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Rossman had training as a chemical engineer, is a lawyer, and has a doctorate in psychology. He proves also to be a lucid writer with a style that readily captures the reader's interest.
The material for this book was collected over thirty years ago. Questionnaires were sent to five hundred patent attorneys, and inventors were questioned directly. There are some references to compendiums of recent literature on the attitudes of creative persons, but the basic bibliography is unchanged, the most recent article having been published in 1931. There are no psychoanalytic references.
The study is confined to inventors of devices who have obtained patents. The author believes that if one understands the creative process it may be possible 'to stimulate and develop it'. However, he makes no distinction between invention and the creativity that is not limited to a tangible product. The psychic apparatus of the creative scientist or artist is not necessarily identical with that of the inventor; the interaction of various ego systems may be different from those of the inventor. In fact, the study of scientists often reveals an antithesis between creative fervor and an interest in gadgets. While all invention cannot be equated with gadgeteering, the inventor's interest in a mechanical contrivance is dominant, and this must reflect a significant difference between the ego processes of the inventor and the creative scientist.
The method of investigation used here leads, as one might anticipate, to brief 'profiles' and subjective appraisals. There are many anecdotes about inventors that dwell upon their attitudes about their work, describing as well their idiosyncrasies. From these, the author concludes that first there is the recognition of a need and the formulation of a problem. After all existing techniques of solution have been exhausted, inspiration supervenes. Such conclusions are followed by statistical information that has no bearing on the general discussio