of Innovation

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. (Nov.)