a book
Where Good Ideas Come From
Steven Johnson · 2010 · 352 pages
The printing press, the pencil, the flush toilet, the battery--these are all great ideas. But where do they come from? What kind of environment breeds them? What sparks the flash of brilliance? How do we generate the breakthrough technologies that push forward our lives, our society, our culture? Steven Johnson's answers are revelatory as he identifies the seven key patterns behind genuine innovation, and traces them across time and disciplines. From Darwin and Freud to the halls of Google and Apple, Johnson investigates the innovation hubs throughout modern time and pulls out the approaches and commonalities that seem to appear at moments of originality.
recommended by 10 people
sourced from public statements
Andrej Karpathy
“There are really only two core ideas in this book: 1. That innovations are best modeled as ideas having sex, in the sense that they don't pop into existence but instead each idea is formed by the process of mixing elements from previous ideas (recombination), or slightly improving on an aspect of the idea (mutation). This view makes all of our innovations look similar to intellectual animals, with their own family trees. And 2. That these innovations don't happen in sudden eureka moments inside the mind of one person, but instead happen over time through "slow hunches" that incubate inside an obsessed mind, while that mind is engaged in liquid networks of other minds. These two core tenants are supported with several briefly-discussed fun historical examples. However, I think the book could have been slightly shorter, it rambles a bit and stretches some assertions a bit, but overall it gives some food for thought. 3/5.”
Bill Gates
“Quite good at giving examples of how you create environments that can encourage good ideas.”↗
Jason Silva
“On the List of my favorite books.”↗
Josh Olin
“@Michaelross1141 @wykle_g @bertkreischer I can’t keep saying it in slightly differently ways I’m afraid. Asked and answered. But yeah, I can’t recommend this book enough so will just say it one last time. It will reveal a *lot* of fascinating things about the genesis of innovation, even down to biology. Read it ❤️🤟”↗
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