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Copies in Seconds: How a Lone Inventor and an Unknown Company Created the Biggest Communication Breakthrough Since Gutenberg--Chester Carlson and the Birth of Xerox
A lone inventor and the story of how one of the most revolutionary inventions of the twentieth century almost didn't happen.
Introduced in 1960, the first plain-paper office copier is unusual among major high-technology inventions in that its central process was conceived by a single person. Chester Carlson grew up in unspeakable poverty, worked his way through junior college and the California Institute of Technology, and made his discovery in solitude in the depths of the Great Depression. He offered his big idea to two dozen major corporations -- among them IBM, RCA, and General Electric -- all of which turned him down. So persistent was this failure of capitalistic vision that by the time the Xerox 914 was manufactured, by an obscure photographic-supply company in Rochester, New York, Carlson's original patent had expired.
Xerography was so unusual and nonintuitive that it conceivably could have been overlooked entirely. Scientists who visited the drafty warehouses where the first machines were built sometimes doubted that Carlson's invention was even theoretically feasible. Building the first plain-paper office copier -- with parts scrounged from junkyards, cleaning brushes made of hand-sewn rabbit fur, and a built-in fire extinguisher -- required the persistence, courage, and imagination of an extraordinary group of physicists, engineers, and corporate executives whose story has never before been fully told.
Copies in Seconds is a tale of corporate innovation and risk-taking at its very best.
320 pages, Paperback
First published August 3, 2004
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
April 1, 2016
Working in the copier industry, I wanted to know more about the technology that sits on a desk or takes up washing-machine sized floor space in an office. The key to understanding this technology is to understand the need for copies of writing, pursued over the centuries in various methods dependent on the number and kind of copies desired. So, before diving into the modern day copier, David Owen first gives us an engrossing summary of the machines (with the exception of facsimile) that people devised to copy printed matter. He gives us this background to, like the director of the film Gravity, make us feel the pull of the planet when we get to the groundwork of understanding the inventor and invention of Xerography: Chester Carlson and what he called electrophotography. Owen carefully crafts our perception of Chester through the excruciating hardships he and his family suffered in the early 20th century. He builds the properly elongated suspense of reading how Chet overcame obstacles in the patient, almost quiet pursuit of his vision. We're shown how the ultimate purpose of the copying process never left Chester's sight, and indeed became validated as the machine took shape over decades under the care of physicists from Haloid and Batelle, the only two organizations prescient enough to work toward realizing its commercial value. Owen, having laid the humble foundation of Carlson's mindset early on, leads us toward the still-surprising findings of Carlson's mind when he encounters the enormous riches his investment of thought, effort, time, and savings brings. We discover Carlson the humanist, who gives his great wealth away, and Owen gives us sufficient pause to consider that such people exist. With superlative subtlety, Owen pieces together a flowing history from mammoth caches of copies, having achieved unprecedented access to Carlson and Xerox files. He gives a splendid explication that will not be found elsewhere. I find the world more extraordinary having read Owen's story about Carlson and the invention of the xerographic process. Working with Xerox equipment brings me great pride to know its usefulness, but also the incredible toil it took to bring "copies in seconds" to light.
May 22, 2017
David Owen, in Copies in Seconds, captures one of the few American success stories of an inventor � Chester “Chet� Carlson � that single-handedly persists in an idea and brings it to fruition: in this case, xerography.
I thoroughly enjoyed the history of copying up until the time the Xerox 914 made its debut at the close of 1959. Surprisingly, none of the big names in technology and innovation wanted anything to do with this form of copying technology. These companies included IBM, RCA, and General Electric, to name a few. They soon regretted their decision, as Xerox Corporation became, during the late 1960s, “the fifteenth largest publicly owned corporation in America as ranked by market capitalization; it was bigger than RCA, bigger than Bell & Howell, bigger than Chrysler, bigger than U.S. Steel, gaining ground on IBM.�
Some of my favorite lines and phrases in the book include:
- “Copying was a religious monopoly for centuries.�
- “A living organism, from its DNA up, is a copying machine. The essence of life � the difference between us and sand � is replication.�
- “It just goes to prove that if you’ve got something unique, you don’t take a poll.�
[- Russell W. Dayton, on the feelings of half of Battelle’s engineers saying Carlson’s xerography was a stupid idea.]
- “The more you understand about xerography,� Bob Gundlach [once told author David Owen], “the more you are amazed that it works.�
“What Bell is to telephone � or, more aptly, what Eastman is to photography � Haloid could be to xerography,� wrote Carlson to Haloid’s Wilson.
If you enjoy a good business story of how applied science was productized, and love the idea of an upstart inventor pushing to have a company support his idea, this is the book for you.
Enjoy!
I thoroughly enjoyed the history of copying up until the time the Xerox 914 made its debut at the close of 1959. Surprisingly, none of the big names in technology and innovation wanted anything to do with this form of copying technology. These companies included IBM, RCA, and General Electric, to name a few. They soon regretted their decision, as Xerox Corporation became, during the late 1960s, “the fifteenth largest publicly owned corporation in America as ranked by market capitalization; it was bigger than RCA, bigger than Bell & Howell, bigger than Chrysler, bigger than U.S. Steel, gaining ground on IBM.�
Some of my favorite lines and phrases in the book include:
- “Copying was a religious monopoly for centuries.�
- “A living organism, from its DNA up, is a copying machine. The essence of life � the difference between us and sand � is replication.�
- “It just goes to prove that if you’ve got something unique, you don’t take a poll.�
[- Russell W. Dayton, on the feelings of half of Battelle’s engineers saying Carlson’s xerography was a stupid idea.]
- “The more you understand about xerography,� Bob Gundlach [once told author David Owen], “the more you are amazed that it works.�
“What Bell is to telephone � or, more aptly, what Eastman is to photography � Haloid could be to xerography,� wrote Carlson to Haloid’s Wilson.
If you enjoy a good business story of how applied science was productized, and love the idea of an upstart inventor pushing to have a company support his idea, this is the book for you.
Enjoy!
June 15, 2019
Copies in Seconds is fine account of the invention of the photocopier and, to a more limited extent, the story of how that invention changed the world. Owen well communicates the seemingly impossible odds against which Chester Carlson struggled, especially a youth spent in grinding poverty. Owen has an eye for detail that makes his characters live and an ear for words that rarely misses the mark. He provides both a good introduction to copying before xerography and a stimulating essay on his sources. The illustrations are well chosen, and full captions serve as an outline of his story.
Nevertheless, Owen’s journalistic background sometimes works against him, as for instance, when he introduces an interview-demonstration straight into the text. What would be perfectly appropriate for a New Yorker essay sounds strained here. It would have been better to have replaced it with some David Macaulay-style graphics to aid the reader in understanding the technical aspects of early Xerox copiers. Also, I should hope that other books of this quality do not omit citations as Owen’s does.
These are quibbles. Copies in Seconds is an excellent book, the sort that may tempt you to sneak away from your responsibilities to finish.
Nevertheless, Owen’s journalistic background sometimes works against him, as for instance, when he introduces an interview-demonstration straight into the text. What would be perfectly appropriate for a New Yorker essay sounds strained here. It would have been better to have replaced it with some David Macaulay-style graphics to aid the reader in understanding the technical aspects of early Xerox copiers. Also, I should hope that other books of this quality do not omit citations as Owen’s does.
These are quibbles. Copies in Seconds is an excellent book, the sort that may tempt you to sneak away from your responsibilities to finish.
September 6, 2024
The average American reads fewer than one book per year. If I were to recommend a book to take that pride of place, Copies in Seconds would be a strong contender. It captures the essential features of innovation, invention, risk, humility, and perseverance by telling a story about a man, a technology, and a company with a gee-whiz conversational tone. There are some technical bits which are unsatisfying (152-4, 221) and some strange intratextual references (eg. 247). The imperfect technical descriptions are mostly outweighed by specific technical insights about economics (155, 240), physics (22, 119, 170, 203, 231) business (151, 154-5, 158, 236, 247), and investment (88, 143, 197). And there are a few brilliant flashes in the prose; the transition from a scientific curiosity to its business implications on page 175 and the closing paragraph of the final chapter stick in my memory. In this review, in the book, in his life, and in history, Chet Carlson humbly recedes into the background, but he is a true American hero whose story transcends the medium.
June 6, 2019
Ä°t will bring tears to your eyes. Story of one of hardest inventions ever.
June 14, 2020
I thought this was an excellent book. Read it.
January 1, 2012
One of my favorite books of all time. It is a fascinating story and David is a superb writer. I laughed, I cried, I learned. If you are not willing to be interested in the history of copying and the technology behind the Xerox machine, you will probably find this book tedious at times, but if you’re willing to be interested, David does a great job of making it interesting. In fact, he has made me want to be an engineer!
I am sure many people believe in their invention as much as Carlson did and yet it never pans out, but it's hard not to be inspired by such a story of immense determination and risk panning out beyond anyone but Carlson's imagination. I think I will always have a special place in my heart for xerox machines from reading this book.
I am sure many people believe in their invention as much as Carlson did and yet it never pans out, but it's hard not to be inspired by such a story of immense determination and risk panning out beyond anyone but Carlson's imagination. I think I will always have a special place in my heart for xerox machines from reading this book.
January 30, 2011
One of the great stories that is little known but has changed the world. This guy invented the copier which has fundamentally changed the world (think about how the speed of dissemination of information has changed the world; this guys the second coming of Gutenberg with less fanfare). This book explains how if he had not invented and persevered against extremely difficult circumstances invent, produce, and sell copiers no one would have invented the copier. Per the book this is due to the very complicated science behind the invention of the copier which required a mixture of chemistry and physics which is is not all common. Great story, great read...check it out...very inspiring...
May 27, 2014
Another one of those great books on a technological development so many of us take for granted. I have a passing familiarity with carbon paper but I cannot imagine a time when so much human labor was required to type and re-type a document to produce enough copies for reasonable use. Sure, we had circulation schedules and checklists but did that really work well? And yes, we probably had better memories, but I think we all need to give Chester Carlson more credit than history has done for persevering with his invention when nobody else could understand it. As it says in the book, when you have a real breakthrough, you don't ask for votes.
December 28, 2007
This is one of the very best biographies I've read. Chester Carlson was an inventor and an innovator in the best sense: the technology that he developed (which became the Xerox and fax machines) was completely isolated from any other advancements being made by his contemporaries, and revolutionized the office-supply industry. An amazing character who really embodied the American dream, Carlson is someone you will never forget after reading this book.
October 21, 2008
Probably more than anyone would really want to know about Xerox and how it got started unless they were an engineer or connected to the company or Battelle. The book reads in a way like Tracy Kidder's Soul of a New Machine, but with a bit less technical detail. The writer, who clearly has delved deeply into his subject, digresses in places where I was left wondering why the editor didn't tighten the book up by deleting some of the extraneous details.
April 5, 2012
It was interesting and inspirational. I liked learning and hearing about how Carlson grew up poor and worked to get his invention established and never gave up on his vision. The technical details were a little hard to wade through for a non-technical reader. Well researched and written.
May 28, 2010
A really interesting history of printing, Xerox, and Chester Carlson.
October 2, 2015
Good book, but there is a lot of unnecessary technical information.
September 16, 2015
Reading this book made Chester Carlson my hero. What a fabulous story of rags to riches of a very nice guy.
January 1, 2017
A very interesting, quick read.
September 23, 2009
Started reading it, but had to stop because it was just so relentlessly depressing.
April 19, 2009
Fascinating book on the life of xerography's creator Chester Carlson.
January 8, 2019
Read in 2004
January 17, 2012
I'm biased because I worked for Xerox and can relate to this story.
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