Splendidly Unreasonable Inventors

The Lives, Loves, and Deaths of 30 Pioneers Who Changed the World

Jeremy Coller, Christine Chamberlain

• Publisher: ABRAMS Press
• Year: 2009
• Print ISBN: 9781590202692
• eBook ISBN: 9781468306156
• Topic: Technology & Engineering
• Subtopic: Business Biographies
• Index: Technology & Engineering

Why do some inventors succeed and others fail? A private equity pioneer explores personal traits and processes that worked for thirty innovators—or didn't. Jeremy Coller, a pioneer in the world of private equity, argues that there are three basic personality types in the arena of invention. The Principal, Broker, and Consultant each display certain traits that dictate the potential for success, but few people have the full package. Failure results when an individual who excels in one area of competence attempts to become all things. Thus, even accomplished geniuses can end up penniless. In Splendidly Unreasonable Inventors, Coller focuses on the individual rather than the invention—and explores the ways in which he or she did or did not succeed in bringing their vision to fruition. On one level, the book is a collection of fascinating stories packed with quirky, often humorous nuggets of information. On another level, these stories provide an unconventional look at the processes and personalities that created products that changed the world, including:

• Jonas Salk and the polio vaccine
• King Gillette and the safety razor
• Alfred Nobel and dynamite
• Sam Colt and the revolver
• Rudolph Diesel and the diesel engine, and more

Table of contents

• Cover
• Copyright
• Contents
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction
• King Camp Gillette – That one big idea
• Chester Carlson – One big chance
• Isaac Merritt Singer – A toad in his time
• Kokichi Mikimoto – Pearls of wisdom
• John Stith Pemberton – The gift of addiction
• Alfred Bernhard Nobel – Mr Dynamite
• Samuel Colt – The big bang
• Bette Nesmith Graham – Disappearing act
• Marc Isambard Brunel – Tunnel vision
• Isambard Kingdom Brunel – The biggest and the best
• John Holland – Taking a dip
• Rudolf Diesel – Internal combustion
• George Selden – Road hog
• Percy Shaw – Eye catcher
• Charles Goodyear – Cooking caoutchouc
• Eli Whitney – Runningwild
• William Thomas Green Morton – Confidence man
• Jonas Salk – A pass at the moon
• Paul Winchell – The way to an artificial heart
• Albert Coombs Barnes – Playing with art
• Ignaz Philipp Semmelweis – I speak but no one will listen
• Thomas Alva Edison – The Wizard
• Nikola Tesla – The Magician
• Louis Aimé Augustin Le Prince – Where in the world?
• Auguste and Louis Lumière – The magic box
• William Bradford Shockley – Doctor Beep Beep
• Alexander Graham Bell – Business calls
• Samuel Finley Breese Morse – Lightning line
• Sir Charles Wheatstone – An empty chair
• Charles Proteus Steinmetz – Gentle giant
• Bibliography
• Photo credits
• Index