Birth of The Transistor: A video history of Japan's electronic industry. (Part 1)

I wouldn't call it the best documentary, but I think people here will like it, it's a 4 part documentary: "A Video History of Japan's Electronic Industry" I. Birth of the transformer: link to this video II. Circuits in stone: link III. Calculator wars: link IV. Tech Giant: link

This is bad read on the history of innovation. I offer two counter-examples, though there are many more: (1) Japanese semiconductor industry, for which there is an excellent NHK documentary 1. (2) After WW2, the British invited Soviet engineers to tour jet engine factories as a token of good faith. The engineers documented the factory layout, and wore adhesive on their shoes to gather metal filings for later analysis. A few years later, Mig-15's were shooting American planes out of the sky over Korea. A similar example: the British transferred huge bodies of knowledge to US aircraft engine manufacturers during WW2. This laid the foundation for the industry's future success. 1 link to this video

There is a four-part documentary I saw on YouTube that went into much more (fascinating) detail. Part 1: link to this video Part 2: link Part 3: link Part 4: link