I was looking for a SciFi title and ran across this.
Serendipity. Scroll down a little.
http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Serendipity

Lots of accidental "inventions" and discoveries.
Looks like if you're already doing research, your odds are increased
for coming up with something new.
I'm a little disappointed. because I was thinking I could invent
something out of thin air.
So maybe I just won't invent anything. Just say the hell with it.
Not sure yet. Have to think about it.
When I get time.

--Vic

On Jun 22, 11:50*am, Vic Smith
wrote:
I was looking for a SciFi title and ran across this.
Serendipity. *Scroll down a little.http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Serendipity

Lots of accidental "inventions" and discoveries.
Looks like if you're already doing research, your odds are increased
for coming up with something new.
I'm a little disappointed. because I was thinking I could invent
something out of thin air.
So maybe I just won't invent anything. *Just say the hell with it.
Not sure yet. *Have to think about it.
When I get time.

--Vic

Different people "invent" differently. Serendipity is surely one way.
Trying really hard to solve a specific problem is another. Neither
works well for me. My best way is to read all the techis stuff I can
and then go for a walk or sailing trip. Inevitably, with all that
crap swirling around in my head and not much to really worry about two
things are bound to stick together in an odd way and then I am dying
to get back and work on it.
So, I think almost everybody can invent but they just have to find
what works best for them.
I remember the most influential book in my life was one I read when I
was about 12 called "Famous Inventors and their Inventions" with
chapters on Gutenberg, Bacon (wrongly credited for gunpowder), Robert
Birdseye (frozen vegies), Marconi, Fulton, Eli Whitney, Samuel Colt,
and the telegraph guy whose name I forget, you know, "What Hath God
Wrought". You never know what will cause a kid to eventually pick a
career path.
Quite frankly, ignorance is sometimes an advantage when trying to
invent because you do not know how it shouldn't be done so you give it
a fresh perspective.
Right now, we are dealing with my wife having a pre-cancerous breast
thing called Ductal Carcinoma In-Situ and all the doctors appts have
caused me to go into invention overdrive and nearly make her crazy.
She wants me to be sympathetic at the doctors office, not interested,
but I cannot help it.
Good luck and I wish you success.