Too many new products fail. New products which are hard to differentiate from existing products won't capture the customer's imagination. The failure is due to a poor understanding of customers' needs. Companies need to take a radical approach to identifying customers' real needs, and this book demonstrates innovative ways to achieve this.

A story of those magical years for a boy, and his family, while growing up from age one to eleven in the little farm community of Princeton, Illinois during 1935 to 1945. From the later days of the Depression through WWII, this autobiography reminisces memorable moments from Fireside Chats with FDR, Sunday night radio, rationing, elementary school days, the Civilian Defense Corp (CDC), and the boys and their toys. The book offers a mixture of humor, history, and every day family events...

From one of the world's most beloved writers and New York Times bestselling author of A Walk in the Woods and The Body, a vivid, nostalgic, and utterly hilarious memoir of growing up in the 1950s.Bill Bryson was born in the middle of the American century—1951—in the middle of the United States—Des Moines, Iowa—in the middle of the largest generation in American history—the baby boomers. As one of the best and funniest writers alive, he is...

Here Is Where chronicles Andrew Carroll’s eye-opening – and at times hilarious -- journey across America to find and explore unmarked historic sites where extraordinary moments occurred and remarkable individuals once lived. Sparking the idea for this book was Carroll’s visit to the spot where Abraham Lincoln’s son was saved by the brother of Lincoln’s assassin. Carroll wondered, How many other unmarked places are there where intriguing events have unfolded and that w...

The beloved bathroom reader series returns with this twenty-sixth edition that's flush with weird facts on a wide array of topics.The twenty-sixth annual edition of Uncle John's wildly successful series is all-new and jam-packed with the BRI's patented mix of fun and information. Open to any page and you may find an interesting origin (like the origin of the snow globe) or a piece of obscure history (like the true story of the man who tried to repeal the law of gra...

One of Uncle John’s all-time bestselling editions, Supremely Satisfying is everything a Bathroom Reader should be: informative, funny, surprising, thought-provoking, weird, and a little bit gross.Supreme satisfaction awaits you in Uncle John’s 14th all-new edition, which covers a whole host of topics—from the silly (a branding iron for hot dogs) to the bizarre (an exploding whale) to the profound (the rise of the Democratic and Republican parties)...

The latest, greatest volume in the popular Uncle John’s series, flush with fun facts and figures and plenty of trademark trivia.The dedicated folks at the Bathroom Readers’ Institute are back with some Fast-Acting, Long-Lasting relief for our legions of fans who have been suffering without a new infusion of Uncle John’s trademark trivia and obscure facts. That’s right, folks, this is the book you’ve been waiting for! Number 18 in the Bathroom Reader series is flush...

The latest, greatest volume in the popular Uncle John’s series, flush with fun facts and figures and plenty of trademark trivia.Uncle John’s Curiously Compelling Bathroom Reader, the 19th edition of this best-selling series, has more than 500 pages of the perfect reading material for the throne room. Settle in and read about: Great Moments in Bad TV, the First Detective, the Story of Prohibition, the Queen of the Roller Derby, and the jiggly history of Jel...

Over 70% of North Americans are (water) closet readers. The Uncle John's Bathroom Readers series is still the best selling book of its kind anywhere in the world. Millions of people have discovered it over the past 25 years, making it one of the publishing industry's longest-running humor series.It's our 16th year running (so to speak) I mean, we're still going (uhh) strong. A light-hearted, easy-to-read collection of facts, quotes, history, science, word-origins, ...

“Among the many rewards of America the Ingenious, Kevin Baker’s survey of Yankee know-how, is stumbling on its buried nuggets. . . . Baker examines a wide range of the achievements that have made, and still make, America great again—and again.”—The Wall Street JournalAll made in America: The skyscraper and subway car. The telephone and telegraph. The safety elevator and safety pin. Plus the microprocessor, amusement park, MRI, supermarket, ...

A treasury of historical hilarity from the New York Times-bestselling coauthor of America's Dumbest Criminals!Why exactly is Paul Revere revered when it was Samuel Prescott who made the famous ride? Was the lightbulb really Thomas Edison's bright idea? Bestselling author and former Saturday Night Live writer Leland Gregory employs his masterful wit to expose historical myths, faux "facts," strange events, and tales of human stupidity thro...

Find out what millions of trivia lovers already know: Uncle John is your #1 source when it comes to throne-room reading entertainment. This book celebrates the very best articles from the BRI’s first ten years--plus 150 all-new pages! As always, the contents are divided by length: short articles for the reader on the go, medium articles if you have a few minutes to spare, and the extended sitting section for those truly leg-numbing experiences. Read about . . .* The origin of Twink...