Invention: The Care and Feeding of Ideas

Rating:
Summary: A book well worth reading
Review: It has been said that all of science is concerned with ideas of patterns and all of mathametics is concerned with patterns of ideas. This book is a wonderful combination of both concepts. Norbert Wiener's towering intellect,knowledge of the history of science and ability to develop interesting associations between diverse areas of scientific activity, which on initial consideration appear unrelated, have produced a document which is grand in scope and remarkable in accomplishment. Moreover, his style of writing is, in my opinion, quite attractive. He has many axes to grind and once they are sharpened he applies them with enormous vigor. For example, he refers to the patent as "nothing more than a ticket to litigation". There is much to be learned from this book which can readily be applied to current areas of major importance such as molecular biology and solid state physics where new discoveries and their commercial applications clearly emulate societies previous experiences with our fundamental understanding of electricity and its application to both the transfer of power and of information.