The Idea Factory: Bell Labs and the Great Age of American Innovation

Book review by Deane Barker • • tags: history, tech •
An image of the cover of the book "The Idea Factory: Bell Labs and the Great Age of American Innovation"

A solid history of Bell Labs. Interesting, but a bit tedious. It’s astonishing how much stuff was invented there – it puts Xerox PARC to shame, really. The transistor? Wow.

Meticulously researched, but tends to bog down under its own weight in places.

Book Info

Author
Jon Gertner
Year
Pages
422
Acquired
  • I have read this book. According to my records, I completed it on .
  • A hardcover copy of this book is currently in my home library.
Links to this – Solid State June 11, 2023
This is basically a marketing term, but one that described a massive shift in technology. All computers and electronics operate on the theory of boolean logic – 1 or 0, on or off, true or false. By combining a massive number of boolean logic “gates,” you can do an unlimited number of calculations....