Invention is getting an idea and making it work … once. But, invention is just the start. Innovation is doing the larger long-term work of making that invention work reliably and repeatedly-then succeeding at the harder task of convincing people to use it. We need both invention and innovation. People have thrived on this planet because they invented and innovated around dangers. They faced dangers of cold and dangerous predators such as lions and bears. They learned to capture fire, maintain it, and even start it fresh for warmth, for cooking more digestible food, and for chasing away those predators. That was a series of inventions that people adopted and developed as part of the much bigger set of energy innovations. Those innovations led to furnaces, foundries,
cars, and civilization in general. When wood grew scarce in the 1600s, people in Great Britain built better stoves and got serious about mining coal. To better mine the coal, they developed steam engines to pump water from the mines. There were many steam engines, but James Watt designed a much, much better steam engine. Watt, the mechanic, and his entrepreneurial business partner, Mathew Boulton, were an entrepreneurial team who birthed the Industrial Revolution of steam railroads and factories. 21st Century new dangers include potential excessive climate warming crop failures caused by that warming, and exhaustion of certain key resources. Some of the innovations needed are described in the forthcoming Saving the World Before Breakfast: The Earth Alone Can Save Us by this author. The quotes in this book are here to inspire you with the wisdom and success of innovators who succeeded. A few provide humor at those who scoffed at any chance of success. Finally, they are included to warn you of the hard road ahead lest you take on tasks that may be impossible, but to encourage you if you do take that road
