PROPHET OF PROGRESS

Here are selections from the speeches (mostly impromptu) of Charles F. Kettering which he delivered during his lifetime to all sorts of groups -- graduates, scientific societies, business associations, etc. (and some inclusions from his writings) and although the subjects are varied there is a continuum in his faith in America, in man and in the future. He talks of inventions, industrial organization, engineering, theory which is ignored by accomplishments, mass production, railroads and diesel engines, aviation, social progress, the automobile business, science, and why the grass is green. And all his subjects revolve around the facts that ""we haven't done very much yet, and we have a lot of things to do"", and that there are possibilities unlimited in research. A pioneer himself in the search for new knowledge, his exhortations are direct and lively; his belief that ""new things always come in with prejudice"" and are the results of hundreds of failures is often underlined; his maxims, listed at the end, forcibly review his concepts. This is a companion to the earlier (1957) Professional Amateur, Kettering's biography by the same author. A booster-upper in business and educational areas.