How the Cadillac Got Its Fins

by Jack Mingo

Book Overview

From the bestselling author of The Whole Pop Catalog and The Couch Potato Guide to Life comes this entertaining look at the true, often bizarre, and entertaining stories behind the invention and... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0887306772
• ISBN13: 9780887306778
• Release Date: January 1994
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
• Length: 228 Pages
• Weight: 0.76 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 5.5" x 7.5"

Customer Reviews

Seemingly trivia yet educational...learn something more about the world around you!

This is one of those books that at first glance may seem trivia (sometimes, nonesensical) & yet after perusal you get something worthwhile out of them. I often buy such books to tickle the mind, & to get fresh perspectives, in addition to satisfying my curiosity streak. I am very impressed by the work of the author, a widely published humourist & commentator on popular culture. He traces the surprising, unbelievable, & amazing stories behind the invention & marketing of many of the products & companies that shape our lives. Among the many relevations are: - the truth about Spam, without actually having to eat it; - how the founders of Apple Computer really wen into business (Hint: The FBI would not have approved); - How the Life Saver got its hole (Hint: It was not intentional); - How few videos MTV actually had when it started, & the identity of the aging british rocker who was featured in an inordinate number of them; - Why the SONY engineers who built the Walkamn considered it a failure; Not only I have been intrigued but also appalled by the boneheadedness of inventors, business leaders, advertisers & marketers as they are related in the stories. In fact, I have adapted/used many of the revelations as case studies in illustrating personal as well as organisational creativity. I recap the author's prologue: "...The reality is that many of our most beloved products were developed by hunch, guesswork, & fanaticism, by creators who were eccetric - or even start raving mad. That's because making something genuinely new requries a different way of looking at things. To quote a widely circulated bad attitude wall plaque: YOU DON'T HAVE TO BE CRAZY TO WORK HERE, BUT IT HELPS." Once you have started reading this witty book, it will be hard for you to put it down until you have finished reading it. Definitely, you will be amazed, & will learn something more about the world around you!

The truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth...

I discovered this book a decade after its publication and simply loved it! What makes it an excellent book is that these intriguing stories are about products that most of us are very familiar with, the chapters are a manageable length for busy folks, the subject is handled with much humor, and it's so fun to see some of the illogical corporate decisions of the past. (For instance, no American automotive company took the VW seriously at first because its engineering philosophy was the polar opposite of Detroit's.) Most fascinating to me was the story of the Goodyear blimp. Good going, author Jack Mingo!

Worth the Read!

Great short "Reads". You'd be surprised at the upstart of many Billion dollar companies. Keep Playin. One Love. MB.