Copies in Seconds: How a Lone Inventor and an Unknown Company Created the Biggest Communication Breakthrough Since Gutenberg--Chester Car

The idea behind the xerography applies what Hertz and Einstein discovered and studied: the photoelectric effect. The book is well written and has the right mix of technology,trivia and history to keep the reader interested and absorbed.

This book gives an excellent account of the processes and hurdles needed to bring a complex product to the marketplace. It will be especially enjoyable for anyone who was involved in the copying/duplicating business during the 60's and 70's. The author mentions many of the early companies -- and many of the current companies -- that are significant "players" in this business. Also, many of the key inventors who are known only as "publication or patent names" are given life by the author. The reader can get behing the scenes and see the victories, struggles, and tensions facing the researchers and their companies. This book is a good read -- difficult to put down -- especially for those in corporate research and development.

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.

I found it hard to put this book down. Owen does a remarkable job of making us live with Carlson the many trials involved in turning an idea into a practical product. Xerox is a much written about corporation but this account is unique, extraordinary, and painstakingly researched. One can only marvel still at Chester Carlson's genius. I was amazed to discover, for instance, that the workings of 2001's whizzy Xerox Docu-Color iGen3 were accurately described in Carlton's second electrophotography patent-which he filed on April 4, 1939. Read this book and you will never look at your copier in quite the same take-it-for-granted way.

David Owen captures the soul of Xerox as a start-up. A very enjoyable, fluid and fluent read about something as commonplace (now) as the office copier and the laser printer. Great history of a truly unique American company and its All-American product with important lessons for any company of any size. There's enough fact in this book for you to build your own copier, yet it's done in such a literate and subtle way, you will think you knew how it worked all along.