The Idea Factory
A interesting history of Bell Labs from its rise to its fall. The author traces the innovators and innovations produced by the Labs which have changed the way we think about communication.
Stats for nerds
94recommend
161mentions
121people
2010–2026years
76% recommend24% neutral
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
- The Idea Factory is a worthwhile read. One of the concepts that AT&T operated on during monopoly times seemed to be focused on providing a “gold-plated” premium service.
My understanding was that MCI rolled in and set up dollar-store version of Long Lines, with sound quality to match. They used that as the basis to challenge AT&Ts monopoly to steamroll shitty service everywhere.
The cream-skimming that happened with profit-first MCI resulted in the loss of a resilience mindset and long-term planning for a national network.
- Immunity to Change by Robert Kegan
The Book of Why by Judea Pearl
The Idea Factory by Jon Gertner
7 Seconds to Die by John Antal
- I enjoy historical books about the rise, fall, and everything in between for companies in the industry — things like The Idea Factory about Bell Labs, Dealers of Lightning about Xerox PARC, and Soul of a New Machine about Data General.
Are there any books folks would recommend like that about Sun?
- The Making of the Atomic Bomb is one I read recently and really enjoyed.
I didn’t love the writing, but thought Skunkworks was full of good stories.
It is a little more character study but Dealers of Lightning is a good one.
I also enjoyed The Idea Factory.
And last, a little off the path of making things but Endurance was a good read.
- Just reading the book The Idea Factory, it was incredible amount of innovation. Lasers, early satellites, transistors.
And it was all done, apparently, at least in the beginning, because they hired smart people and they let them do what they wanted.
- - The works of Richard Feynman: All are very nice reads. - The Idea Factory (Jon Gertner): The only book I’ve read more than once and gifted to several friends and acquaintances. - The Silmarillion: Incredible World-Building - The Master and His Emissary (Mcgilchrist) Dense, but rewarding. Considerably changed the way I think. - God’s Debris (Scott Adams, yes, THAT Scott Adams) Read it in undergrad and not sure if it was a JIT kind of thing, but it impacted me.
