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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 · 10,571 ratings · 1,075 reviews · 2 distinct works • Similar authors

	The Idea Factory: Bell Labs and the Great Age of American Innovation 4.21 avg rating — 9,216 ratings — published 2012 — 3 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 4.18 avg rating — 1,355 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 Gertner wants to read The Gnostic Gospels (National Book Award Winner) by Elaine Pagels	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
Aug 05, 2026 12:35PM · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of The Gnostic Gospels by Elaine Pagels. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — The Gnostic Gospels by Elaine Pagels <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Jon Gertner and 1377 other people liked Ryan Boissonneault's review of Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals: "First of all, this is probably not the book you think it is, and that’s a good thing. Rather than offering cheap “time hacks” to get more of the same bullshit done, this more philosophical work is based on two important but uncomfortable truths: (1) " Read more of this review »
Jul 30, 2026 06:36PM · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Four Thousand Weeks by Oliver Burkeman. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Four Thousand Weeks by Oliver Burkeman <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Jon Gertner rated a book it was amazing What We Can Know by Ian McEwan (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
Jul 21, 2026 07:45PM · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of What We Can Know by Ian McEwan. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — What We Can Know by Ian McEwan <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Jon Gertner wants to read The Wide Wide Sea: Imperial Ambition, First Contact and the Fateful Final Voyage of Captain James Cook by Hampton Sides	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
Mar 08, 2026 01:19PM · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of The Wide Wide Sea by Hampton Sides. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — The Wide Wide Sea by Hampton Sides <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Jon Gertner wants to read The Uncool by Cameron Crowe	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
Mar 05, 2026 06:57PM · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of The Uncool by Cameron Crowe. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — The Uncool by Cameron Crowe <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
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
Sep 29, 2025 02:16PM · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of A Time of Gifts by Patrick Leigh Fermor. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — A Time of Gifts by Patrick Leigh Fermor <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
Sep 15, 2025 06:59PM · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Nuclear War by Annie Jacobsen. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Nuclear War by Annie Jacobsen <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
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">

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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 (145)

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Jon Gertner

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