★Subvert conventional wisdom, shatter the "innovation myth", and reveal that so-called "revolutionary innovation" is not achieved overnight but rather through a tortuous development process.
★From budget airlines to zippers, use numerous invention cases close to daily life to showcase the true trajectory of innovation.
★Analyze the historical impact behind innovation, helping readers understand the complexity and significance of innovation, and inspire thoughts on innovation management.

From Artificial Intelligence to electric cars, our perception today is that we are living in an era of extraordinary change in which innovations follow each other at breakneck speed with overwhelming impacts in our living and working habits.
But is that really so? Or are we prisoners of an “innovation myth” which underestimates both the difficulties involved in introducing and rooting significant innovations and the importance of managing them wisely?
A “revolutionary innovation” does not always have the epic appearance one might expect and often it neither comes into being as innovation nor is it initially perceived as revolutionary. Here Massimiano Bucchi gives us many examples of things that have effectively changed our lives but have had to follow tortuous and unlikely paths before firmly establishing themselves at the heart of our modern lives. From low-cost flights to air conditioning, from erasers to zips, this book tells the minor stories of minor turning points that have ended up causing major, sometimes resounding effects.

Massimiano Bucchi teaches Science, Technology and Society at the University of Trento. He has been a visiting professor in Asia, Europe, North America and Oceania. He is the author of articles in major international journals such as Nature, Science and PLOS One, and of a number of books, among which Confidenze digitali. Vizi e virtù dell’innovazione (Digital Confidences. Vices and virtues of innovation, 2023), Sbagliare da professionisti. Storie di errori e fallimenti memorabili (When Professionals Get It Wrong. Stories of memorable mistakes and failures, 2018), Come vincere un Nobel. L’immagine pubblica della scienza e il suo premio più famoso (How to Win a Nobel. The public image of science and its most famous prize, 2017), Per un pugno di idee. Storie di innovazioni che hanno cambiato la nostra vita (For a Fistful of Ideas. Stories of innovations that have changed out lives, 2016) and Scienza e società. Introduzione alla sociologia della scienza (Science and Society. Introduction to the sociology of science, 2010). He is a contributor to Corriere della Sera and Foglio.