A journey inside the minds that build the world.

Dubai’s Burj Khalifa-the world’s tallest building-looks nothing beats Microsoft’s Office Collection, and digital surround sound doesn’t work like a citywide telecommunication grid. Yet these anatomist feats have very much in common.

Applied Minds explores the initial visions and mental tools of engineers to reveal the enormous-and often understated-influence they wield in transforming problems into opportunities. The ensuing account pairs the about Applied Minds: How Technicians Think innovators of contemporary history-Thomas Edison, the Wright brothers, Steve Jobs-with everything from ATMs and the ZIP code system to the throw-away diaper.

An engineer himself, Master Madhavan introduces a flexible intellectual device package called modular systems thinking as he explains the discipline’s penchant for seeing structure where there is none. The creations that result from this process exhibit the engineer’s answers to the fundamental questions of style: usefulness, functionality, reliability, and ease of use.

Through narratives and case studies spanning the excellent history of executive, Madhavan shows the way the concepts of prototyping, efficiency, reliability, standards, optimization, and feedback are put to use in areas as varied as transportation, retail, healthcare, and entertainment.

Equal parts personal, practical, and serious, Applied Minds charts a path to another where we apply strategies borrowed from anatomist to generate useful and inspired answers to our most pressing challenges.