He was not selfish in that he was creating inventions solely to make money, but rather for the good of others, both during his time and in the future. One of the best things about the book is the way that Melosi includes family situations and personal issues that Edison dealt with, as well as business challenges that he faced. There are several points that the book makes that indicate these issues were very valuable in Edison's business life. The first of these is a paradigm shift. This involves changing the way someone feels about how the world works and the position they have in it, as well as the perceptions of what the world contains. By taking readers through the way that this change occurs, Melosi helps individuals to learn better ways to look at the world and the ideas that are often presented by others that are interested in changing the world - like Edison. These kinds of skills include positive thinking, management of time, and ways to act that deal with productivity. Through his discussion on Edison, Melosi teaches people how to act and take the initiative as opposed to only reacting to something that happened, which is how Edison lived his life.

By doing this, he indicates how business life could be changed by proactive individuals and this concept would be extremely helpful in business, especially in today's global society, which is something that Edison likely never envisioned. People that are proactive realize what is going to happen in their specific area of skill and they look at these areas and attempt to make changes that will coincide with the up and coming trends rather than wait for the trends to get started and then follow up on them at a later date. Edison was ahead of his time in the sense that he was already looking ahead and patenting items that would be useful some time in the future...

Many of the concepts that Melosi provides in his discussion of Edison are worth giving thought to, and skimming this book would not be helpful. The book needs to be studied well and notes need to be taken throughout each chapter in order to fully comprehend what Melosi is trying to teach the reader, not so much about Edison, but about the work that he did and the importance of making society better for all individuals involved. By living the concepts in the book, individuals who are dealing with business or personal difficulties would likely be able to turn many of these around and correct them to the point that they would learn how to handle future issues proactively instead of reactively.
Even Edison spent some years not doing a lot before he began to invent things and realized the contribution that he was capable of making. This is one of the key points that Melosi makes and it is of vital importance that anyone who reads the book understands that reacting to things does not make good sense. One must be proactive as often as possible. There are times when simply reacting cannot be avoided because of something sudden, but in general it is much easier to discover future trends and deal with them before they actually get started, rather than attempt to react to them in the future. This is called being a visionary, and it is something that Edison did very well, as Melosi points out.

Bibliography

Melosi, Martin V. (1990). Thomas a. Edison and the Modernization of America. Glenview, Illinois: Scott, Foresman/Little, Brown Higher Education.