Try free for 2 months
-
Invention
- A Life
- Narrated by: James Dyson
- Length: 11 hrs and 32 mins
Failed to add items
Add to basket failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from Wish List failed.
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Buy Now for $21.86
No valid payment method on file.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Buy it with
-
The Dealmaker
- Lessons from a Life in Private Equity
- By: Guy Hands
- Narrated by: Simon Shepherd, Guy Hands - introduction
- Length: 10 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Dealmaker is a frank and honest account of how a severely dyslexic child who struggled at school went on to graduate from Oxford and become a serial entrepreneur. It describes Guy Hand's career in private equity, first at Nomura and then as head of his own company, Terra Firma. It looks in detail at the huge deals that Terra Firma has done over the years, involving everything from cinema chains and pubs to waste management, aircraft leasing and green energy.
-
-
interesting read, deeply flawed author
- By Matthias Prosser on 04-06-2022
-
Authentic
- A Memoir by the Founder of Vans
- By: Paul Van Doren
- Narrated by: Tony Alva
- Length: 8 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Paul Van Doren is the founder of Vans - the shoe company beloved by skateboarders, creatives, and fans everywhere for its laid-back, colorful SoCal vibe, and famous for its people-oriented company culture. How did Van Doren establish a family shoe business that evolved into a globally recognized brand with annual revenue of more than four billion dollars? A blue-collar kid with no higher education and zero retail experience, Van Doren leveraged a knack for numbers, a genius for efficiency, and the know-how to make a great canvas tennis shoe into an all-American success story.
-
-
great story about a cultural brand
- By waqas t. on 28-06-2021
-
Edison
- By: Edmund Morris
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 25 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Although Thomas Alva Edison was the most famous American of his time, and remains an international name today, he is mostly remembered only for the gift of universal electric light. His invention of the first practical incandescent lamp 140 years ago so dazzled the world - already reeling from his invention of the phonograph and dozens of other revolutionary devices - that it cast a shadow over his later achievements. In all, this near-deaf genius patented 1,093 inventions, not including others, such as the X-ray fluoroscope, that he left unlicensed for the benefit of medicine.
-
-
An Amazing Life Amazingly Well Explained
- By Simpson from Oz on 27-06-2023
-
Poor Charlie’s Almanack
- The Essential Wit and Wisdom of Charles T. Munger
- By: Charles T. Munger
- Narrated by: Grover Gardener
- Length: 13 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
"Spend each day trying to be a little wiser than you were when you woke up," Charles T. Munger advises in Poor Charlie’s Almanack. Originally published in 2005, this compendium of 11 talks, delivered by the legendary Berkshire Hathaway vice-chairman between 1986 and 2007, has become a touchstone for a generation of investors and entrepreneurs seeking to absorb the enduring wit and wisdom of one of the great minds of the 20th and 21st centuries.
-
-
Narrator will put you to sleep
- By Kindle Customer on 08-01-2024
-
Grinding It Out
- The Making of McDonald's
- By: Ray Kroc, Robert Anderson
- Narrated by: Stephen Bel Davies
- Length: 6 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Few entrepreneurs can claim to have radically changed the way we live, and Ray Kroc is one of them. His revolutions in food-service automation, franchising, shared national training, and advertising have earned him a place beside the men and women who have founded not only businesses, but entire empires. But even more interesting than Ray Kroc the business man is Ray Kroc the man. Not your typical self-made tycoon, Kroc was 52 years old when he opened his first franchise.
-
-
Really interesting until the final few chapters
- By Colin R on 10-08-2019
-
Shoe Dog
- By: Phil Knight
- Narrated by: Norbert Leo Butz, Phil Knight - introduction
- Length: 13 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this candid and riveting memoir, for the first time ever, Nike founder and CEO Phil Knight shares the inside story of the company's early days as an intrepid start-up and its evolution into one of the world's most iconic, game-changing, and profitable brands.
-
-
- By You can’t afford not to buy it on 17-04-2018
-
The Dealmaker
- Lessons from a Life in Private Equity
- By: Guy Hands
- Narrated by: Simon Shepherd, Guy Hands - introduction
- Length: 10 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Dealmaker is a frank and honest account of how a severely dyslexic child who struggled at school went on to graduate from Oxford and become a serial entrepreneur. It describes Guy Hand's career in private equity, first at Nomura and then as head of his own company, Terra Firma. It looks in detail at the huge deals that Terra Firma has done over the years, involving everything from cinema chains and pubs to waste management, aircraft leasing and green energy.
-
-
interesting read, deeply flawed author
- By Matthias Prosser on 04-06-2022
-
Authentic
- A Memoir by the Founder of Vans
- By: Paul Van Doren
- Narrated by: Tony Alva
- Length: 8 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Paul Van Doren is the founder of Vans - the shoe company beloved by skateboarders, creatives, and fans everywhere for its laid-back, colorful SoCal vibe, and famous for its people-oriented company culture. How did Van Doren establish a family shoe business that evolved into a globally recognized brand with annual revenue of more than four billion dollars? A blue-collar kid with no higher education and zero retail experience, Van Doren leveraged a knack for numbers, a genius for efficiency, and the know-how to make a great canvas tennis shoe into an all-American success story.
-
-
great story about a cultural brand
- By waqas t. on 28-06-2021
-
Edison
- By: Edmund Morris
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 25 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Although Thomas Alva Edison was the most famous American of his time, and remains an international name today, he is mostly remembered only for the gift of universal electric light. His invention of the first practical incandescent lamp 140 years ago so dazzled the world - already reeling from his invention of the phonograph and dozens of other revolutionary devices - that it cast a shadow over his later achievements. In all, this near-deaf genius patented 1,093 inventions, not including others, such as the X-ray fluoroscope, that he left unlicensed for the benefit of medicine.
-
-
An Amazing Life Amazingly Well Explained
- By Simpson from Oz on 27-06-2023
-
Poor Charlie’s Almanack
- The Essential Wit and Wisdom of Charles T. Munger
- By: Charles T. Munger
- Narrated by: Grover Gardener
- Length: 13 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
"Spend each day trying to be a little wiser than you were when you woke up," Charles T. Munger advises in Poor Charlie’s Almanack. Originally published in 2005, this compendium of 11 talks, delivered by the legendary Berkshire Hathaway vice-chairman between 1986 and 2007, has become a touchstone for a generation of investors and entrepreneurs seeking to absorb the enduring wit and wisdom of one of the great minds of the 20th and 21st centuries.
-
-
Narrator will put you to sleep
- By Kindle Customer on 08-01-2024
-
Grinding It Out
- The Making of McDonald's
- By: Ray Kroc, Robert Anderson
- Narrated by: Stephen Bel Davies
- Length: 6 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Few entrepreneurs can claim to have radically changed the way we live, and Ray Kroc is one of them. His revolutions in food-service automation, franchising, shared national training, and advertising have earned him a place beside the men and women who have founded not only businesses, but entire empires. But even more interesting than Ray Kroc the business man is Ray Kroc the man. Not your typical self-made tycoon, Kroc was 52 years old when he opened his first franchise.
-
-
Really interesting until the final few chapters
- By Colin R on 10-08-2019
-
Shoe Dog
- By: Phil Knight
- Narrated by: Norbert Leo Butz, Phil Knight - introduction
- Length: 13 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this candid and riveting memoir, for the first time ever, Nike founder and CEO Phil Knight shares the inside story of the company's early days as an intrepid start-up and its evolution into one of the world's most iconic, game-changing, and profitable brands.
-
-
- By You can’t afford not to buy it on 17-04-2018
-
The Burger King
- A Whopper of a Story on Life and Leadership
- By: Jim McLamore
- Narrated by: BJ Harrison
- Length: 11 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A rags-to-$9-billion-riches story. A crash course in Burger King history and fast food in America, The Burger King is McLamore's candid and conversational memoir. Written before his death in 1996, he talks of his life, the birth of the Whopper, and the rise of Burger King. McLamore's account of Burger King offers an instructive and inspiring tale to young entrepreneurs. Here's a story of entrepreneurship development from one of the top entrepreneurs of fast food chains.
-
-
Great story of Burger King
- By Amazon Customer on 04-12-2023
-
Alibaba
- The House That Jack Ma Built
- By: Duncan Clark
- Narrated by: Jim Meskimen
- Length: 9 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In just a decade and a half, Jack Ma, a man from modest beginnings who started out as an English teacher, founded Alibaba and built it into one of the world's largest companies, an e-commerce empire on which hundreds of millions of Chinese consumers depend. Alibaba's $25 billion IPO in 2014 was the largest global IPO ever. A Rockefeller of his age who is courted by CEOs and presidents around the world, Jack is an icon for China's booming private sector.
-
-
Inspiring but narrated by wrong person
- By alexkusuma on 30-05-2017
-
The Innovators
- How a Group of Hackers, Geniuses, and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution
- By: Walter Isaacson
- Narrated by: Dennis Boutsikaris
- Length: 17 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Following his blockbuster biography of Steve Jobs, The Innovators is Walter Isaacson’s revealing story of the people who created the computer and the Internet. It is destined to be the standard history of the digital revolution and an indispensable guide to how innovation really happens. What were the talents that allowed certain inventors and entrepreneurs to turn their visionary ideas into disruptive realities? What led to their creative leaps? Why did some succeed and others fail?
-
-
Great book.
- By NICK G on 29-05-2015
-
Super Founders
- What Data Reveals About Billion-Dollar Startups
- By: Ali Tamaseb
- Narrated by: Dean Temple, Catherine Ho, Jason Culp
- Length: 8 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Ali Tamaseb has spent thousands of hours manually amassing what may be the largest dataset ever collected on start-ups, comparing billion-dollar start-ups with those that failed to become one - 30,000 data points on nearly every factor: number of competitors, market size, the founder’s age, his or her university’s ranking, quality of investors, fundraising time, and many, many more. And what he found looked far different than expected.
-
-
Essential for founders
- By Catherine Mattiske on 31-01-2024
-
The Story of Lululemon: Little Black Stretchy Pants
- By: Chip Wilson
- Narrated by: Chip Wilson
- Length: 10 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The unauthorized story of Lululemon. Chip Wilson’s part in this story comes from the learning of thousands of mistakes. He set the culture, business model, quality platform, and people development program and then got out of the way. Lululemon’s exponential growth, culture, and brand strength have few peers, and it is because of those employees who choose to be great. This book is also about missed opportunity - five years of missed opportunity. Chip was playing to win while the directors of the company he founded were playing not to lose.
-
-
Compulsory Reading for Business and Culture
- By Anonymous User on 30-07-2021
-
Titan
- The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr.
- By: Ron Chernow
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 35 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Titan is the first full-length biography based on unrestricted access to Rockefeller’s exceptionally rich trove of papers. A landmark publication full of startling revelations, the book indelibly alters our image of this most enigmatic capitalist. Born the son of a flamboyant, bigamous snake-oil salesman and a pious, straitlaced mother, Rockefeller rose from rustic origins to become the world’s richest man by creating America’s most powerful and feared monopoly, Standard Oil. Branded "the Octopus" by legions of muckrakers, the trust refined and marketed nearly 90 percent of the oil produced in America.
-
-
Amazing story of rags to icon
- By Arthur Wilson on 10-12-2016
-
My Life and Work: An Autobiography of Henry Ford
- By: Henry Ford
- Narrated by: Carson Beck
- Length: 8 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
My Life and Work, the autobiography of Henry Ford (written with Samuel Crowther), gives readers an inside view to the mind and life of a true American dream. Born in 1863, Ford rose from humble beginnings in Michigan to become one of the most well-respected and revered businessmen of the industrial revolution. A true innovator, Ford changed American industry forever with his advances in transportation and technology. His production of the Model T and his process of mass manufacturing forever changed the American marketplace.
-
-
Amazing story and life
- By Dominic Evans on 08-10-2022
-
Benjamin Franklin: An American Life
- By: Walter Isaacson
- Narrated by: Nelson Runger
- Length: 24 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Benjamin Franklin is the founding father who winks at us - an ambitious urban entrepreneur who rose up the social ladder, from leather-aproned shopkeeper to dining with kings. In best-selling author Walter Isaacson's vivid and witty full-scale biography, we discover why Franklin turns to us from history's stage with eyes that twinkle from behind his new-fangled spectacles. In Benjamin Franklin, Isaacson shows how Franklin defines both his own time and ours. The most interesting thing that Franklin invented, and continually reinvented, was himself.
-
-
Rather verbose
- By Richard on 07-01-2019
-
Super Pumped
- The Battle for Uber
- By: Mike Isaac
- Narrated by: Holter Graham, Mike Isaac
- Length: 12 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A New York Times technology correspondent presents the dramatic rise and fall of Uber, set against the rapid upheaval in Silicon Valley during the mobile era. Based on hundreds of interviews with current and former Uber employees, along with previously unpublished documents, Super Pumped is a pause-resisting story of ambition and deception, obscene wealth, and bad behavior, that explores how blistering technological and financial innovation culminated in one of the most catastrophic 12-month periods in American corporate history.
-
-
Great story - very prescient
- By Adam Webb on 03-01-2020
-
In-N-Out Burger
- A Behind-the-Counter Look at the Fast-Food Chain That Breaks All the Rules
- By: Stacy Perman
- Narrated by: Loren Lester
- Length: 10 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It's the untold story of the renegade burger chain that evokes a passionate following unlike any other. In fast-food corporate America, In-N-Out Burger stands apart. Begun in a tiny shack in the shadow of World War II, this family-owned chain has steadfastly refused to franchise or be sold. It is a testament to old-fashioned values and reminiscent of a simpler time when people, loyalty, and a freshly made, juicy hamburger meant something.
-
Let My People Go Surfing
- The Education of a Reluctant Businessman - Including 10 More Years of Business Unusual
- By: Yvon Chouinard, Naomi Klein
- Narrated by: Christopher Grove, Yvon Chouinard
- Length: 7 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In his long-awaited memoir, Yvon Chouinard - legendary climber, businessman, environmentalist, and founder of Patagonia, Inc. - shares the persistence and courage that have gone into being head of one of the most respected and environmentally responsible companies on earth. From his youth as the son of a French Canadian blacksmith to the thrilling, ambitious climbing expeditions that inspired his innovative designs for the sport's equipment.
-
-
7 Hour Marketing Pitch
- By Cam on 12-09-2018
-
The Price of Fortune
- The Untold Story of Being James Packer
- By: Damon Kitney
- Narrated by: Damon Kitney, Paul English
- Length: 15 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Never before has a member of the Packer family co-operated with a writer to tell their story. In his biography The Price of Fortune, one of the nation's richest and most psychoanalyzed men opens up in an attempt to make sense of his roller-coaster life and to tell the human story of being James Douglas Packer. Of how his wealth, charm and intellect took him to such exciting places. Yet how sometimes trusting the wrong people and his own rash actions cost him - and how he is now working on getting it all back.
-
-
Perhaps it was the narration that let it down.
- By Chris Williams on 03-12-2018
Publisher's Summary
Dyson has become a byword for high-performing products, technology, design and invention. Now, James Dyson, the inventor and entrepreneur who made it all happen, tells his remarkable and inspirational story in Invention: A Life.
Famously, over a four-year period, James Dyson made 5,127 prototypes of the cyclonic vacuum cleaner that would transform the way houses are cleaned around the world. In devoting all his resources to iteratively developing the technology, he risked it all, but out of many failures and setbacks came hard-fought success. His products - including vacuum cleaners, hair dryers and hair stylers, and fans and purifiers - are not only revolutionary technologies, but design classics. This was a legacy of his time studying at the Royal College of Art in the 1960s, when he was inspired by some of the most famous artists, designers and inventors of the era, as well as his engineering heroes such as Frank Whittle and Alec Issigonis.
In Invention: A Life, Dyson reveals how he came to set up his own company and led it to become one of the most inventive technology companies in the world. It is a compelling and dramatic tale, with many obstacles overcome. Dyson has always looked to the future, even setting up his own university to help provide the next generation of engineers and designers. For, as he says, 'everything changes all the time, so experience is of little use'.
Whether you are someone who has an idea for a better product, an aspiring entrepreneur, whether you appreciate great design or a compelling story, Invention: A Life offers you inspiration, hope and much more.
What listeners say about Invention
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- A. Medina
- 07-11-2023
Highly inspiring and educational
What an incredible journey, James Dyson and family have had. If this book teaches you anything is that nothing is set in stone, nothing is permanent. And that tenacity, self belief, imagination, humility and hard work, can take you anywhere. Amazing story and a book to make you believe you can change anything.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Daniel
- 21-11-2022
Billion dollar business building.
Great reading for any budding entrepreneur in the fields of design & engineering.
Narrated by Mr. Dyson, Invention covers his journey from Student to Today, getting started with some unique projects through to his creation of the bagless cyclone vacuum which revolutionized the vacuum industry.
Very much a read focused on the technical aspects of his career & business ventures without being at all difficult to understand, with little to no stories of James's personal life, though deffinately recommend.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Jeremy. J
- 20-03-2022
Inspiring and so much more than I expected.
One of the best books I've ever read/heard. As a fellow engineeer and entrepreneur I found it very inspiring. It has encouraged me to question everything. Thank you James Dyson and family for all the effort you've put into this and the Dyson business as a whole.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- flexter
- 02-02-2022
a great book. highly recommended
a commendable career for dyson. and kudos to sticking it out through tough times.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- George Planck
- 24-12-2021
Great story, but devolves a bit into a rant
excellent story very entertaining hearing how Dyson created an Empire despite the adversity he encountered early in his career.
it does become a bit like sitting next to your opinionated drunk uncle app a Christmas function though. Dyson tends to rent his way through the second half of the book but the first half is definitely worth the read.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Tony
- 30-11-2021
an absolute ledgend
This is an incredibly inspirational true story about a career that has had many issues to overcome. I'm very grateful to have had this oppurtunity to learn from James Dyson and his sometimes rocky but ultimately successful life.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Barry Jackson
- 23-11-2021
Excellent Book and story.
A great story and an inspiration to all that have tried and failed. Solution: Celebrate failure and try again!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Amazon Customer
- 16-10-2021
Starts well but gets repetitive mid way through.
History and starting Dyson was really good but second half becomes more like an infomercia. It turns into a long list of buildings, architects, awards, dollar values of grants and James stating how annoying British bureaucracy is. Shame because I really enjoyed the first half of the book.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!