The Tinkerers : The Amateurs, DIYers, and Inventors Who Make America Great

From its earliest years, the United States was a nation of tinkerers: men and women who looked at the world around them and were able to create something genuinely new from what they saw. Guided by their innate curiosity, a desire to know how things work, and a belief that anything can be improved, amateurs and professionals from Benjamin Franklin to Thomas Edison came up with the inventions that laid the foundations for America’s economic dominance. Recently, Americans have come to question whether our tinkering spirit has survived the pressures of ruthless corporate organization and bottom-line driven caution. But as Alec Foege shows in __The Tinkerers__, reports of tinkering’s death have been greatly exaggerated.Through the stories of great tinkerers and inventions past and present, Foege documents how Franklin and Edison’s modern-day heirs do not allow our cultural obsessions with efficiency and conformity to interfere with their passion and creativity. Tinkering has been the guiding force behind both major corporate-sponsored innovations such as the personal computer and Ethernet, and smaller scale inventions with great potential, such as a machine that can make low-cost eyeglass lenses for people in impoverished countries and a device that uses lasers to shoot malarial mosquitoes out of the sky. Some tinkerers attended the finest engineering schools in the world; some had no formal training in their chosen fields. Some see themselves as solo artists; others emphasize the importance of working in teams. What binds them together is an ability to subvert the old order, to see fresh potential in existing technologies, and to apply technical know-how to the problems of their day.As anyone who has feared voiding a warranty knows, the complexity of modern systems can be needlessly intimidating. Despite this, tinkerers can – and do – come from anywhere, whether it’s the R&D lab of a major corporation, a hobbyist’s garage, or a summer camp for budding engineers. Through a lively retelling of recent history and captivating interviews with today’s most creative innovators, Foege reveals how the tinkering tradition remains, in new and unexpected forms, at the heart of American society and culture.

From its earliest years, the United States was a nation of tinkerers: men and women who looked at the world around them and were able to create something genuinely new from what they saw. Guided by their innate curiosity, a desire to know how things work, and a belief that anything can be improved, amateurs and professionals from Benjamin Franklin to Thomas Edison came up with the inventions that laid the foundations for America’s economic dominance. Recently, Americans have come to question whether our tinkering spirit has survived the pressures of ruthless corporate organization and bottom-line driven caution. But as Alec Foege shows in The Tinkerers, reports of tinkering’s death have been greatly exaggerated.

Through the stories of great tinkerers and inventions past and present, Foege documents how Franklin and Edison’s modern-day heirs do not allow our cultural obsessions with efficiency and conformity to interfere with their passion and creativity. Tinkering has been the guiding force behind both major corporate-sponsored innovations such as the personal computer and Ethernet, and smaller scale inventions with great potential, such as a machine that can make low-cost eyeglass lenses for people in impoverished countries and a device that uses lasers to shoot malarial mosquitoes out of the sky. Some tinkerers attended the finest engineering schools in the world; some had no formal training in their chosen fields. Some see themselves as solo artists; others emphasize the importance of working in teams. What binds them together is an ability to subvert the old order, to see fresh potential in existing technologies, and to apply technical know-how to the problems of their day.

As anyone who has feared voiding a warranty knows, the complexity of modern systems can be needlessly intimidating. Despite this, tinkerers can – and do – come from anywhere, whether it’s the R&D lab of a major corporation, a hobbyist’s garage, or a summer camp for budding engineers. Through a lively retelling of recent history and captivating interviews with today’s most creative innovators, Foege reveals how the tinkering tradition remains, in new and unexpected forms, at the heart of American society and culture.

This light reading from journalist Alec Foege is enjoyable if you start with the right expectations: it is not intended to be an in-depth exposition on innovation. Instead, it is an entertaining account of past and present innovators - some famous and others less so - but all equipped with a common urge to take things apart, mix them up and create something new. Despite the assets of this enjoyable book, Foege stumbles in two ways: His suggestion that America may or may not be facing a national crisis in creativity doesn't come together cohesively enough and his paradoxical assertion that American people are innately more creative than other people would be maddening if it weren't pretty easy to dismiss. Nevertheless, Foege's random but interesting stories offer valuable insights into ways that schools, organizations and government agencies can encourage, support and accelerate innovation in education, commerce and public affairs. getAbstract suggests this accessible, sometimes even fun, book to business leaders, parents, educators and policy makers Wising up about a smartphone -- Tinkering at the birth of a nation and beyond -- Contemporary tinkerer finds his way -- Edison's folly reinvents tinkering for the modern age -- Myhrvold's magic tinkering factory -- When tinkering veers off course -- The tinkerer archetype is reborn -- PARC and the power of the group -- A trio of alternative tinkering approaches -- A different kind of school -- Concluding thoughts on tinkering Wising up about a smartphone Tinkering at the birth of a nation and beyond Contemporary tinkerer finds his way Edison's folly reinvents tinkering for the modern age Myhrvold's magic tinkering factory When tinkering veers off-course The tinkerer archetype is reborn Parc and the power of the group A trio of alternative tinkering approaches Tully's school for tinkerers Concluding thoughts on tinkering. Showing how tinkering has been the guiding force behind both major corporate-sponsored innovations and smaller scale inventions with great potential, Foege argues that America still cultivates visionary innovators who do not allow cultural obsessions with efficiency and conformity to interfere with their passion and creativity.