44 of 48 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
One of the BEST "business" books ever written - INC mag, 7 Aug 1999
By Randy Burge - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Diffusion of Innovation (Paperback)
Dr. Rogers is a brilliant sage whose lifelong quest for understanding how and why people adopt or deny innovation began, he tells me, on his family's farm in Iowa as a boy. At a young age he observed that some farmers were quick to adopt the latest innovations while many others were slower or even resistant to change. He also noticed that adoption didn't always equal success, nor did the refusal to change. So whether your gig is plowshares or computers or languages or healthcare or just about anything, you will find this book fascinating and illuminating. The book takes an "innovation" tour around the globe and through history with poignant examples of how new ways are diffused into societies. INC. magazine recently named this book as one of the 25 most important books written for understanding commerce. Ev is truly one of the wise men of today.
27 of 30 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Classroom Teacher's Perspective, 2 Mar 2000
By Anne Jolly "PLT Works" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Diffusion of Innovation (Paperback)
In my "real life" I am a classroom teacher who is working to establish collaborative study groups in two middle schools for the purpose of researching, examining, and improving teaching practice. Schools are organized to remain the same - not to change. This book has been invaluable in helping me understand the change process, things to consider when implementing change, and ideas for making change more palatable to teachers and administrators. I did not personally find it to be a "quick" read, but I found that the time I spent poring over the chapters paid real dividends.
22 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Narrowly Focused, But Very Solid, 9 Jun 2001
By Chris Matthews - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Diffusion of Innovation (Paperback)
Professor Rogers begins his book by really getting to the heart of the matter. "Getting a new idea adopted, even when it has obvious advantages, is often very difficult," he writes. "Many innovations require a lengthy period, often many years, from the time they become available to the time they are widely adopted"
I have often wondered why getting new ideas adopted is so difficult, not only in business and technology, which is Professor Roger's primary area of research, but also in the arts, music, painting, and literature. It seems that whenever someone has a really innovative concept, it gets attacked, trashed, savaged, and often sabotaged by the mainstream? Why?
Professor Rogers never really answers this question, and this is my only complaint about an otherwise exceptional book. His primary interest is in figuring out ways to "speed up the rate of the diffusion of an innovation." Within a narrow context of business and policy objectives, he is successful. The strengths of this book are its very competent and exhaustive research, which include case studies, criticisms, and policy discussions. It is a worthy book if you are interested in the focused academic topics it attempts to address.
I thought that Malcolm Gladwell did a better job, with a much simpler book, in explaining why and how new ideas get introduced. Still, many questions remain to be answered about innovations. I'd love to read an equivalent book about innovations in the arts. If we are lucky, someone as competent and as thorough as Professor Rogers will take up the topic.