Customer Reviews

Secrets from an Inventor's Notebook

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is an easy read, and it's hard to put it down.

His basic process is easily summed up: 1) Solve a Problem, 2) Prove Your Invention/Build a Prototype, 3) Protect Your Idea, 4)Manufacture or License?, 5) Market with a Twist. And, those are his 5 main chapters. He shows you how he has done this repeatedly. He's a serial inventor/business starter.

What I particularly liked was his detailed description of how he did "hands on" market research. He shows you how to prove out your invention early within the marketplace.

From an invention point of view, he works primarily from finding problems. He describes his personal experience in all the chapters. There is no college theory here.

I highly recommend this book for entrepreneurs and inventors. It's a fast read, but you'll probably come back and review it periodically.

John Dunbar

Maurice pushes all the right buttons! I have been in product development for 12 years now (working for other companies) and am also an inventor who recently licensed a product to a manufacturer. Every point of the inventing process that Mr. Kanbar states is exactly what one needs to do. This is a no-nonsense book that tells it like it is. There is not one shortcut in the process of bringing a product to market. There is something that can be learned from every story he tells. The appendix is excellent with plenty of resources. It is as honest they come!

If you consider yourself an Inventor, or think you may want to become an Inventor, and you love listening to yarns about products and how they came to market, then this book is for you. Maurice Kanbar is a trained engineer and has many inventions to his credit. Many of his inventions are successful (36 patents) and some are household words. Some of Kanbar's inventions are not so successful and to his credit he airs his laundry willingly so that new inventors need not make similar mistakes.

It is hard to classify "Secrets from an Inventors Notebook". To begin with, the title might more aptly be called "Musings from my Diary" or "Did you hear the one about... ".. After reading only a small part of the book you are immediately struck with the quality that has made Maurice Kanbar successful in a wide range of endeavors, he is a first class promoter and his enthusiasm comes across clearly in the book. Like many good storytellers, sometimes you simply have to take the story for it's intended teaching point and not be too critical of the details. Buried in the prose are many bits of solid advice on developing and bringing a product to market.

Maurice's style is likeable and you find yourself wanting to sit down and have a beer with the author and chew the fat about inventing. That is both the charm and the pitfall of "Secrets from an Inventors Notebook". There are many anecdotal stories about how products were successfully brought to market or how they failed (both Maurice's and others). Some of these lessons are consolidated into Kanbar's Commandments for Inventors. Other lessons are in the form of good general advice; get a good patent lawyer, work on your prototype diligently before committing to production, and market your product heavily. What the book does not do is get into the gory details of how to do any of this. This is a "What To Do" book, not a "How To Do" book. If you have already done some studying about the business of inventing and are ready to dig in seriously, you may not find much in this book for you. There are only a couple of pictures in the whole book and no charts or numbers of any kind.

This book is light (5 chapters in 168 pages) and easy to read. The storytelling style should appeal to anyone who wants to get a glimpse of what is necessary for an entrepreneur to get a product to market. It might be right at home in an undergraduate business class studying entrepreneurship. There is an Appendix with a decent bibliography, references, and several sample legal forms that entrepreneur's might use. "Secrets form an Inventors Notebook" is a good lighthearted introduction to the world of the inventor and entrepreneur by someone who has been there.

Maurice Kanbar is clearly a great man, and perhpas he even knows it a little bit but then he should. He has multiple successes in the decades that he has been an inventor and writes candidly about the journey of his life in this path.

Many "inventing" books can seem over bearing and difficult to read This memoir is a nice starting point for the wannabe inventor. It answers a lot of "start up" questions and even provides the very NDA that Maurice himself uses!

It's such a low price too that I would reccomend any inventor (or fan of memoirs) pick it up as it is well worth the price.

I had no idea who Maurice Kanbar was when I picked up this book. I was browsing in my local bookstore, saw "Secrets..." on the shelf, thought it looked interesting, forked over my [money].

Kanbar says friends, co-workers, etc. have consistently badgered him over the years to write a book. I can see why. This guy is an amazing source of creativity and perseverance. Forget the "Inventors" title. Anyone with even a smidgen of entrepreneurial zeal can benefit from the chock-a-block common sense crammed into this small volume.

The range of this guy's impact is stunning. The innovations tumble forward, one chapter after another. Kanbar says it all stems from a simple principle - see something you don't understand, and ask how and why it happened. Then devise a solution that provides a real benefit and market it with a twist.

All the examples are compelling, but the SKYY Vodka tale - which Kanbar saves for the last chapter - brings everything together in a most impressive fashion. He lays it our very succintly:

The problem? He had headaches after drinking.

The reason? After study, scientists tell him that the distillation process leaves impurities, called 'congeners.'

Solution? A distillation process that eliminates the congeners.

The benefit? Drinking in moderation with less irratation.

The entire book reads just like that. Great takeaway lessons for anyone. Get this one on your bookshelf ASAP.

Having met Maurice a few times around San Francisco, I was looking forward to reading his book. At first I had doubts that he'd even written this but then his colorful character began to seep into the pages. At times funny, informative, and clear I'd recommend this book to all would be inventor's and anyone that wants to find out about the man behind Skyy Vodkas route to success. I just wish he'd hurry up and invent a hangover free whisky!

I get the impression that a lot of people read books just so they can log in to Amazon and sound like an expert reviewer. I wouldn't really agree with any of these reviews, this book is way overrated...

Not to say that Maurice Kanbar isn't a clever guy, but the book just isn't that useful from the standpoint of someone that ACTUALLY wants to make something. He mentions the basic gist of his big inventions that took off (i.e. D-fuzz it Comb, Quad Cinema, Skyy Vodka, etc) and that's really about it. He goes into a little bit more detail with Skyy Vodka and how he marketed it, which was useful.

If you have an invention, and you are looking for tips on how to find a good contract machine shop, how to secure financing, how to grow from a small 2 or 3 man operation into Skyy Vodka for example, none of that is in here.

Even the section on patents for example didn't go into nearly enough depth for my taste. David Pressman wrote a book called Patent It Yourself, which I will say is probably the single best resource for a starting inventor.

I do give this book credit for being somewhat inspirational. Reading the simplicity of some of his good ideas, and the fact that he followed through and made it big does count for something. Read this for morale support, but don't expect to really come away with any specific information that you could apply on your own inventions.

A must read for anybody regarding him or herself an inventor. Mostly based on his own experience but also drawing on other "small" inventors, Mr. Kanbar takes us through the process from idea, to protection, to selling. The book is colorful written, which makes it easy to digest, but the content includes some very sound advice for any novice inventor, who would like to try to stand on his or her own. Mr. Kanbar also emphasizes the fact that an invention is an idea turned into practical use, preferable giving you a profit along the way, and selling / market your idea may need some major and well planned effort. The book also shows there is still plenty of room for the small companies to develop products, which can make a significant impact on the market.

Secrets From an Inventor's Notebook is a great resource! I thoroughly enjoyed the personal stories of Kanbar's creative inventions. He has such an easy tone to his writing that I felt like I was listening to my old uncle tell stories, but I came away with fresh inspiration. A great book for the inventor, businessman, or anyone interested in creativity. The very detailed appendix is a help for the serious amateur invemntor as well.

This book is a refreshing and crisp read brimming with solid, practical, and note-worthy information. Mr. Kanbar helps us to avoid common and costly mistakes while teaching us how to become a keen strategic planner.

His delivery of these lessons is smooth, appealing, and non-complex. Moreover,the contact information provided both throughout the book and in the appendix will be of interest to any inventor.

Overall, this is an enjoyable read packed with plenty of palatable substance that won't leave your head aching in morning.