Where does innovation come from? The question is deceptively simple and the range of communities it haunts remarkably diverse. Designers, industrialists, artists, and for that matter, the cadres of the middle-aged and underemployed who are seeking to reinvent themselves as creative entrepreneurs-everyone these days seems to have a stake in the answer. Yet, it is easier to formulate the question than to give it an honest and comprehensive reply. As journalist Jon Gertner's fascinating history of Bell Laboratories demonstrates, innovations emerge from the most complex of organizational, technological and social interactions. Historical narratives however, tend to seek out and celebrate individual actors. Gertner tries to have it both ways here, writing a book that features both dramatic heroes and complex sociological patterns. Both story and study, the book is a valuable guide not only to the coming of particular innovations, but to the challenges of bringing to life the entwined histories of technological and social change.
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