As a person who enjoys movie and technologies in audio-video entertainment, I really enjoyed this historical overview by Scott Kirsner.

The main thread of his storytelling is the struggles between the innovators and the “preservationists” (or “status quo”), and mostly focused on the triumphs on the innovators’ part. And I think that was the only gripes I have about the book.

That is, not all innovations make technical and economical sense. When a technical innovation works out, it usually has been around for a long time and almost always something other than its technical merits made it win over the doubters. I don’t think this book was explaining those triggering ideas and I think that could be a bit misleading.

Other than that, as an interesting overview of 150 or so years of movie industry innovations, I thoroughly enjoyed it.