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Steven Johnson

Where Good Ideas Come From: The Natural History of Innovation Hardcover – October 5, 2010

by Steven Johnson (Author)

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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.

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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

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.) (c)
Copyright © PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

The figure of the lone genius may captivate us, but we intuit that such geniuses’ creations don’t materialize in a vacuum. Johnson supported the intuition in his biography of eighteenth-century scientist Joseph Priestly (The Invention of Air, 2009) and here explores it from different angles using sets of anecdotes from science and art that underscore some social or informational interaction by an inventor or artist. Assuring readers that he is not engaged in “intellectual tourism,” Johnson recurs to the real-world effects of individuals and organizations operating in a fertile information environment. Citing the development of the Internet and its profusion of applications such as Twitter, the author ascribes its success to “exaptation” and “stacked platforms.” By which he means that curious people used extant stuff or ideas to produce a new bricolage and did so because of their immersion in open networks. With his own lively application of stories about Darwin’s theory of atolls, the failure to thwart 9/11, and musician Miles Davis, Johnson connects with readers promoting hunches and serendipity in themselves and their organizations. --Gilbert Taylor

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Product details

Hardcover: 336 pages
Publisher: Riverhead Books; 1 edition (October 5, 2010)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 9781594487712
ISBN-13: 978-1594487712
ASIN: 1594487715
Product Dimensions: 6.2 x 1.1 x 9.3 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 201 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #152,330 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #114 in Books > Engineering & Transportation > Engineering > Reference > Patents & Inventions
- #199 in Books > Science & Math > Nature & Ecology > Natural History
- #235 in Books > Science & Math > Technology > Social Aspects

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Jack H

Great Read on the Nature of Creativity and Ideas

April 14, 2016

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

"Where Good Ideas come From" by Steven Johnson was given to me as a Christmas gift by someone who knows I love reading about how ideas originate and where common things we use today originated. It was not exactly what I expected, but still very good. It was less about individual case studies and more about ideas in general, and how a setting can effect ideas and implementation. A very interesting read and leaves you with a lot to take away from it. There is also an index of important inventions and when they were invented and by who in the back which was an interesting thing to look through as well.

Overall, the book was written at a very high level when it comes to Where Good Ideas Come From, which was an interesting approach with examples thrown in for good measure. I am very glad I received and read this book, even if it wasn't what I expected.

tl;dr An interesting read on the general nature of ideas, not case studies

7 people found this helpful

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Stanwell1840

key ideas go down well

October 6, 2015

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

As fluffy quasi-technical bestsellers go, this one was pretty good. Good enough, in fact, that after reading it I bought two additional copies which I used as thank you gifts in a professional setting. Pros: lovely meditative writing style, with lots of nature imagery. A small number of really good ideas about innovation, and many helpful examples. Cons: a little bit meta, a little bit strange. Specifically, he also discusses his own technique for managing a database of quotes and ideas; then you realize that the work itself is based on this collection, which accounts for some portions of the book that are a bit thin or lacking in through line. Or maybe more deeply explicated than what the point is worth. For some readers this might actually be a positive, an inspiration, a fresh or original element. Because I lean to denser, more technical works (George Eliot, anyone? (; ), to me it's a disadvantage. One ought to do better at hiding the machinations. It would be either a good beach read, for a technical person, or a striking source of inspiration, for a more artsy one. If you don't want to get it and read it, you could settle for looking up 'the adjacent possible'.

9 people found this helpful

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Jennifer

Not too bad...

October 8, 2017

Format: Audible AudiobookVerified Purchase

Almost finished with the book... maybe a chapter left. I was recommended this book during an entrepreneurship lecture series at my university. It really gave me some perspective as someone who wishes to get into the tech industry. I do agree with some of the other reviews, that this could have been summed up in a couple of pages. It also came across a bit dry during some of the chapters, but that may have been from the voice over (i bought the audible as I only have time to read while I drive... lol). However, I enjoyed hearing the anecdotal evidence and how he came to some of the conclusions for each chapter. If you are short on time, I recommend at least googling his TED talk or reading the main points of the book.

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Jim L. Battin

The Dynamics of Innovation

November 27, 2012

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

The book is about the history of innovation. Over 200 innovations from the last 600 hundred years are referenced in making the case that over time there are emerging patterns that describe how innovative ideas are created, transmitted, and reinvented in the future.

The lessons drawn from the past can be applied today and tomorrow. They include: 1) the notion that ideas are not a single thing, but more like a swarm, 2) good ideas are not conjured up out of thin air, but are built out of a collection of existing parts, the composition of which expands over time, 3) the way we collect, store, and use information can make us more creative and innovative, 4) pay attention to our hunches and cultivate them 5) pay attention to memories and dreams, they represent the creative chaos of our minds, 6) making mistakes forces us to explore, and 7) borrow, recycle, reinvent, and build upon the ideas of others.

The book reads more like a mystery as the author leads the reader through his analysis of events from the past. I particularly like the balanced view he provides. About the time you are ready to accept his premise, he challenges the very view that he has espoused. In that way, it is an energizing experience to follow his flow of thought. By the end of the book, it is ironic (or is it?) that he has immersed you into the very patterns that he described.

With the topic of innovation being so heavily in vogue today, I recommend this book to gain a fresh perspective from the annals of its history.

10 people found this helpful

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Jack Garvey

Another Home Run!

October 17, 2016

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

I purchased this book after enjoying his earlier work so much, "How we Got To Now." And it did not disappoint. The earlier book gave me a greater appreciation for all the everyday stuff we take for granted (steel, glass, concrete, etc) and this one showed the power of cross-fertilization in solving problems. Printing was already being used but Gutenberg's idea of implementing the wine press used in Germany took it to another level.

He is not shy in contrasting this shared knowledge with the "silo-building" of the FBI that continues to fail our country by isolating key information from other agencies like the CIA. I remember reading after 9/11 that the failures of sharing vital information of national security was to be fixed by the creation of Homeland Security. Then the bombing at the Boston Marathon occurs and the investigation shows "silo-building" was again in play between the the CIA and the FBI,

At least the folks in the private sector understand the value of creative thinking.

7 people found this helpful

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