I would like to second - "How Innovation Works" by Matt Ridley is an excellent book. I see the kindle version is £1.99 on amazon.co.uk atm - what a bargain. Most innovations we all enjoy and cherish are a product of long chain of trial and error by different people at different times. Often the theory is understood poorly (if at all) at the time of the invention, and developed after. Luck plays a role in particular person X inventing Y at time Z. But given the number of other people (not-X) that come up with similar invention ~Y at similar time ~Z, looks like Y would have been invented by someone at about time Z.

Thanks. Now purchased.

In addition to Matt Ridley, Stephen Johnson has written several popular books on innovation and "The Wizard of Menlo Park" by Randall Stross is a wonderful book on Thomas Edison.

What I find missing in the original Steven Novella article is the role of the dynamo [1] as an enabling technology for the lightbulb, and indeed, the second industrial revolution:

> Commercial electricity production started in 1870 with the coupling of the dynamo to the hydraulic turbine. The mechanical production of electric power began the Second Industrial Revolution and made possible several inventions using electricity, with the major contributors being Thomas Alva Edison and Nikola Tesla. Previously the only way to produce electricity was by chemical reactions or using battery cells, and the only practical use of electricity was for the telegraph.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electricity_generation#History