Where Good Ideas Come From: The Natural History Of Innovation (2010) - Plot & Excerpts
I really enjoyed this book. Johnson spins an intricate web of Gladwell-esque narrative proportion, but without making it so easy to read that one becomes bored. Most of the ideas put forth are excellent, though there are a couple that could be considered somewhat redundant. The concepts of liquid networks, the adjacent possible, and exaptation are all intriguing and very intuitive. Luckily, it's not a dumbed-down self-help book; it simply presents patterns that assist in the creation and application of world-changing ideas. Overall a stimulating read for anyone who is interested in historical perspectives on innovation and/or is boredly interested by Malcolm Gladwell's books. This was an ordinary and actually a boring book. I paused couple of times while reading it and checked the title to make sure that I am not reading a book about evolution ! Nothing is related to the core topic. The author is so vague with choosing his chapter's titles. The only thing that I got out of this book is that innovate ideas needs a good environment to enrich and grow. Innovate ideas are subjected to vanishment if they don't come in the appropriate time. For instance, there is no point of thinking about inventing T.V when you know nothing about electricity! In other words, ideas are like a landscape that you observe from a building under-construction. Each time the building gets higher you view new sights that you didn't know they existed before. Moreover, Ideas emerge from the overlapping of different ideas and information that may seem unrelated. Ideas as well may emerge by accident or unexpectedly and that what the author calls "serendipity" . Finally no good ideas come without making mistakes! You should make a lot of mistakes before you actually reach that fabulous, creative idea
What do You think about Where Good Ideas Come From: The Natural History Of Innovation (2010)?
An incredibly well-crafted and extensively researched treatise on the subject of innovation.
—steph
Steven Johnson's work has helped me understand the causes of innovative solutions.
—ronnieroo2
A good dig into the main qualities of generative communities. Some decent insight.
—Zoe
