Rating: 
Summary: exceptional
Review: A wonderful story, well-written about a tireless inventor who overcomes great difficulties to create a very successful business, doing it "his way". Proof of his genius is that almost every American vacuum cleaner manufacturer has shamelessly knocked off his design. Shame on them. Bravo to James Dyson! Write another book Mr. Dyson.
Rating:
Summary: exceptional
Review: A wonderful story, well-written about a tireless inventor who overcomes great difficulties to create a very successful business, doing it "his way". Proof of his genius is that almost every American vacuum cleaner manufacturer has shamelessly knocked off his design. Shame on them. Bravo to James Dyson! Write another book Mr. Dyson.
Rating:
Summary: a must for all designers
Review: How creativity can also be learned outside Design Schools, business can also be learned outside business schools?..... How the real world is a great place to learn whatever one desires to learn? and How with patience, persistance and preserverance can one develop oneself into a revolutionary designer and a successful enterprenuer? is what this book is dealing with.Unique and an inspiring way of "walking through" a lifestory of a successful struggle.
Rating:
Summary: The triumph of tenacity, self-belief and good ideas.
Review: How did James Dyson bring about a revolution, in an industry that has been producing a product which works the same way as it did over a hundred years ago, and still sales in it's millions? By thinking out of the box, not being dissuaded by people who couldn't change their mind sets and by continuing on to build a business that employs people who are encouraged to think differently. This is the story of how a man learnt to be a designer, engineer, inventor and international businessman. It's a superb read, well written with a gripping plot. A handbook for future revolutionaries!
Rating:
Summary: A Great Read
Review: I just finished reading a really great book that I think that anyone would enjoy. The name of the book is "Against the Odds" and the author is James Dyson. I bought my copy from Amazon.com.This book has everything and was hard to put down. It is a recent (2002) well written fascinating autobiography of Dyson who took huge risks and overcame tremendous difficulties to rise from poverty to become Sir James and a billionaire by inventing the very successful cyclonic vacuum cleaner and other products. The book is about innovation, what makes people resist innovation and act against their own interests, business principles and organization, marketing in different cultures, education, etc. and is a great story especially when you are in need of a little inspiration. Read what he did when he was told "Your product can't be any good because if there was a better way to make a vacuum cleaner, Hoover would have already done it".
Rating:
Summary: A Great Read
Review: I just finished reading a really great book that I think that anyone would enjoy. The name of the book is "Against the Odds" and the author is James Dyson. I bought my copy from Amazon.com.This book has everything and was hard to put down. It is a recent (2002) well written fascinating autobiography of Dyson who took huge risks and overcame tremendous difficulties to rise from poverty to become Sir James and a billionaire by inventing the very successful cyclonic vacuum cleaner and other products. The book is about innovation, what makes people resist innovation and act against their own interests, business principles and organization, marketing in different cultures, education, etc. and is a great story especially when you are in need of a little inspiration. Read what he did when he was told "Your product can't be any good because if there was a better way to make a vacuum cleaner, Hoover would have already done it".
Rating:
Summary: A Great Read
Review: I just finished reading a really great book that I think that anyone would enjoy. The name of the book is "Against the Odds" and the author is James Dyson. I bought my copy from Amazon.com.This book has everything and was hard to put down. It is a recent (2002) well written fascinating autobiography of Dyson who took huge risks and overcame tremendous difficulties to rise from poverty to become Sir James and a billionaire by inventing the very successful cyclonic vacuum cleaner and other products. The book is about innovation, what makes people resist innovation and act against their own interests, business principles and organization, marketing in different cultures, education, etc. and is a great story especially when you are in need of a little inspiration. Read what he did when he was told "Your product can't be any good because if there was a better way to make a vacuum cleaner, Hoover would have already done it".
Rating:
Summary: A Man Of Genius: James Dyson
Review: James Dyson is one of only two men ever honored with having the vacuum cleaner they invented named after them. James Kirby and James Dyson Jim Kirby did not work for the Kirby Company - so the Kirby vacuum was not really his. Mr. Dyson designed new technology, perfected it, manufactured it, and successfully sells it all over the world. This book details the struggles of the 'average' man who has a brilliant idea and is constantly knocked down with every turn. That the Dyson vacuum exists at all is a miracle, as this book clearly illustrates. Mr. Dyson's personal battles to see his invention brought to life are fascinating and horrifying at the same time. How could one man survive so much rejection and yet triumph in the end? This book has all the elements necessary for transformation into a wonderful movie. A loveable lead character, constant uphill battles for justice, and a satisfying ending that will make you want to know more about this brilliant and wonderful man who has changed the way we look at cleaning our homes. For the first time in the 100 years of the vacuum cleaner, it finally works the way it should. Without a Bag.
Rating:
Summary: A Man Of Genius: James Dyson
Review: James Dyson is one of only two men ever honored with having the vacuum cleaner they invented named after them. James Kirby and James Dyson Jim Kirby did not work for the Kirby Company - so the Kirby vacuum was not really his. Mr. Dyson designed new technology, perfected it, manufactured it, and successfully sells it all over the world. This book details the struggles of the 'average' man who has a brilliant idea and is constantly knocked down with every turn. That the Dyson vacuum exists at all is a miracle, as this book clearly illustrates. Mr. Dyson's personal battles to see his invention brought to life are fascinating and horrifying at the same time. How could one man survive so much rejection and yet triumph in the end? This book has all the elements necessary for transformation into a wonderful movie. A loveable lead character, constant uphill battles for justice, and a satisfying ending that will make you want to know more about this brilliant and wonderful man who has changed the way we look at cleaning our homes. For the first time in the 100 years of the vacuum cleaner, it finally works the way it should. Without a Bag.
Rating:
Summary: Edison Lives Today
Review: The story told here, an autobiography, is one of the most inspiring that I've read in a long time. Dyson is an inventor and industrial designer who has taken his bagless vacuum cleaner from the garage to a huge enterprise. I loved this story and wound up really admiring the man. His distinctive approach to industrial design, his perseverance and gutsy self confidence enabled him to show that even in the world of huge multinationals, with all their central research laboratories, there are still opportunities for the lone inventor to make it, big-time.
I especially enjoyed the part about the early development of the machine, in which he made something like one version per day for over three years, varying things one at a time, measuring everything to exhaustion, all the while sinking further and further into debt. Edisonian it was, but sometimes that is the only way--the quest for the quick breakthrough emphasized by modern industrial managers can be a real obstacle to progress. I've seen it at work first-hand.
The book is rather lavishly produced with ten pages of glossy photos, many of them in color, supplemented by many sketches and drawings. The big margins and the attractive typeface on acid-free paper combine to make a very pretty book, worth owning.
This is the sort of book that once you put it down, you feel better about the world, the striving of man-the-builder, and realize that, even in England, things can get better.
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