Review in Physics World

Stories behind the inventions
“How would you feel if you had tried
to do something exceptional but you
still got ranked along with the rest of
us worthless layabouts?” asks
Mike Green in the introduction to
The Nearly Men. Pretty annoyed, in
all likelihood, but, as Green shows,
many famous failures only had
themselves to blame. Antonio
Meucci, for example, invented the
telephone years before Alexander
Graham Bell, but failed both to
generate any commercial interest in
the device and to pay the $10 a year
required to maintain his priority
claim. This book examines the
stories of eight such “nearly men” –
including Alan Turing, Robert
Hooke and Nikola Tesla – and
attempts to offer some insight into
what it takes to be a successful
inventor. Green concludes that
being able to sell your idea is crucial,
as well as noting that who is
eventually deemed responsible for
an invention is often dependent on
the cultural perspective of whoever
is doing the judging. This is sensible
advice for any would-be
entrepreneur, but Green’s witty and
entertaining book will also hold the
attention of the general reader.