This work offers a summary of the book “CODE NAME GINGER: The Story Behind Segway and Dean Kamen’s Quest to Invent a New World” by Steve Kemper.

This is the story of Dean Kamen, who as a child found school so boring that he took a playful interest in electronics, a hobby that had him earning $60,000 a year before setting foot in college. Upon his brother’s recommendation Dean came up with a device to monitor hospital IVs automatically without the constant attention of nurses. This was amongst the first of many successes for Dean, who went on to found his own R&D Company called DEKA. His success is due in part to genius in part to an insightful and humble framework of philosophies and truisms - “Don’t solve the solution. Solve the problem”, “Be a systems integrator” (rather than an inventor!), and “Good artists borrow. Great artists steal” (a line ironically stolen from Picasso). DEKA’s most ground-breaking work was in the improvement of wheelchair design, creating a smoother movement over street curbs and pavements. His dedicated team created two new models – Fred (inspired by the dance moves Fred Astaire), and eventually, following some further technological developments they created Ginger, the real thing.
This stirring story describes how one truly creative and innovative individual, persevered against the odds to make a small pipe dream grow into a reality – a project with funding, research, marketing and incredible press. When Ginger was finally launched it caused a great commotion and changed the lives of wheelchair users forever. The Segway Human Transporter as it is now known, possesses a unique technology which makes the world a better place – a wonderful ending to a deeply moving and inspiring story.