| The Idea Factory: Bell Labs and the Great Age of American Innovation | |
| Author: | Jon Gertner |
| Country: | United States |
| Language: | English |
| Subject: | Bell Labs |
| Genre: | Corporate history |
| Publisher: | Penguin Press |
| Pub Date: | March 15, 2012 |
| Media Type: | Print (hardcover), print (paperback), e-book, audiobook |
| Pages: | 432 |
| Isbn: | 978-1594203282 |
| Followed By: | The Ice at the End of the World: An Epic Journey into Greenland's Buried Past and Our Perilous Future |
The Idea Factory: Bell Labs and the Great Age of American Innovation is a 2012 book by Jon Gertner that describes the history of Bell Labs, the research and development wing of AT&T, as well as many of its eccentric personalities, such as Claude Shannon and William Shockley.[1] [2] [3] [4] It is Gertner's first published book.
The New York Times said that Mr. Gertner's "portraits of Kelly and the cadre of talented scientists who worked at Bell Labs are animated by a journalistic ability to make their discoveries and inventions utterly comprehensible — indeed, thrilling — to the lay reader".[5]
The Idea Factory was reviewed favorably by Foreign Policy, the New York Times, the Cleveland Plain-Dealer and others.[6] [7] Three adapted excerpts from the book were published in TIME.[8]
Facebook co-founder and chief executive officer Mark Zuckerberg recommended The Idea Factory to his book club in 2015, saying of the choice, "[he is] very interested in what causes innovation — what kinds of people, questions and environments."[9] [10]