-A Streak of Luck by Robert Connor (Thomas Alfa Edison’s Biography)
-Little Bets by Peter Sims
Limit your review to 6 double-spaced pages with 1-inch margins, using 12 point Times New Roman font. Proof carefully and use spell checking and grammar checking. Present it as a narrative – following the format in the posted example.
Part 1 – General Information and orientation to the book (Page 1-2)
List the book’s title, author(s), date of publication, publisher and number of pages, and then answer the following questions:
A. What is the focus of the book? What is the main topic addressed? What discipline, profession, or subject
does it relate to? (Explain in a sentence or two.)
B. Describe the author’s credentials to write on this topic—is the author a scholar, or an expert, or someone
with valuable experience or a strong connection to the topic/person/situation?
C. What was the author’s purpose in writing the book? And what is the author’s perspective? Is it a balanced
perspective?
D. What audience (what readers) is the book suitable for?
Part 2 – Summary of the content (Page 1-2)
Provide an overview of the book–its contents and key points:
A. Summarize in a paragraph what the book covers.
B. In a paragraph describe the general conclusions of the book.
C. In a sentence or two explain what is/was the impact on society (the broad relevance) of the persons,
events, or ideas described in the book.
D. In your view, was the book successful in achieving the author’s goal? Explain.
Part 3 – Link the book to the course – what does it tell us specifically about creativity, innovation and product development? (Pages 3-6)
In this section you will identify a minimum of six (6) unique course concepts that connect the book to the
course—specific ideas, principles, methods and issues related to creativity/innovation/product development that
we have discussed in class or that were covered in Peter Sims’ “Little Bets” Book.
Tell us how the book specifically illustrates, illuminates or supports each topic.
One by one, identify and describe what you believe are key concepts that were covered in class that you find in the book and give specific evidence from the narrative that illustrates and supports each one.
Evidence can be anything in the book’s narrative that, in your judgment, is relevant such as critical events, work methods of the individuals involved, personal characteristics and traits of the individuals, the impact of social and environmental factors during the time period covered, accidental events, problems faced, good or bad luck, failures, and so on…anything that supports and explains the individual concept you have identified.
Present the key concepts one by one. For each concept: (a) list the general idea, principle, method or issue you have identified, (b) summarize the specific evidence you found for it in the text (a few short quotes are good to include when helpful), and (c) give the specific page reference(s) for your evidence.
The bulk of the grading will be based on this section. Quantity and quality will both count.
Limit Parts 1 and 2 together to two pages in total. No exceptions. Limit Part 3 to page 3 to 6 and be sure to identify, explain and support with specific documentation a minimum of six (6) unique concepts covered in the “Little Bets” By Peter Simssa
