Professional Amateur: The Biography of Charles Franklin Kettering
, subject: Charles F. Kettering biography; invention, engineering, Delco, General Motors, 1957
Thomas Boyd’s 1957 biography of Charles Kettering was titled Professional Amateur, a phrase that captures how Kettering approached his work.
About the book
Boyd takes the title from Kettering's own remark that researchers are amateurs because they are doing things for the first time and professionals because they expect trouble. The biography follows him through an Ohio farm boyhood, schoolteaching, Ohio State, National Cash Register, the electric self-starter and his years heading research at General Motors.
Why read it
Best if you want a biography built around one question: how Charles Kettering’s approach to his work came to fit the description Professional Amateur.
Key themes
- A title that describes the man
- An approach shown through a life
Evidence and original sources
Sources: official Founders episodes — #125, #189
This record is supported by 4 public evidence rows linked to original Founders episodes.
- Charles Kettering (inventor, engineer, founder) — This episode is a dedicated biography of Charles F. Kettering, drawn from Thomas Boyd's 1957 biography originally titled Professional Amateur.
- David Ogilvy (The book I've given as a gift the most) — David identifies Professional Amateur as Founders episode 125.