Inventorship: The Art of Innovation [Paperback]

Leonard M. Greene (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0471414077 | ISBN-13: 978-0471414070 | Publication Date: May 7, 2001 | Edition: 1

"From this lively and personal account, we learn that we can all practice inventorship to great advantage-measured either in gold or pleasure, or perhaps both!"-From the Foreword by Walter Cronkite

"Inventorship is truly the stuff from which the future will be molded. Giving us an insight into the everyday thought processes of great inventive minds, Greene's wonderful collection of stories and ideas is a model for each of us in the art of inventiveness."-Pat Hallberg, Executive Director, National Inventors Hall of Fame

"This entertaining and well-written work educates without pain and motivates the reader to learn more. It should be widely read not only by business people and entrepreneurs, but by young people, their parents, and their teachers. The lesson: Inventorship is for everyone and can change lives for the better."-Joseph N. Hankin, President, Westchester Community College

"After all the scholarly books and articles about innovation and the entrepreneurial process by theorists, how refreshing it is to hear from a real live inventor holding hundreds of patents in fields as diverse as aeronautics, sailing, chess, and skiing! He has even invented a word, 'inventorship', to describe the process and guide us through dozens of examples. A very useful book."-John Diebold, Chairman, The JD Consulting Group, Inc.

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

America’s greatest living inventor helps you unleash your inventive potential

Inventorship–the capacity for outside-the-box problem solving–is not a monopoly of the technical or intellectual elite, says National Inventors Hall of Fame Member Leonard M. Greene. Whether we seek technical breakthroughs, small business success, or just a better life for our families and ourselves, inventive thinking can help us reach our goals. And it can be as easy to do as looking at the everyday things around us in "another way." Greene shows us how.

In this easy-to-read, nontechnical account replete with personal anecdotes, Greene–inventor of the lifesaving aircraft Stall Warning Indicator, Automatic Throttles, and Wind Shear Detector, and holder of more than 100 patents–tells how the techniques inventors use can be the key to career and personal success for both adult readers and their children. Greene debunks misconceptions about inventions and inventors and helps you prepare your mind to think innovatively.

Using plenty of helpful examples, stimulating illustrations, and inspiring stories from his illustrious career, Greene shows you how to think like an inventor and ask questions that will spark your own creativity. You’ll learn how to:

• Put your innate inventiveness to work in every part of your life
• Answer tough questions innovatively
• Apply childhood lessons to adult innovation
• Use inventive thinking to explain the inexplicable
• Foster innovation in your children
• Think small to succeed big

You’ll even learn how to use your newfound inventorship to launch a business, raise a family, or maybe even come up with that billion-dollar patent! In this insightful and eminently practical guide, one of the most successful inventors of all time focuses his energy, experience, and imagination on helping you unlock your own potential for inventorship. Read Inventorship and watch your creativity blossom in every direction. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From the Back Cover

"From this lively and personal account, we learn that we can all practice inventorship to great advantage–measured either in gold or pleasure, or perhaps both!"–From the Foreword by Walter Cronkite

"Inventorship is truly the stuff from which the future will be molded. Giving us an insight into the everyday thought processes of great inventive minds, Greene’s wonderful collection of stories and ideas is a model for each of us in the art of inventiveness."–Pat Hallberg, Executive Director, National Inventors Hall of Fame

"This entertaining and well-written work educates without pain and motivates the reader to learn more. It should be widely read not only by business people and entrepreneurs, but by young people, their parents, and their teachers. The lesson: Inventorship is for everyone and can change lives for the better."–Joseph N. Hankin, President, Westchester Community College

"After all the scholarly books and articles about innovation and the entrepreneurial process by theorists, how refreshing it is to hear from a real live inventor holding hundreds of patents in fields as diverse as aeronautics, sailing, chess, and skiing! He has even invented a word, ‘inventorship’, to describe the process and guide us through dozens of examples. A very useful book."–John Diebold, Chairman, The JD Consulting Group, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (May 7, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471414077
• ISBN-13: 978-0471414070
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,485,224 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting but fluffy, January 31, 2002

By 

Stephen Funk - See all my reviews

This review is from: Inventorship: The Art of Innovation (Paperback)

This is an easy to read book by the inventor of several aeronautical instruments. The author is also a prolific "idea" guy, and he shares many of his undeveloped ideas throughout the book. Dr. Greene goes into just a little of the detail behind his invention of the airplane stall indicator, his crowning achievement and apparently the source of his wealth. After that, the author covers many invention case studies in a very cursory and story telling way. The stories are entertaining but will not give more than a peek at what goes into the "Art of Innovation".
Much of the book is self-serving and reads like a memoir at times. There are many stories about how the author was with his family on a fantastic vacation and came up with a great invention. The stories continue to include his private plane, summer home, son's helicopter, private sail yacht, etc. Greene is very forward about showing you the riches and great life that can accompany Inventorship. He uses the book to also link politics with Inventorship by briefly plugging his book on The National Tax Rebate as an example of using Inventiveness for social issues.
Some of Greene's invention examples allocate himself a little more credit than seems reasonable. In one parable, Greene claims to have had a chat with a Princeton Professor after a lecture that resulted in major revisions of the world's cyclotrons and moved particle physics research to a new level. The kicker is Greene claims that the fundamental principle for this cyclotron design occurred to him while playing with his trains when he was seven years old.
Buy this book for the corny and sometimes funny stories. Buy this book for insight into an octogenarian who has had an impact on the aeronautical industry. Buy this book to get a few nuggets of wisdom about bringing a product to market. Don't buy this book for a "how-to" on inventing.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very interesting stories from a prolific inventor, May 21, 2001

By 

John C. Dunbar (Sugar Land, TX United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Inventorship: The Art of Innovation (Paperback)

If you are at all interested in the invention process then you'll should get this book to read on the actual processes that an inventor went through in invention after invention.

At first I thought the author was a little egocentric... talking about all of his inventions. Then I realized that he was truly a profilic inventor. His method of telling us about the invention process was to illustrate each of the methods he used with real stories of inventions. Stories that happened (mostly) to him.

It is very easy to read, and the author went out the way to get an artist to support his points with illustrations. As I read the book I became intrigued with all of his inventions. After a while I started saying to myself... "Gosh, I can't believe he invented this under those conditions."

Particularly interesting was his analysis of what the people on the Titanic could have done to save the ship.

I think there are better academic books about the invention process out there... but there are few that offer a look inside the mind of someone who invented so many products.

John Dunbar

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not bad, April 30, 2005

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Inventorship: The Art of Innovation (Paperback)

It is not a bad book. You should admire that the author wanted to make the world a better place by teaching about being inventive. Although, in my opinion, I find that the author has a bit of ego telling the world he has invented this and that. I don't find anything ego about creating a more safer aircraft, but the other example I do find it to be bragging. The author suggestion about being inventive doesn't seem new, it just that most people doesn't seem to notice it yet.

I don't actually recommand that you buy this book on how to be inventive.

However, if you wanted a few funny story, then by all means, buy this book.