Become an Inventor

This book talks about idea-generating techniques and creativity tools from historical, critical and personal perspective, shows the relationship between them, and illustrates them with numerous simple and more complex examples and drawings, including actual patented inventions. The techniques vary from systematic to random. The book also shows the application of such techniques to problem-solving, from quirky puzzles to practical applications. It shows the relationship between the natural world, art, and invention. It touches on the patenting process. Some specific topics include constrained creativity, jury-rigging MacGyver style, lateral thinking, and taking advantage of old sources. For example, penicillin could have been discovered much earlier if people paid attention to their predecessors. This book should be useful to engineers, scientists, students, inventors, as well as everyday problem solvers and tinkerers.