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Edison on Innovation: 102 Lessons in Creativity for Business and Beyond
book

Edison on Innovation: 102 Lessons in Creativity for Business and Beyond

by Alan Axelrod
February 2008
Intermediate to advanced content levelIntermediate to advanced
192 pages
4h 1m
English
Jossey-Bass
Content preview from Edison on Innovation: 102 Lessons in Creativity for Business and Beyond

8.12. Lesson 76: Plod

Despite his love of speed, Edison was never too proud to plod, and the most famous example of Edison's prodigious plodding was his worldwide search for the best material out of which to fashion filaments for his electric light. Thousands of substances were collected and tested, it is true, but this does not mean that Edison's plodding was aimless and without plan. At one point, he had impregnated horseshoe-shaped pieces of cardboard with lampblack (carbon) and used them as filaments. They worked, but their useful lives were short. Instead of blindly groping after a better material, Edison studied the cardboard under a microscope in an effort to understand just why the material had proved unsatisfactory.

After close examination, ...

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Publisher Resources

ISBN: 9780787994594Purchase book