Juice: The Creative Fuel That Drives World-Class Inventors

Features

• Cover Type: Hard Cover with 224 pages
• Published by: Harvard Business School Press
• Edition: 1st Edition September 2004
• Written in: English
• ISBN 10 Number: 1591392888
• ISBN 13 Number: 978-1591392880
• Book Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.1 x 1.2 inches
• Weighs: 1.2 pounds

From Publishers Weekly
The inventor’s creative drive is usually regarded as an inimitable fluke found only in geniuses, but what if it were a mindset anyone could cultivate and exploit? Schwartz (The Last Lone Inventor) believes that it is, and lists a series of principles illustrated by the work of various inventors, from historical figures like Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas Edison to modern examples like Dean Kamen, the developer of the Segway. Though these tales are amiable and straightforward, the lessons he draws from them are overwhelmingly generic, along the lines of spotting opportunities others have overlooked and taking advantage of happy accidents. Meanwhile, stories about researchers turning algae into an alternative fuel source or creating speakerless sound systems that use ultrasonic waves for pinpoint audiocasting make invention look like something that occurs under unique circumstances or requires a high degree of specialized knowledge. Readers who are strictly interested in true tales of science, however, may be attracted by the diversity of Schwartz’s role models.
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Product Description
"There's never been a better time to have big ideas." --from the Foreword by Nathan Myhrvold

Creating new possibilities. Finding hidden problems. Blasting through knowledge barriers. That's the job of inventors. And just as invention has fueled the progress of humankind for centuries, the same thinking patterns that produced breakthroughs from the steam engine to the gene sequencer will spawn the inventions on which we'll build our future.

But what drives invention? Where do the mental leap, the "Aha!" and the "Eureka!" come from? What makes one person, company, or country more inventive than another? What motivates someone to search for a problem, brainstorm a solution, and create that next big thing?

This groundbreaking book takes us inside the laboratories and the minds of some of today's most prolific inventors to demystify the process by which they imagine and create. Evan I. Schwartz argues that invention is less about serendipity and genius than it is about a relentless inner compulsion to question and discover. This creative energy, says Schwartz, is the fuel-the "juice"-that drives the best inventors. And this special form of creativity is latent in each of us.

Juice juxtaposes the stories of classic inventors with a new breed of innovators, such as hypersonic sound inventor Woody Norris, genomics pioneer Lee Hood, mechanical whiz Dean Kamen, business systems inventor Jay Walker, and biomimicry trailblazer James McLurkin. Schwartz reveals the brilliant strategies-such as crossing knowledge boundaries, visualizing results, applying analogies, and embracing failure-that enable inventors to transform improbable ideas into reality. We learn, for example, how a connection between slot machines and pill-bottle caps might improve the world of preventive medicine; how mud and weeds are being used to help carry a nation out of poverty; and how the development of a diagnostic nanochip could extend human lifespans.

Powerful and inspiring, Juice will convince you that anything imaginable is possible. There is so much left to be invented. Let's turn on the juice.

Reader Reviews
I've read many books on innovation and this one was the best I've read. Schwartz engrosses you by weaving past and present, across domains as varied as agriculture and e-commerce, isolating the common techniques that great inventors use to overcome the obstacles to innovation. The book is a great combination of science history and management insight. You might see Harvard B-School as the publisher and think "ugh, dry business tome, better wait for the digest version" :-) That couldn't be further from the truth!! Without spoiling it, I'll simply say that there are great personal stories and wonderfully light moments. He has a style that is engaging and he switches between stories like a good film director. As an entrepreneur, I found myself sympathetically rooting for each of the innovators profiled, including several I had never heard of. I think it will appeal to: - business executives (e.g., leaders of product teams, who having read Clayton Christensen, are now striving to stimulate innovation in their organizations) - science history buffs (e.g., fans of James Burke's works such as Connections and Pinball Effect) - fans of his previous books (e.g., Last Lone Inventor about Philo Farnsworth's invention of television) In short, the author cracks the mystery that is "innovation" through a series of in-depth looks at the people, places, and circumstances that led to their inventions. Highly recommended!!