![]() The authors also note the importance of salesmanship, even in a Lone Inventor, in order to convince others to join the cause and support the development of the new product. Note that the book was written in 1996, even before the converstion to digital signals (that in itself took much longer than the authors would have envisioned). ![]() But indeed the synthesis of the lone inventor (for the kooky ideas that pan out) and the disciplined corporate lab to develop a product that can be duplicated and marketed, is what produces the greatest success. The overriding message is a reminder of the many experiments and trials on the road to a developed technology - we often feel as if it sprang full-fledged from some genius' mind, or else from some corporate lab. Includes just enough technical detail to look legitimate, though I confess that my eyes glazed over a few times. Quite readable, chatty overview of the development of television. I'm not sure if this book is still in print I found it in a used book store but if you find a copy, grab it! There's even a chapter at the end to fill you in on the early development of digital TV, though that is a story of committees rather than personalities. Farnsworth, a self-taught Iowa farm-boy who was the first to come up with an all-electronic (instead of mechanical) television system would make this book worthwhile if that were the only story told but there are a host of colorful characters that will keep you reading. Did you know that the FCC first approved a color TV system that would have required a spinning disk in every home set? But no company produced any sets for the home so it went nowhere until the amazing David Sarnoff succeeded in driving RCA, the company he headed, to produce a color system that was compatible with black and white TV. If you can understand an ordinary light-bulb, you can keep up with this book. So much is going on with so many racing to be first that you can't wait to see what happens next.ĭavid Fisher provides just the right amount of technical information with very simple graphics to allow the reader to understand the importance of different discoveries to the advancement television. ![]() I don't think I've ever raced through a book as fast as I did with this one. ![]() What a find! Most books that deal with the history of a technology are pretty dry and boring, even if you are a geek, but Tube is an exciting account of the history of television that emphasizes the human lives that shaped it.
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