Tending to Our Fire

What The Deep History of Human Innovation Tells Us About Ourselves

A journey through the sociology of creativity and innovation, from ancient firekeepers to modern systems thinkers.

What if the blueprint for breakthrough innovation has been burning quietly for a million years?

Not in boardrooms or tech hubs, but around ancient fires tended with care, curiosity, and collective purpose.
Tending to Our Fire is a groundbreaking fusion of story and science that reclaims humanity’s oldest innovation system: fire. Through the journey of Ayo Malu, a synthetic biologist drawn into a mystery older than she expected, this narrative non-fiction work uncovers what our ancestors knew, and what we’ve forgotten, about sustaining creativity across generations.

Blending vivid storytelling with cutting-edge research in archaeology, neuroscience, and systems thinking, this book reveals:

• Why the most important innovations start with a twitch—a felt signal most people ignore
• How ancient humans transformed fire into the first true innovation platform
• The cultural conditions that keep creativity alive—or extinguish it
• How modern leaders can reclaim ancestral tools for navigating complexity
• A new model of innovation: the Dual Loop Architecture, rooted in care, curiosity, and regeneration

This is not just a book about innovation. It’s a guide to becoming the kind of ancestor our future needs.
Perfect for readers of Sapiens, Braiding Sweetgrass, and The Art of Possibility, Tending to Our Fire speaks to visionary leaders, creative catalysts, and anyone who senses the world is ready for a different way forward.