The Idea Factory
Bell Labs and the Great Age of American Innovation
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Narrated by:
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Chris Sorensen
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By:
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Jon Gertner
About this listen
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.
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This is the origin story of the airwaves - the foundational technology of the communications age - as told through the 40-year friendship of an entrepreneurial industrialist and a brilliant inventor. David Sarnoff, the head of RCA and equal parts Steve Jobs, Jack Welch, and William Randolph Hearst, was the greatest supporter of his friend, Edwin Armstrong, developer of the first amplifier, the modern radio transmitter, and FM radio.
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The Classic Struggle
- By Jean on 06-01-16
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Thinking Machines
- The Quest for Artificial Intelligence - and Where It's Taking Us Next
- By: Luke Dormehl
- Narrated by: Gus Brown
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When most of us think about artificial intelligence, our minds go straight to cyborgs, robots, and sci-fi thrillers where machines take over the world. But the truth is that artificial intelligence is already among us. It exists in our smartphones, fitness trackers, and refrigerators that tell us when the milk will expire. In some ways the future people dreamed of at the World's Fair in the 1960s is already here. We're teaching our machines how to think like humans, and they're learning at an incredible rate.
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Mostly platitudes with no depth
- By Gary on 03-24-17
By: Luke Dormehl
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Hood
- Trailblazer of the Genomics Age
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Lee Hood did that rarest of things. He enabled scientists to see things they couldn't see before and do things they hadn't dreamed of doing. Scientists can now sequence complete human genomes in a day, setting in motion a revolution that is personalizing medicine. Hood, a son of the American West, was an unlikely candidate to transform biology. But with ferocious drive, he led a team at Caltech that developed the automated DNA sequencer, the tool that paved the way for the Human Genome Project.
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A Revealing Biography
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The Theory That Would Not Die
- How Bayes' Rule Cracked the Enigma Code, Hunted Down Russian Submarines, and Emerged Triumphant from Two Centuries of Controversy
- By: Sharon Bertsch McGrayne
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Bayes' rule appears to be a straightforward, one-line theorem: by updating our initial beliefs with objective new information, we get a new and improved belief. To its adherents, it is an elegant statement about learning from experience. To its opponents, it is subjectivity run amok. Sharon Bertsch McGrayne here explores this controversial theorem and the human obsessions surrounding it.
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Who is the intended audience?
- By Billy on 07-21-14
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No Better Time
- The Brief, Remarkable Life of Danny Lewin, the Genius Who Transformed the Internet
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No Better Time tells of a young, driven mathematical genius who wrote a set of algorithms that would create a faster, better Internet. It's the story of a beautiful friendship between a loud, irreverent student and his soft-spoken MIT professor, of a husband and father who spent years struggling to make ends meet only to become a billionaire almost overnight with the success of Akamai Technologies, the Internet content delivery network he cofounded with his mentor.
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An Overlooked Hero of 9-11
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The Chaos Imperative
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Ori Brafman and management consultant Judah Pollack dramatically demonstrate how even the best and most efficient organizations - from Fortune 500 companies to today's US Army - can become more innovative by allowing a little unstructured space and "contained chaos" into their planning and decision-making. Through their consulting work, they realized that while structure and hierarchy are essential both in large corporations and small groups, too much of either can stifle creativity.
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a must read!!
- By Kelly Pavich on 05-26-19
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Whiplash
- How to Survive Our Faster Future
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Today, not only is everything digital getting faster, cheaper, and smaller at an exponential rate, we also have the Internet. When these two revolutions - one in technology and the other in communications - joined, an explosive force was unleashed that changed the very nature of innovation. And with any change, we have seen many strategic blunders and extraordinary learning curves along the way.
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Just general advice on how to survive
- By A. Yoshida on 09-01-17
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The Department of Mad Scientists
- Inside DARPA, the Path-Breaking Government Agency You've Never Heard Of
- By: Michael Belfiore
- Narrated by: Michael Belfiore
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The first-ever inside look at DARPA - the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency - the maverick and controversial group whose futuristic work has had amazing civilian and military applications, from the Internet to GPS to driverless cars
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meh
- By Patrick on 12-22-09
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Broad Band
- The Untold Story of the Women Who Made the Internet
- By: Claire L. Evans
- Narrated by: Claire L. Evans
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Women are not ancillary to the history of technology; they turn up at the very beginning of every important wave. But they've often been hidden in plain sight, their inventions and contributions touching our lives in ways we don't even realize. Vice reporter and YACHT lead singer Claire L. Evans finally gives these unsung female heroes their due with her insightful social history of the Broad Band, the women who made the Internet what it is today. Evans shows us how these women built and colored the technologies we can't imagine life without.
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Inspiring
- By Jean on 03-29-18
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Data-ism
- The Revolution Transforming Decision Making, Consumer Behavior, and Almost Everything Else
- By: Steve Lohr
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- Length: 6 hrs and 33 mins
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Coal, iron ore, and oil were the key productive assets that fueled the Industrial Revolution. Today data is the vital raw material of the information economy. The explosive abundance of this digital asset, more than doubling every two years, is creating a new world of opportunity and challenge. Data-ism is about this next phase, in which vast, Internet-scale data sets are used for discovery and prediction in virtually every field. It is a journey across this emerging world with people, illuminating narrative examples, and insights.
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More business case than serious analysis
- By Godfried Gubbels on 06-03-15
By: Steve Lohr
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What listeners say about The Idea Factory
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Scott H.
- 01-11-21
Fascinating look at innovation and history of science
Really cool to hear how bell labs was responsible for so many advances. Good narration. The writer’s style includes really long sentences that sometimes are difficult to parse even when performed by the competent narrator. But the underlying history being told is too fascinating for that to matter.
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- Mike Fox
- 12-17-24
Inspiring and Informative
I learned so much about the minds which created the ideas which became the modern era.
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- Scott H.
- 03-19-18
A must listen/read for today's innovators
If you are interested in how to make your own organization more innovative, this book should help you to "innovate" your own ideas on the methods to deploy.
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- patiencedetect
- 08-07-18
Great reconstruction of Bell Labs rise & fall
This book focuses on the heyday of Bell Labs and does a good job telling the story of some of the key innovations that happened there & the people behind the scenes. The slow narration does detract from the audiobook, but it's not noticeable at 2.5-3x speed.
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- Pentachoron
- 05-07-20
I learned so much
I'm a creative technologist. I know the basis of technology history. this filled in so many gaps and connected so many dots for me. I definitely recommend it. I think it could be an excellent TV series. it's a very compelling read.
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- John
- 07-17-12
A Good Listen
A very interesting listen that has just enough detail, but it is not technical. I was very interested in the early scientists and this touched each of the critical people with sufficient detail.
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- Great customer
- 09-29-13
A great "biography" of Bell Labs
Bell Labs played a hugely significant role in shaping our world today, a role which is surprising unknown. Gertner takes a biographer's approach to recounting Bell Labs' history. Most of the story focuses on the influential people, their personalities, their idiosyncrasies, their experiences, and how they shaped the most significant discoveries, inventions, policies, and events of Bell Labs. I think the story is probably most likely to be enjoyed by those with strong science and engineering interests.
Gertner clearly conducted deep and meticulous research to write the book. This "biographer's" approach has a humanizing effect on Bell Labs by reminding the reader (listener) that behind this mammoth, influential institution were real people. However, as can often be the case for in-depth biographies, there are some dull moments when you get lost in the details at the expense of the story line.
Some of the AT&T and Bell Labs policies, decisions, and approaches are controversial and one can make arguments regarding their merits or faults. As a "biographer," Gertner generally doesn't comment much on these types of ethical issues. He seems to lay out the facts, details, and people, and then let the reader come to his/her conclusions.
Other listeners have commented on the narrator. I tend to listen at 2X or 3X, so I can't really comment on his pauses. At accelerated speeds, he was fine.
Overall, I enjoyed Idea Factory and recommend it for better understanding the important people and events around Bell Labs.
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- B
- 06-08-19
Sciencistory!
It's a good read. A combination of science and history. I wish I had this background when I learned about these theories in courses or textbooks. The conclusion is strong and educating.
What could be better: The storyline, it covers several years and different technologies. It has an episodic nature that could be formed either around technologies or characters from Bell Labs or guest stars such as Edison or Moore. In some sections, it's hard to follow the lines or remember the characters. Part of this issue is due to a major shortcoming in the audiobook: Chapters are no in synch with the book chapters; there are several more than the book and with no title.
I wish there were figures and drawings for the concepts although I did a search for several.
It sees the world from Bell Lab "fanboys" or leaders. While I agree they contributed to several technologies, they were not the inventor in several cases.
It touches a little bit of how corporate culture was in Bell Labs but cautiously.
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- Rodney
- 01-29-13
Great story -- horrible pauses
If I was going to (pause) (pause) (pause) write my review (pause) (pause) in the fashion that the reader (pause) (pause) (pause) read this book (pause) (pause) it would probably read something like this sentence.
As you can tell I'm really annoyed by this reader and his constant pausing, particularly in the first half of the book. It's extremely annoying since the guy can read well and has a pleasant voice but the pacing with all the pauses is frustrating. Either he reader got better or I got used to it since by the end of the book I didn't notice it much, but that was 10+ hours before I felt that way.
With that out of the way the book itself is excellent, with the exception of the authors comments at the end of the book -- he should stick with telling other peoples story. I don't really have much to add about the content of the book, it's exactly what it says it is and that's a great thing.
If you have the faintest interest in the subject and can get past the reader constantly pausing (and probably doubling the length of the audio) then you'll enjoy this book.
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21 people found this helpful
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- R. A. Pena
- 05-09-16
Great book for all those involved in science
Inspiring
Motivational
A great book for understanding the origins of the technology world in which we are involved. The final chapters are very useful to understand how the present scientific world has changed because of culture, politics and law. the book leaves you with many ideas about how to excel in your endeavors. The book highlights the importance of focusing on a mission and enjoying the ride.
It is longer than other science related audiobooks. Some chapters feel slow, but their content is absolutely necessary to understand the book.
This book is absolutely worth it.
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