Originally Posted 11/16/05
A month or so ago I mentioned in the future I would be writing about various books I have read concerning inventing, starting a business and/or patents. While I have finished my first book since then and here is the review:
The book: Turn Your Idea or Invention into Millions by Don Kracke
To be honest, I expected very little from this book based on its title alone. When the book arrived from Amazon, my initial fears were confirmed: How could a book with a reflective gold cover and a big “$” symbol on the front cover be anything but junk. BUT remember the old cliché, “don’t judge a book by its cover”, and in this instance the cliché is 100% correct. In short, this book is a must read for any independent inventor and I give it four out of five light bulbs (talk about clichéd!).
What impressed me most is that this very successful independent inventor didn’t sugar coat things. Making money from inventing isn’t easy and to succeed an inventor must spend a significant amount of time and even money to have a chance. In fact, I was pleasantly surprised on how closely his view on the inventing game so closely follows mine. The invention of a great new device or process is only the beginning and a lot of hard work is ahead. Further, Mr. Kracke’s advice is backed up by his considerable experience. He provides us with many examples of “how to” and “how not to” do things based on his trials and tribulations. He has both succeeded and failed many times over and his book endeavors to pass his life lessons in the world of inventing.
The biggest complaint I have with this book is its cheesy cover that is actually a disservice to the really useful advice and information contained therein.
Additionally, the book is a bit dated despite a 2001 update. Mr. Kracke has been around awhile and many of his techniques predate the infiltration of technology into every aspect of business. Nevertheless, almost all of the author’s points are still universally valid, the astute reader just needs to consider how email, the internet and computers have affected things in the past 10 years and apply the modern equivalents.
So if you are an aspiring entrepreneur or inventor, get this book, read it and let us know what you think right here.
