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Jon Gertner

Goodreads Author

Born

in The United States

Website

https://www.jongertner.net/

Genre

Nonfiction, Science, History

Member Since

March 2019

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In addition to writing books, I’m a longtime contributing writer at the New York Times Magazine. My journalism and book reviews have also appeared in Wired, The New York Times Book Review, The Washington Post, and The Wall Street Journal. My magazine stories tend to address contemporary issues in science, technology, and business; my books focus more on historical episodes that have had a significant but underappreciated influence. To put it slightly differently: In longer projects, I’m trying to pay close attention to certain aspects of our past so we can better understand the present, and perhaps the future.

My first book, The Idea Factory: Bell Labs and the Great Age of American Innovation (Penguin Press, 2012) chronicles a generation of ...more

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Jon Gertner’s books

Average rating: 4.2 · 10,142 ratings · 1,033 reviews · 2 distinct works • Similar authors

	The Idea Factory: Bell Labs and the Great Age of American Innovation 4.21 avg rating — 8,850 ratings — published 2012 — 20 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Ice at the End of the World: An Epic Journey into Greenland's Buried Past and Our Perilous Future 4.17 avg rating — 1,292 ratings — published 2019 — 9 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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Jon is Currently Reading

Jon Gertner is currently reading

On the Move: The Overheating Earth and the Uprooting of America

by Abrahm Lustgarten

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Sep 17, 2025 04:22AM

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Jon Gertner wants to read Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World by Jack Weatherford	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Dec 03, 2025 06:46PM · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World by Jack Weatherford. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World by Jack Weatherford <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Jon Gertner wants to read A Time of Gifts (Trilogy, #1) by Patrick Leigh Fermor	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
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Jon Gertner is currently reading On the Move: The Overheating Earth and the Uprooting of America by Abrahm Lustgarten	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Sep 17, 2025 04:22AM · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of On the Move by Abrahm Lustgarten. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — On the Move by Abrahm Lustgarten <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Jon Gertner wants to read Nuclear War: A Scenario by Annie Jacobsen (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
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Jon Gertner wants to read The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II by Iris Chang	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Sep 13, 2025 05:18PM · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of The Rape of Nanking by Iris Chang. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — The Rape of Nanking by Iris Chang <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Jon Gertner wants to read Daughters of the Bamboo Grove: From China to America, a True Story of Abduction, Adoption, and Separated Twins by Barbara Demick (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
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Jon Gertner rated a book really liked it At the Existentialist Café by Sarah Bakewell	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Excellent, witty, and very readable.
May 28, 2025 01:38PM · like · see review
Jon Gertner finished reading Austerlitz by W.G. Sebald	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Feb 02, 2025 05:19AM · like
Jon Gertner made a comment on their review of Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland " Ah — so kind of you to write this! Thank you for reading! "
Feb 01, 2025 05:50PM · see review
Jon Gertner rated a book it was amazing Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland by Patrick Radden Keefe	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Feb 01, 2025 02:45PM · 3 likes · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Say Nothing by Patrick Radden Keefe. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Say Nothing by Patrick Radden Keefe <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">

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Quotes by Jon Gertner (?)

“We have now successfully passed all our deadlines without meeting any of them.”
― Jon Gertner, The Idea Factory: Bell Labs and the Great Age of American Innovation

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“You get paid for the seven and a half hours a day you put in here,” Kelly often told new Bell Labs employees in his speech to them on their first day, “but you get your raises and promotions on what you do in the other sixteen and a half hours.”
― Jon Gertner, The Idea Factory: Bell Labs and the Great Age of American Innovation

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“The first is that if you haven’t manufactured the new thing in substantial quantities, you have not innovated;”
― Jon Gertner, The Idea Factory: Bell Labs and the Great Age of American Innovation

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Jon Gertner’s Followers (139)

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