Authority should be questioned, hierarchies should be circumvented, nonconformity should be admired, and creativity should be nurtured.
― Walter Isaacson, The Innovators, pg. 47
Walter Isaacson is a prominent non-fiction writer and journalist who has written several acclaimed biographies on prominent persons. Benjamin Franklin, Leonardo da Vinci, and Steve Jobs have all been covered by Isaacson. I read Steve Jobs—it was a fascinating character study on a complex, influential man. It managed to be "encyclopedic" in that it covered all the important events of Job's life, but it also impressed a clear sense of who Jobs was as a person—a brilliant, opinionated, and flawed individual. I enjoyed reading it.
Back in December I was in Columbus at the German Book Loft, a densely packed maze of books that was easy, and enjoyable, to get lost in. It has 27 rooms full of books across 3 floors. While perusing the shelves of one of the non-fiction sections, I saw The Innovators and recognized Isaacson's name. Reading physical books is pretty rare for me nowadays, but I bought it anyways.
If Isaacson's specialty is writing biographies, then I'd consider The Innovators to be a biography of computers. He takes you through the history of computing machines; from Babbage's Analytical Engine in the 1800s all the way to Silicon Valley and the origins of today's tech giants. In just less than 500 pages, Isaacson managed to summarize the work and innovation of countless men and women that contributed to our digital revolution.
From Cover to Cover
It's no easy task to create a coherent narrative from such a long span of time, but I think Isaacson did a pretty good job with The Innovators. The essence of each innovation was clearly explained, and the technological progress built upon itself in a sensible way. I'm definitely predisposed to understanding the subject matter since I work with computers though.
I'm curious how much someone without a background in computers would learn from this book. I actually believe The Innovators wouldn't be very educational—the topic is too broad and it's covered within too few pages to develop any in-depth understanding.
The lack of educational value is the only major gripe I had with The Innovators, and I'm not even convinced it's a negative thing. On one hand, the book is very educational; it's full of important facts and it provides a clear timeline of computing history. But I think that it's scope is so large that it's hard to remember the details of particular innovations. There are so many names introduced in the book that even now, while writing this, I get confused by them all.
I think that Isaacson, maybe inadvertently, migrated his biographical writing style over to The Innovators. Almost everyone introduced in the book is given several pages with which Isaacson describes their upbringing, their education, a few interesting anecdotes, and their favourite flavour of ice cream. While these numerous vignettes are interesting, they start to blend in with one another and makes it harder to remember each individual and what they accomplished. These extraneous details are really what balloons the book to its size. In my opinion it detracts from it's educational value. While I can appreciate the need to humanize the men and women whose work this book is commemorating, I'm not going to remember all these details going forward...nor would I want to.
That being said, I still found tremendous value in The Innovators as a story about human progress and the extraordinary revolution that has taken place over the course of a single lifetime. It was surprisingly entertaining despite the technical subject matter. Anyone who is remotely interested in history or computers would find this book worth their time. Isaacson is an excellent writer and he did a lot of research in compiling this information.
Standing on the Shoulders of Other Nerds
Isaacson's main thesis in The Innovators was that innovation is unfairly represented as the product of a single person's work. The archetype of a lone genius is a very popular narrative that we readily accept and attribute to inventions. Isaacson sought to refute this narrative by researching and cataloging the efforts of all the individuals involved in the tides of change.
But the main lesson to draw from the birth of computers is that innovation is usually a group effort, involving collaboration between visionaries and engineers, and that creativity comes from drawing on many sources. Only in storybooks do inventions come like a thunderbolt, or a lightbulb popping out of the head of a lone individual in a basement or garret or garage.
― Isaacson, pg. 126
There have been numerous examples throughout history of important ideas being arrived at simultaneously by different people in isolation with eachother. After googling I found out this phenomenon is aptly named "Multiple Discovery". Examples include Newton and Leibniz independently inventing calculus, the theory of evolution proposed by Darwin and Wallace, and the creation of Google's PageRank algorithm.
This pattern lends itself to the theory that innovation is a cumulative effort. If multiple people are in a position to make the same discovery at the same time, it's because our collective body of knowledge has reached the appropriate point for such discoveries to manifest. Sometimes these discoveries happen in complete isolation, and other times they're due to several people working together.
I think Isaacson really wanted to highlight this aspect of technological progress, not only to dispel the "heroic" genius myth, but also to advocate for the continuation of knowledge sharing and cooperation. Preserving the concept of free open-source software and limiting the usage of intellectual property claims will be a continuing boon to technological progress.
These ideas aren't new at all. There's been lots of debate and discourse surrounding intelluctual property in modern society. Several individuals have been incredibly influential over the past few decades advocating for a more progressive perspective on copyright laws—Richard Stallman, Linus Torvalds, and Aaron Swartz to name a few.
The Innovators provides convincing evidence that all of modern society's technology is because of open collaboration. Building upon other's work, communicating across disciplines and ideologies, and being altruistic are all woven into the DNA of computers. These principles have all been mapped into the design of computer technology itself. A decentralized internet, diversity in communication protocols, sharing, mutability, and a healthy disrespect for authority—these are the hallmarks of those who built this technology. Isaacson shows us that this was no coincidence, this way of thinking is necessary for innovation.
progress comes not only in great leaps but also from hundreds of small steps.
― Isaacson, pg. 470