3.3. Lesson 15: Be Exhaustive
Who has not heard Edison's most-often quoted maxim, the one about inspiration and perspiration just mentioned in Lesson 14?
The process by which Thomas Edison invented and innovated was characteristically exhaustive, productive indeed of much sweat. The most familiar case in point was the inventor's worldwide search for the ideal filament material to use in his incandescent lamp. He commissioned the collection and testing of thousands of substances, eliminating those that failed just as enthusiastically as he selected those that showed promise. For Edison, any trial, any experiment that yielded data was a success, even if it did not produce the result that had been anticipated or hoped for.
The exhaustive approach ...
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