Books for Inventors on Inventing

• Inventing 101: First Steps - Invention City President Mike Marks provides a definitive guide to the first steps you should take after that eureka moment. Learn how to know that your idea is worth time and effort; save thousands of dollars; protect your invention on a tight budget; make a prototype and much more. The book is 75 pages and is available free online.

• Inventing 102: Introduction to Licensing - Licensing is the easiest path to commercialization and profit: you get paid while someone else takes your invention, turns it into a product and manages the day to day grind of making and selling it. But that doesn't mean it's easy... The book is free online.

• Patent It Yourself, 13th Edition - David Pressman's classic belongs on every inventor's bookshelf. This book is the bible for anyone even remotely thinking about patenting an invention without an attorney. This book can save you thousands of dollars even if you have already hired a patent attorney. Patent It Yourself will help you make intelligent decisions regardless of whether or not you actually do it yourself. Patent It Yourself is like the wise uncle who cares about you and knows EVERYTHING (and there's a lot to know). The cost of the book is $31.49. Its well worth it.

• And Suddenly the Inventor Appeared: TRIZ, the Theory of Inventive Problem Solving - Stalin wanted the USSR to lead the world and believed that one of the keys was to outinvent the west. He assigned bucketfuls of Soviet scientists to research thousands upon thousands of patents to discover the secrets of successful inventing. These "secrets" are now being disseminated in the west in a number of ways. The best way to get a flavor of what the Russians discovered is to read this book. For example, how would you go about lighting the dark side of the moon? The thought process used to arrive at the solution to this and other problems is the focus of the book. Useful for both professionals and neophytes. $40.

• Ogilvy on Advertising - An oldie but a goody. David Ogilvy created one of the world’s great ad agencies and learned a great deal in the process. He shares his priceless knowledge in this book. Ogilvy believes that the purpose of advertising is to communicate information. He would reject much of the illegible graphics and indecipherable hoopla in today’s advertising. This book can be used as a simple "How To" book for effective product brochures and web sites and for a deeper understanding on communication processes in general. Be forewarned that Ogilvy has a Mt. Everest sized ego which is annoying if not tuned out. The message is important. $16.10