American author and editor
Russell Lynes once said,
“every journalist has a
book inside them, which is
the best place for it.” And generally
speaking, I think he makes a good
point, but only generally. There are
exceptions to his rule and whereas I
don’t usually review books, I decided
to make an exception and review
a recently released work called The
Nearly Men by author and editor
Mike Green.
This is an entertaining and incredibly
well-researched book that
chronicles how groundbreaking
innovation isn’t always attributed to
the right people. The book makes it
clear not to assume that the established
history lessons we learn are
unequivocally right. The fact is
they’re sometimes either not true, or
they only partially reveal the complete
story.
All design engineers know that
assumption is a rapid route to project
failure. So, to ensure success,
they must question, compare, test,
validate, and generally keep an
open mind when designing.
Fortunately they also know that
good marketing strategies and correct
legal procedures are imperatives
when it comes to turning their
designs into profitable successes.
Sadly, this wasn’t always so in the
past, as is clearly explained in The
Nearly Men. The book focuses on
eight people. I’m not going to list
all of them here, but to give you a
flavour of the book, let me ask you
these questions: Who invented the
first telephone? Who pioneered the
development of radio?
Your answers will probably be
Alexander Graham Bell and
Gugliemo Marconi. Now its not
that these answers are entirely
wrong, but they are no where near
entirely correct either. The first telephone
was, in fact, invented by
Antonio Meucci, a Florentine, Italy
native born in 1808. As for the
development of radio, it was the
technology created by Serbian
Nikola Tesla that made Marconi his
fortune, while the hapless Tesla
died penniless.
The Nearly Men tells the real stories
behind some of the greatest
works of technology and science
that shaped the world we live in. It
reveals who really did the work and
the way in which life’s twists and
turns don’t always leave us with history
that’s unassailably accurate.
Benjamin Disraeli once said, “The
best way to become acquainted
with a subject is to write a book
about it.” Forget that idea in this
case. When it comes to getting
acquainted with some real entrepreneurial
misfortunes and injustices,
more than enough enlightenment is
gained by reading this book.
The Nearly Men, by Mike Green,
is published by Tempus Publishing,
www.tempus-publishing.com, ISBN
978-0-7524-4232-7.
