'People They Laughed At' book

Valerie Yule

In every library there should be a book entitled 'People They Laughed At.' We need to be more aware of how much the world has been improved by people whose ideas were at first laughed at, and how much time and effort and even lives have been wasted because other people's first impulse has always been to ridicule and say 'it can't be done' and 'impossible.'

'The world has been improved by people whose ideas were at first laughed at'

The book would show how when it comes to new ideas, about one in a hundred will be a winner. So people who have silly ideas may still come up with a good one that should not be dismissed - and people who have had good ones can still have silly ones.

There would be an appendix of good ideas that have been taken up without the inventor having to struggle, too, to show that this can happen as well.

The book would show the danger in going overboard in taking up a great expensive scheme without pilot studies, just because conmen and charismatic people can be plausible, and greed can be blind (eg South Sea Bubbles and groundnuts in Africa) and how easy it is to say 'no' to quite simple schemes, as a reflex. It would quote Northcote Parkinson. And it would show how easy and valuable pilot experiments often can be - instead of crying 'no, it can't be done' as a matter of course.

There could be one edition for 8 to 12 year olds, in every school, another for 15 years upwards, and a third edition, possibly in chronological volumes, for institutes of tertiary education - with all editions of course available for general sale.

Valerie Yule, 57 Waimarie Drive, Mount Waverley, Victoria, Australia 3149 (tel 807 4315).

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