The 3M Story by Virginia Huck

I was in Omaha for a wedding and naturally found myself at used book store. The store was going out of business and for some reason the owners had greatly reduced all MN themed books. I couldn't pass on the opportunity to expand my MN history library, so I purchased this book on the history of 3M. The book was written in 1955 causing it to be a bit out of date. Despite that, it gave a good background on the beginnings of the company. 3M started out as a sandpaper manufacturer. The initial investors thought they could make great sandpaper from some corrundum in Two Harbors, MN. Being quite intelligent, these founders never thought of testing to see if the rocks would work for making sandpaper. Instead, they built a very expensive plant and got greatly in debt. When they finally started producing sandpaper, they realized all their rock was useless. For the first decade or two of its existence, 3M was one of the worst managed companies of all kind. It didn't go into bankruptcy because the initial investors were too embarassed to admit their stupidity. They would lie to other investors and sell just about the worst quality products to its customers. 3M finally made it when they learned to make sandpaper waterproof. Since that day, they've done a pretty good job at being innovative. Because I'm addicted to MN history, I obviously liked this book. It does get a little dry at times when the author talks about different sandpapers or rocks used to make shingles, but if you are a geologist, give it a shot.

Completed June 2007