Laser (edited)

"Laser" by Nick Taylor is the story of the multi-decade attempt by Gordon Gould to get credit for inventing the laser and to get some monetary reward for doing it.

The writing is tolerable. The science is sometimes presented well and sometimes not so well. The story, however, is compelling.

It captures Gould's spark of invention, his serious patent wars against Nobel Laureates, universities, large corporations and even the Patent Office itself. Inspite of the fact that he was the first to invent and had all the documents, it took him 40 years to be vindicated.

It lays out how to get patents and how not to get patents, divisions, continuations in part, and the amazing travails of the patenting legal system. A very useful and interesting read.