What the typical inventor really needs is not a long list of feet-up, immersive reading but a step-by-step manual with answers to all the key questions, and nothing else. Our own book, The Business of Invention is one of the few publications that addresses this need. However, the other titles below - especially James Dyson's autobiography, which is truly essential reading - all have wisdom to impart
Peter Bissell and Graham Barker, The Business of Invention: The essentials of success for inventors and innovators, abettermousetrap.co.uk, 1998 revised 2004, ISBN 0951385631. Available only from www.abettermousetrap.co.uk
Robert G Cooper, Winning at New Products: Accelerating the process from idea to launch, Perseus Publishing, 2001, ISBN 0738204633
James Dyson, Against the Odds: An autobiography, Texere Publishing, 1997, ISBN 0752809814
James Dyson et al, ed Robert Uhlig, James Dyson's History of Great Inventions, Constable & Robinson, 2001, ISBN 1841193410
Jerry Hirshberg, The Creative Priority: Driving innovative business in the real world, Sponsored Publishing, 1998, ISBN 014027776-5
Henry Petroski, Invention by Design: How engineers get from thought to thing, Harvard University Press, 1998, ISBN 0674463684
David Straker and Graham Rawlinson, How to invent (almost) anything, Gower, 1998, ISBN 0566080273
James M Utterback, Mastering the Dynamics of Innovation, ISBN 0875847404