The Idea Factory: Bell Labs and the Great Age of American Innovation

[Wilmot McCutchen]

Jon Gertner's 2012 book is a readable history of some interesting personalities and their stimulating work environment. A unique institution funded by a regulated monopoly, Bell Labs worked on radar and other vital projects for the WWII war effort. The war might have gone badly had there not been this technical talent pool already assembled. The transistor, information theory, and other inventions conceived and developed at Bell Labs made the wired world we know today.