The Idea Factory

Bell Labs and the Great Age of American Innovation

By: Jon Gertner

Narrated by: Chris Sorensen

Length: 17 hrs and 28 mins

Publisher's summary

In The Idea Factory, New York Times Magazine writer Jon Gertner reveals how Bell Labs served as an incubator for scientific innovation from the 1920s through the 1980s. In its heyday, Bell Labs boasted nearly 15,000 employees, 1200 of whom held PhDs and 13 of whom won Nobel Prizes. Thriving in a work environment that embraced new ideas, Bell Labs scientists introduced concepts that still propel many of today’s most exciting technologies.

©2012 Jon Gertner (P)2012 Recorded Books, LLC

Very nice book

If you could sum up The Idea Factory in three words, what would they be?

The book enlightened me about the scientific contribution coming from the Bell labs: vacuum tubes, transistor, communication theory, pulse code modulation, sampling, RADAR, LASER, fiber optics, microwave communication, Unix, C, and a plethora of other technologies. The book is well written and captivating. It makes one stop and think what real contribution means. We live in the world where the technologies invested and perfected in Bell labs have become indispensable parts of our lives. The scientists at the Bell labs in early and mid 1900s created all these technologies and they engulf us not by accident but because those scientists foresaw the necessity and impact for these technologies. They were well ahead of their time. In Bell labs, the scientists truly worked on the technology that would shape several decades to come.

Bell Labs and the Creation of The Modern World

Could've easily been the title of this book. Beautiful performance and an excellent and engaging story.

Could have benefited from a more critical eye

The history of Bell Labs was mostly new to me and I was not disappointed. It was pretty incredible to read about the plethora of revolutionary patents, ideas, and theories as well as the people behind them. All of this was well written, well read, and well researched, but at times I felt that the telling of the story was a little biased and could have benefited from a more critical approach, e.g. many pages were used to describe Bell Labs important collaborations with the military but none were used to discuss the role that AT&T played in the violation of privacy rights by cooperating with the the government to illegally eavesdrop on American citizens. This is not to say that the author wasn't critical at all - he did analyze the ugly sides of some of the labs innovators and did give some great analysis of how Bell Labs might operate in today's world - but there were a couple points where I thought he could go further. Nonetheless though, this is a recommended listen, especially for those new to the topic.

A great and inspiring read!

i truely enjoyed the book. I have a great new appreciation for at&t's role in todays tech world.

I Enjoyed It...But Many Won't

Would you try another book from Jon Gertner and/or Chris Sorensen?

Ehh... considering this book was written for a specific topic, that heavily depends on what jon writes about.

What do you think your next listen will be?

Heading back to the arena of fiction for a bit..

What did you like about the performance? What did you dislike?

Performance was ok.It's not a book that needs much emotion

Do you think The Idea Factory needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

Umm considering this is no more Bell Labs...no.

Any additional comments?

Okay, so this review is going to be biased. I'm telling you straight forward. I've always had a fascination with the idea of Bell Labs, and admittedly, have been ennamoured with the place for years. I now work at Alcatel-Lucent (owner of Bell Labs) so I sort of achieved my goal in life. Anyway, I felt the book was a very very good review more of the people's lives who worked at Bell Labs, rather than actually focusing on the individual inventions. They glossed over a lot of big inventions such as the creation of UNIX. And the C programming language. Instead focusing on mannerisms and traits of the people who worked there. I don't mind obviously learning and reading about the great pillars of creative thought, but there are so many presented in this book.
This book is also a fun read due to the fact that I live in New Jersey, so it was like a who's who of townships, that received recognition. (even my own tiny hometown was mentioned). I enjoyed reading this, but I can see how anyone without a love of innovation, science, bell labs, at&t and such interests would be bored to tears.
I just wish they would have expanded on certain parts, especially the rivalry between AT&T and MCI.
My own score is a 3/5, but I can see anyone not interested in this may give it a 2/5.

Bell System's Wonderful Tale

A fascinating recount of the Bell System, AT&T and Bell Telephone, and its key eccentric players that to this day impact us.

Good historical account of Bell Telephone Labs

I had finished Conquering The Electron and was looking for a related book. Very good.

Important insights into U.S. industrial culture.

This book fleshed out legends I heard over 35 years as a broadcast technician. It also implies questions about the character of individuals who will carry the legacy of Yankee engineering into the future.

Oh my (pause) God! Just take a (pause) Hacksaw

and chop my (pause) head off. The ponderous pauses are a painful distraction. The book was well written, but the reader using the same inflection over and over and over made this an emotional struggle to complete.

epic technological account

Very well written. I'm thankful my Audible player allows me to speed up the reading. The narrator is terribly slow. I listened at 2X speed.