Book Read Free

Quirky

Page 33

by Melissa A Schilling


  reading and books, 66–67

  rocket science work, 4, 69–70, 74–75, 78–79, 110

  self-efficacy, 14, 66, 69, 70, 73, 74, 75–76, 78–79, 80

  separateness, 14, 37

  space travel work, 4, 69–70, 74–75, 110–111, 141–142

  as student, 67–68

  Musk, Errol (father), 63, 67

  Musk, Kimbal (brother)

  on Elon, 66, 75, 182–183

  on father, 63

  Internet ventures, 68–69

  move to Canada, 67

  Musk, Maye (mother; nee Haldeman)

  on Elon, 66, 142

  family background, 63, 65–66

  move to Canada, 67

  on separateness, 37

  Napster, 232

  NASA, Mars travel, 69

  National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, 215

  Naval Air Station Moffett Field, 215

  need for achievement, 177–181

  Neubauer, Aljoscha, 110

  neuroscience, and creativity, 88–89

  New England Courant, B. Franklin in, 80, 126–127

  New York Herald, on N. Tesla, 177

  New York Times, on N. Tesla, 36

  NeXT Computers, 150, 228, 230

  Niagara Falls and power, 93, 101–102

  Nike shoes, development, 83–84

  Nixon, President, 203

  “non-exercise activity thermogenesis” (“NEAT”), 183

  nonconformity

  and rules, 49–51

  and self-efficacy, 77

  and separateness, 48, 51–52

  norepinephrine, 120

  “Observations on the Increase of Mankind” (Franklin), 133, 134

  O’Dell, John, 74

  oil industry, and shocks in technology or economy, 203–204

  O’Neill, John, 97, 100

  O’Neill, Theo, 74

  openness to experience, 88, 113–116

  Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), 203

  originality. See creativity

  Orzeszkowa, Eliza, 151

  Osborne, Alex, 45

  outsiders, benefits of, 5–6, 259–260

  Palo Alto Research Center (PARC), 222–224

  parents of innovators, and working ethos, 176–177, 181

  Parkinson’s disease, 117–118

  patents, and interpersonal networks, 54, 55

  PayPal, 69

  Pelley, Scott, 73

  Penn family, 135

  Pennsylvania Gazette, 128

  perseverance

  and idealism, 147, 152–153

  and self-efficacy, 77–78, 79

  personal experience, and self-efficacy, 79–82, 84, 85

  personal social networks, and separateness, 53–55

  personality traits, 113

  Pestalozzi, Johann Heinrich, 25, 26

  phonograph, development, 163, 164–166, 167

  physical activity, and flow, 183

  Pihl, Lennart, 255

  PillCam, 5–6

  pitchblende ore, 195–196

  Pixar, 228, 247–248

  Planck, Max, 55

  pleasure of work and drive, 181–185

  Poincaré, Henri, vs. Einstein, 30–31

  Poland

  history, 188–190, 201

  positivism and nationalism, 151–152, 191–192, 201

  women in university, 33, 188, 191, 192, 201–202

  polonium, 196, 197

  potential for innovation, 6–7, 11, 246–261

  primary process thinking, 108–109

  quadrant electrometer, 194, 195, 240

  quirks in innovators, 13–14, 16

  radar systems, development, 207–208

  radio, development, 103–104

  radioactivity work, 195–197, 198–199, 202

  radium, 196, 197, 198–199, 202

  Raskin, Jef, 224

  reality distortion field, 50

  recognition and praise for innovation, 180

  Record Industry Association of America (RIAA), 232

  Regina Leader-Post, 64–65

  Reiss, Steven, 140

  relativity, special theory, 29–31

  “remote associations,” 108–110

  resources (access to)

  and academics, 257–259

  and books, 240–241, 257–259

  capital for, 211–212, 242–243

  in computer industry, 237, 238–239

  education, 211–212, 241, 250–251

  example, 200

  and innovators, 212

  role and importance, 187–188, 211–212, 259–260

  technological and intellectual, 212, 238–242, 244, 256–261

  reusable rockets, 4, 69–70, 74–75, 78–79, 110

  rewards for work, 178–180

  Rietzschel, Eric, and coauthors, 47

  right place at right time. See situational advantage

  risk, 79, 178–179

  Rive, Peter, and Lyndon, 70

  Roberts, Henry Edward “Ed,” 218–219

  rockets, development, 4, 69–70, 74–75, 78–79, 110

  Röntgen, Wilhelm Conrad, 195

  Rosenbaum, Ron, 81

  Rubin, Julius, 181

  rules and nonconformity, 49–51

  Rumelt, Richard, 231

  Salas, Eduardo, 46–47

  Schieble, Joanne (Jobs’s birth mother), 212–213

  schizophrenia, 118

  school. See education

  Schultheiss, Oliver, 181

  science

  innovation in, 11–12, 259–260

  opening up, 260–261

  Scientific American, 165

  Scott, Michael, 224

  Scully, John, 148, 149, 227, 229, 230

  Seifer, Marc, 97, 100, 177–178

  self-attribution bias, 84

  self-denial, and idealism, 153–154

  self-education for innovators, 40–42

  self-efficacy

  building of, 254

  description, 63, 76

  and early wins, 80–82, 85, 254

  factors in, 79–80

  and failure, 84, 254

  in innovators, 14, 51, 76, 79

  and nonconformity, 77

  and perseverance, 77–78, 79

  and personal experience, 79–82, 84, 85

  process of, 76–77, 78, 79

  and risk, 79

  source in people, 79–85

  and verbal persuasion, 80, 85

  and vicarious experience, 79–80, 82–85

  self-serving bias, 84

  separateness

  benefits, 37–39, 42–43, 52, 53–54

  causes and explanations, 38–40

  costs of, 52–55

  and creativity, 42–45, 47, 59–61, 252–253

  distress from, 52–53

  feelings towards by innovators, 37

  in innovators, 13–14, 21, 23, 35, 247

  vs. introversion, 35

  and nonconformity, 48, 51–52

  and personal social networks, 53–55

  and secrecy, 253

  and self-education, 40–41

  self-reinforcement, 39–40, 51–52

  and social skills, 39–40, 60–61

  as trait, 20, 21

  serial innovators. See innovators

  Serrell, Lemuel, 99

  Shaish, Tsipi, 117–118

  Shockley, William, 208

  shocks in technology or economy, 202–204

  Shooting Star jet fighter, 253

  Sikorska, Jadwiga, 189, 190

  Silicon Valley

  emergence, 208, 215

  influence on area, 215–217, 238–239

  Simonton, Dean, 109

  situational advantage

  in computer industry, 186, 215, 223–224, 237, 238–239, 242

  education and capital in, 211–212

  in electricity development, 209

  and innovators, 18, 209–210, 211, 240, 246

  and resources (s
ee resources (access to))

  role in innovation, 187–188, 202–203, 209

  and timing, 187–188, 200–201, 202, 239–240

  transistor development and Silicon Valley, 208–209

  and war, 205–207

  sixties counterculture, influence, 204–205

  Skłodowska, Bronia (M. Curie’s sister), 190, 192, 201–202

  Skłodowska, Bronisława (M. Curie’s mother), 188, 189, 190

  Skłodowska, Hela (M. Curie’s sister), 189

  Skłodowska, Helena (M. Curie’s sister), 190

  Skłodowska, Maria Salomea. See Curie, Marie

  Skłodowska, Władysław (M. Curie’s father), 188, 189, 190, 191, 192

  Skłodowska, Zofia (M. Curie’s sister), 189, 190

  “Skunk Works” team and facility, 253

  slavery and abolition, 137–138

  sleep in innovators, 88–89, 119–120

  Smiljan (Croatia), 89

  Smith, Alvin Ray, 228–229

  social detachment. See separateness

  social movements, influence, 204

  social networks, 53–55

  social skills, and separateness, 39–40, 60–61

  Solar City, 70

  solar power, 204

  solitude, and creativity, 42–45, 47

  space travel innovation, 4, 69–70, 74–75, 110–111, 141–142

  SpaceX (Space Exploration), 1–2, 73, 141–142

  special theory of relativity, 29–31

  Spindler, Mike, 229

  Steinmetz, Charles, 104

  Stiles, Ezra, 137–138

  Stilwell, Mary (wife of Edison), 162, 170

  Straubel, J. B., 75

  Stroebe, Wolfgang, 45–46, 47

  Stross, Randall, 143–144, 157, 166

  superordinate goals. See idealism

  Szczasinska-Dawidow, Jadwiga, 192

  Szigeti, Anthony, 96

  szlachta class in Poland, 188–189

  “The Talking Phonograph” (journal article), 165

  Talmud, Max, 24

  taxi business, innovation and disruption, 6

  teamwork. See group

  Technocracy movement, 64–65

  technological resources (access to), 212, 238–242, 244, 256–261

  technology, innovation in, 11–12

  telephone, development, 163

  Teller, Astro, 75

  tenacity. See perseverance

  Terman, Frederick, 215

  Tesla, Dane (brother), 90, 91, 92

  Tesla, Djouka (mother), 90, 176–177

  Tesla, Milutin (father), 89–90, 93, 94, 95–96

  Tesla, Nikola

  achievements, 2–3, 89, 102–103, 178

  association paths and ideas, 110–111

  celibacy, 105

  character and traits, 99–100

  childhood and family background, 89–93

  creativity, 88, 100, 110–111

  drive, 115–116, 176–178

  and Edison, 97–98, 99–100

  education and interests, 93–96, 177

  eidetic and mental images, 91–92, 93–94, 97, 105, 112

  electric commutator and alternating current (AC), 95, 96–97, 98–99, 100–101, 102, 111, 177–178

  electrical power work and commercialization, 97–103, 104–105, 115–116

  faith in own ability, 14

  financial resources, 243

  health, 91, 93, 94, 96, 105–106

  high-frequency phenomena work, 101

  idealism, 144–145

  intelligence and memory, 88–89, 90–91, 93–95, 102

  inventions, 93–94, 96–97, 98–100, 101, 102–105, 144, 177

  manias, 88, 95, 99, 106, 119

  memory skills, 112

  move to US, 97–98

  and Niagara Falls’ power, 93, 101–102

  odd behaviors, 88, 92–93

  openness to experience, 114

  patents, 98–99, 100–101, 103–104, 178

  radio work, 103–104

  senses and stimuli, 96, 117

  separateness, 36

  sleep, 88–89

  vindication, 180

  wireless communications and tower, 104–105, 115, 144–146

  working ethos, 176–177

  Tesla Models S and X, 74

  Tesla Roadster car, 71–73

  Tesler, Larry, 223

  “Theory of Radioactivity” (M. Curie), 196

  Thirteen Virtues of Life (B. Franklin), 128

  Thomson, Elihu, 100

  Thoreau, Henry David, on solitude, 43

  3M company, creativity at, 59

  time alone

  and brainstorming, 45–48, 251

  and creativity, 59, 251–253

  vs. group and collaboration, 59, 251–253

  importance, 250–252

  as self-reinforcing factor, 51–52

  Tizard, Henry, 207

  transistor, development, 208–209

  Tribble, Bud, 50

  tzero car, 71

  unconventionality, as benefit, 61

  Upton, Francis, 157–158

  uranium, 195

  US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), 54, 103–104

  Valentine, Don, 220

  Vance, Ashley, 113

  verbal persuasion, and self-efficacy, 80, 85

  vicarious experience, and self-efficacy, 79–80, 82–85

  Vietnam War opposition, 204

  Villard, Henry, 171

  Visicalc, 221

  Vitascope, 173

  Vogelstein, Fred, 238

  voice communication work, 163, 164–166, 167, 169–170

  voluntary energy expenditure, 183–185

  voluntary fire brigade, creation, 132

  vote recorder, 160–161

  war, impact on innovation, 205–208

  Wardenclyffe Tower, 104–105, 145–146

  Warnock, John, 223

  Watson, Kevin, 107

  Weber, Heinrich, 27

  Weber, Max, 180

  Wedderburn, Alexander, 16, 136

  Westinghouse, George, 100–101, 102

  Wetzler, Joseph, 101

  Winblad, Ann, 23

  Windows system, 226

  women

  in university, 33, 188, 191, 192, 194, 200, 201–202

  WWII and innovation, 205–207

  working ethos and drive, 176–181

  working memory, 111–112, 113

  The World as I See It (Einstein), 22

  World War I, M. Curie’s impact, 199

  World War II, impact on innovation, 205–208

  Wozniak, Francis, 216

  Wozniak, Steve “Woz”

  childhood and father, 216

  computer making and blue boxes with Jobs, 81–82, 148, 217, 218, 219–221, 237, 239

  friendship with Jobs, 216–217, 239

  on Jobs’s influence, 237

  skills and traits, 217, 218

  X rays, 195, 199

  X.com, 69

  Xerox and early computers, 222–224, 227

  Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (PARC), 222–224

  zeal, in innovators, 15

  Zip2, 68–69

  Zurich Polytechnic, Einstein in, 25, 26–27

  PublicAffairs is a publishing house founded in 1997. It is a tribute to the standards, values, and flair of three persons who have served as mentors to countless reporters, writers, editors, and book people of all kinds, including me.

  I.F. STONE, proprietor of I. F. Stone’s Weekly, combined a commitment to the First Amendment with entrepreneurial zeal and reporting skill and became one of the great independent journalists in American history. At the age of eighty, Izzy published The Trial of Socrates, which was a national bestseller. He wrote the book after he taught himself ancient Greek.

  BENJAMIN C. BRADLEE was for nearly thirty years the charismatic editorial leader of The Washington Post. It was Ben who gave the Post the range and courage to pursue such historic issues as Watergate. He supported
his reporters with a tenacity that made them fearless and it is no accident that so many became authors of influential, best-selling books.

  ROBERT L. BERNSTEIN, the chief executive of Random House for more than a quarter century, guided one of the nation’s premier publishing houses. Bob was personally responsible for many books of political dissent and argument that challenged tyranny around the globe. He is also the founder and longtime chair of Human Rights Watch, one of the most respected human rights organizations in the world.

  For fifty years, the banner of Public Affairs Press was carried by its owner Morris B. Schnapper, who published Gandhi, Nasser, Toynbee, Truman, and about 1,500 other authors. In 1983, Schnapper was described by The Washington Post as “a redoubtable gadfly.” His legacy will endure in the books to come.

  Peter Osnos, Founder

 

 

 


‹ Prev