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Summary: One of the BEST "business" books ever written - INC mag
Review: Dr. Rogers is a brilliant sage whose lifelong quest for understanding how and why people adopt or deny innovation began, he tells me, on his family's farm in Iowa as a boy. At a young age he observed that some farmers were quick to adopt the latest innovations while many others were slower or even resistant to change. He also noticed that adoption didn't always equal success, nor did the refusal to change. So whether your gig is plowshares or computers or languages or healthcare or just about anything, you will find this book fascinating and illuminating. The book takes an "innovation" tour around the globe and through history with poignant examples of how new ways are diffused into societies. INC. magazine recently named this book as one of the 25 most important books written for understanding commerce. Ev is truly one of the wise men of today.
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Summary: A Classroom Teacher's Perspective
Review: In my "real life" I am a classroom teacher who is working to establish collaborative study groups in two middle schools for the purpose of researching, examining, and improving teaching practice. Schools are organized to remain the same - not to change. This book has been invaluable in helping me understand the change process, things to consider when implementing change, and ideas for making change more palatable to teachers and administrators. I did not personally find it to be a "quick" read, but I found that the time I spent poring over the chapters paid real dividends.
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Summary: Narrowly Focused, But Very Solid
Review: Professor Rogers begins his book by really getting to the heart of the matter. "Getting a new idea adopted, even when it has obvious advantages, is often very difficult," he writes. "Many innovations require a lengthy period, often many years, from the time they become available to the time they are widely adopted"I have often wondered why getting new ideas adopted is so difficult, not only in business and technology, which is Professor Roger's primary area of research, but also in the arts, music, painting, and literature. It seems that whenever someone has a really innovative concept, it gets attacked, trashed, savaged, and often sabotaged by the mainstream? Why? Professor Rogers never really answers this question, and this is my only complaint about an otherwise exceptional book. His primary interest is in figuring out ways to "speed up the rate of the diffusion of an innovation." Within a narrow context of business and policy objectives, he is successful. The strengths of this book are its very competent and exhaustive research, which include case studies, criticisms, and policy discussions. It is a worthy book if you are interested in the focused academic topics it attempts to address. I thought that Malcolm Gladwell did a better job, with a much simpler book, in explaining why and how new ideas get introduced. Still, many questions remain to be answered about innovations. I'd love to read an equivalent book about innovations in the arts. If we are lucky, someone as competent and as thorough as Professor Rogers will take up the topic.
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Summary: bleeahh.
Review: Professor Rogers begins his book by really getting to the heart of the matter. "Getting a new idea adopted, even when it has obvious advantages, is often very difficult," he writes. "Many innovations require a lengthy period, often many years, from the time they become available to the time they are widely adopted" I have often wondered why getting new ideas adopted is so difficult, not only in business and technology, which is Professor Roger's primary area of research, but also in the arts, music, painting, and literature. It seems that whenever someone has a really innovative concept, it gets attacked, trashed, savaged, and often sabotaged by the mainstream? Why? Professor Rogers never really answers this question, and this is my only complaint about an otherwise exceptional book. His primary interest is in figuring out ways to "speed up the rate of the diffusion of an innovation." Within a narrow context of business and policy objectives, he is successful. The strengths of this book are its very competent and exhaustive research, which include case studies, criticisms, and policy discussions. It is a worthy book if you are interested in the focused academic topics it attempts to address. I thought that Malcolm Gladwell did a better job, with a much simpler book, in explaining why and how new ideas get introduced. Still, many questions remain to be answered about innovations. I'd love to read an equivalent book about innovations in the arts. If we are lucky, someone as competent and as thorough as Professor Rogers will take up the topic.
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Summary: THE classic book
Review: There are so many dull 'contemporary' marketing books about viral, street, grassroots, etc marketing strategies. This is the KEY book about understanding how new products get accepted. Wonderful, deep research.
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Summary: great book for researchers
Review: this is one of a kind book that researchers in sociology, psychology and business can use. great to be used in determining the audience impact, use of certain media, tools, ideas, etc. the model used is exactly an innovation that researchers can't resist in using. a new paradigm shift in research methodology. the book is full of illustrative stories to use in related literature of a study. E. Rogers is an excellent scholar. i give him a five star award for his innovation. From: Prof. Rudy P. Divino, DBA(cand)
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Summary: Researchers are my clients
Review: This may be the seminal book on the subject, but it hasn't been an easy read. I'm about half-way through it after several months and I've completed many other books in that time. I haven't decided which of these keeps it from being an easy read for me - It's more scholarly than I want - It's hard to relate to the examples - It's hard to find the gems of truth - It isn't a "page turner"
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Summary: THE Foundation Work for Driving Change
Review: Virtually every piece of change management literature that I have read since being introduced to Diffusion of Innovation either has its foundation in this book or its thesis can be understood in terms of Everett's framework. Do not let the 1962 date of the first edition (up to fifth edition at this writing), make you question the work's currency. While it is regularly called a classic, it is in no way an antique.
One caveat. Whether you are going to respond to D of I as positively as I did will depend in part on your cognitive style. If you are comfortable reading about abstractions that grew out of research from largely non-business fields of study and are comfortable personally having to make the leap from theory to practical application, you will value this book. If on the other hand you need a clearly defined process for applying the framework and have a hard time generalizing non-business research to your own world, you probably want to look elsewhere. Though Diffusion of Innovation is more abstract and less business focused, I personally find D of I to have more practical value than works such as Daryl Conner's Managing at the Speed of Change or John Kotter's Leading Change, both of which I feel are better at creating a sensitivity to change management concepts and fueling a sense of need for "expert" consulting resources than they do providing tools and knowledge.
I have used Rogers' framework to craft change programs in corporate and consulting environments and can confirm that, if you are willing to make an investment in understanding how its concepts can be applied within your context, D of I is an invaluable resource.
Bottom line: a great framework based on sound research, well written and entertaining, and, if you can make the leap from abstraction to application, eminently practical.
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Summary: Masterful Treatment
Review: Well organized and full of relevant real-world case illustrations, this book is exceptionally well-done. Both educational and thoroughly entertaining. As complete as a textbook on the subject yet highly readable.
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Summary: Packed With Knowledge!
Review: Why would a villager draw polluted drinking water from a canal where a dead donkey floats instead of using a nearby tap to get clean drinking water? Why did it take hundreds of years for the British Navy to give sailors oranges and lemons when tests had proven that citrus fruit cured the scurvy that killed sailors and left vessels under-manned? Why do eminently sensible things not happen? If you've ever wondered, this book will give you the answers. It's a thick, heavy, academic tome, but spiced with abundant anecdotes and observations that make it an easy, enjoyable read. This is the rare book that combines solid intellectual content with thought-provoking entertainment. We highly recommend this classic from 1962 to all audiences, but especially those whose business it is to understand and use the social mechanisms through which innovations must diffuse.
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