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About Where Good Ideas Come From Book
A fascinating deep dive on innovation from theĀ New York TimesĀ bestselling author ofĀ How We Got To NowĀ andĀ Unexpected Life
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.
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Both evolution and innovation thrive in collaborative networks where opportunities for serendipitous connections exist. Great discoveries often evolve as slow hunches, maturing and connecting to other ideas over time.
Good ideas do not ā for the most part ā come from inside someoneās head. Instead, they come from outside ā specifically from social interaction.
A study conducted in leading research laboratories found that scientists rarely, if ever, had a flash of inspiration or eureka moment alone in the lab. Instead, ideas happen in conversation with colleagues. So want a great idea? Then go to a coffee house and talk with someone.
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Good ideas don't come from thoughts or visions. Instead, they come from stuff.
Every great idea is a combination or mutation of an idea that has already been brought to life. Ideas brought to life in products that are already out there are the building blocks of innovation ā not thoughts.
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Good ideas do not come from looking forward or back, rather they come from looking left and right, to what is adjacent to us. Tomorrowās great innovations are built from the stuff of today ā specifically from the things around us that can be combined into something new.
The strange and beautiful truth about the adjacent possible is that its boundaries grow as you explore them. Each new combination opens up the possibility of other new combinations.
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New ideas are just the reuse of old parts into a different combination
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