Review by Choice Review
This concise text is devoted to the problem of whether or not to adopt a new and promising innovation with the constraints that the innovation is unfamiliar and its success uncertain. Ben-Haim (technology and economics, Israel Institute of Technology) presents a method for managing this challenge and analyzing it. Many examples are presented; a chapter is devoted to uncertainty, ignorance, and surprise. Another deals with the limits of optimization, and one deals with managing innovation dilemmas. The final chapter explores the factors that make cultures innovative and factors that inhibit innovation. Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland is used as a conceit throughout; other literary references make frequent appearances throughout the occasionally heavy prose. This book is theoretical in scope and would not suit engineering students. It does, however, complement collections on the philosophy of science and may also appeal to readers in business, management, or economics professions who are concerned with issues related to innovation. Summing Up: Recommended. Graduate students, researchers, and professionals. --Alvin M. Strauss, Vanderbilt University
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
