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Where Good Ideas Come from: The Natural History of Innovation

by Steven Johnson

Where Good Ideas Come from: The Natural History of Innovation Cover

ISBN13: 9781594487712
ISBN10: 1594487715
Condition: Standard
Dustjacket: Standard
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Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

One of our most innovative, popular thinkers takes on-in exhilarating style-one of our key questions: Where do good ideas come from?

With Where Good Ideas Come From, Steven Johnson pairs the insight of his bestselling Everything Bad Is Good for You and the dazzling erudition of The Ghost Map and The Invention of Air to address an urgent and universal question: What sparks the flash of brilliance? How does groundbreaking innovation happen? Answering in his infectious, culturally omnivorous style, using his fluency in fields from neurobiology to popular culture, Johnson provides the complete, exciting, and encouraging story of how we generate the ideas that push our careers, our lives, our society, and our culture forward.

Beginning with Charles Darwin's first encounter with the teeming ecosystem of the coral reef and drawing connections to the intellectual hyperproductivity of modern megacities and to the instant success of YouTube, Johnson shows us that the question we need to ask is, What kind of environment fosters the development of good ideas? His answers are never less than revelatory, convincing, and inspiring as Johnson identifies the seven key principles to the genesis of such ideas, and traces them across time and disciplines.

Most exhilarating is Johnson's conclusion that with today's tools and environment, radical innovation is extraordinarily accessible to those who know how to cultivate it. Where Good Ideas Come From is essential reading for anyone who wants to know how to come up with tomorrow's great ideas.

Review:

"Johnson--writer, Web guru, and bestselling author of Everything Bad Is Good for You--delivers a sweeping look at innovation spanning nearly the whole of human history. What sparks our great ideas? Johnson breaks down the cultural, biological, and environmental fuel into seven broad 'patterns,' each packed with diverse, at times almost disjointed anecdotes that Johnson synthesizes into a recipe for success. A section on 'slow hunches' captivates, taking readers from the FBI's work on 9/11 to Google's development of Google News. A section on error takes us through a litany of accidental innovations, including the one that eventually led to the invention of the computer. 'Being right keeps you in place,' Johnson reminds us. 'eing wrong forces us to explore.' It's eye-opening stuff--although it does require an investment from the reader. But as fans of the author's previous work know, an investment in Johnson pays off, and those who stick with the author as he meanders through an occasional intellectual digression will come away enlightened and entertained, and with something perhaps even more useful--how to recognize the conditions that could spark their own creativity and innovation. Another mind-opening work from the author of Mind Wide Open. (Oct.)" Publishers Weekly (Copyright PWyxz LLC)

Synopsis:

Johnson addresses an urgent and universal question: What sparks the flash of brilliance? How does groundbreaking innovation happen? He provides the complete, exciting, and encouraging story of how the ideas are born that push careers, lives, society, and culture forward.

Video

About the Author

Steven Johnson is the author of the national bestsellers Everything Bad Is Good for You and Mind Wide Open: Your Brain and the Neuroscience of Everyday Life, as well as Emergence: The Connected Lives of Ants, Brains, Cities, and Software and Interface Culture: How New Technology Transforms the Way We Create and Communicate.

What Our Readers Are Saying

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Average customer rating based on 3 comments:

MShalev, January 1, 2011 (view all comments by MShalev)
This is a well-written and interesting book on an important topic. While the author has stated the question and defined one approach to answering it,the answer is far from complete. The author has focused on the 'nurture' side of the phenomenon of innovation; for sure that is key to an understanding of how to setup an environment which incubates innovation. But the 'nature' side of innovation has not been sufficiently explored. In a way innovation and why some individuals are 'naturally' innovative, even in circumstances which suppress innovation, will remain somewhat of a mystery. Hopefully this author, and others, will produce follow-on volumes, further developing some of the themes of this book and adding additional insights to this important topic.
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Brad Berens, January 1, 2011 (view all comments by Brad Berens)
This is a remarkable book by a remarkable thinker-- I enjoyed it so much that I invited Steven to give a keynote address at ad:tech New York in November of 2010, and I've continued to think about "Where Good Ideas Come From" ever since. In particular, his notion of the "slow hunch." It's easy to get a sense of the book's argument by looking at the four minute animation at www.stevenberlinjohnson.com or his TED talk at TED.com... then go buy it at Powell's. I did!

Sincerely,
Brad Berens
www.bradberens.com
Was this comment helpful? | Yes | No
Alexi, October 5, 2010 (view all comments by Alexi)
I have a hunch that this will be a good lecture. Feel free to collide with my hunch and go to the event at the Bagdad Theater this Friday.
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View all 3 comments

Product Details

ISBN:
9781594487712
Author:
Johnson, Steven
Publisher:
Riverhead Books
Subject:
History
Subject:
Motivational
Subject:
General
Subject:
Social history
Subject:
Creative Ability
Subject:
History of Science-General
Copyright:
Edition Description:
B-Hardcover
Publication Date:
20101031
Binding:
HARDCOVER
Grade Level:
from 12
Language:
English
Pages:
336
Dimensions:
9.32 x 6.36 x 1.13 in 1.18 lb
Age Level:
18-17

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Where Good Ideas Come from: The Natural History of Innovation Used Hardcover
0 stars - 0 reviews
$15.95 In Stock
Product details 336 pages Riverhead Hardcover - English 9781594487712 Reviews:
"Publishers Weekly Review" by , "Johnson--writer, Web guru, and bestselling author of Everything Bad Is Good for You--delivers a sweeping look at innovation spanning nearly the whole of human history. What sparks our great ideas? Johnson breaks down the cultural, biological, and environmental fuel into seven broad 'patterns,' each packed with diverse, at times almost disjointed anecdotes that Johnson synthesizes into a recipe for success. A section on 'slow hunches' captivates, taking readers from the FBI's work on 9/11 to Google's development of Google News. A section on error takes us through a litany of accidental innovations, including the one that eventually led to the invention of the computer. 'Being right keeps you in place,' Johnson reminds us. 'eing wrong forces us to explore.' It's eye-opening stuff--although it does require an investment from the reader. But as fans of the author's previous work know, an investment in Johnson pays off, and those who stick with the author as he meanders through an occasional intellectual digression will come away enlightened and entertained, and with something perhaps even more useful--how to recognize the conditions that could spark their own creativity and innovation. Another mind-opening work from the author of Mind Wide Open. (Oct.)" Publishers Weekly (Copyright PWyxz LLC)
"Synopsis" by , Johnson addresses an urgent and universal question: What sparks the flash of brilliance? How does groundbreaking innovation happen? He provides the complete, exciting, and encouraging story of how the ideas are born that push careers, lives, society, and culture forward.
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