Where Good Ideas Come From

The Natural History of Innovation

By: Steven Johnson

Narrated by: Eric Singer

Length: 7 hrs and 10 mins

Publisher's summary

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 best-selling 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.

©2010 Steven Johnson (P)2010 Penguin Audio

Best Writer on Creativity

Johnson always has a solid grasp on how the creative process actually works rather than some academic's idealized fantasy of the power of muses and magical thinking

Good stories about good ideas

Good stories about good ideas. Johnson devotes a chapter each of a set of seven qualities of innovation, and for the most part it all makes a lot of sense and is well said. People have already said a lot of it before, though, and sometimes Johnson's new terminology is rebranding an old idea. When Johnson coins a new idiom I think he's well-intentioned and trying to update a previous idea with a modern conception, so it's not negligent per se, but perhaps unnecessary.

The book goes into the inception and adoption of good ideas as told through a slew of Johnson's science history anecdotes (this reminded me of Bill Bryson's A Short History of Nearly Everything) and the reader gets a sense of the slow rise of an idea, in a mind or a larger network of minds, from unseen depths before the "Eureka!" when it splashes through the surface into the public spotlight. Johnson explains this as "The Slow Hunch" to contradict a widespread misconception that solo genius drives the bulk of progress (not unlike the thrust of Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers). A particularly interesting bit addresses a topic that's getting more attention lately, power laws for cities, which display better-than-expected innovation (as measured by patent density, e.g.) among other peculiarly powerful trends.

I was hoping that Johnson would build his seven broad patterns into a platform for a compelling conclusion, but instead Johnson is content to leave it as a platform and concludes with a summary of how to think about the individual struts of the framework rather than explicit theorizing on what his framework might support. I can't say I wouldn't have hesitated too were I in Johnson's journalistic shoes, but I can't help but think it a bit sheepish given the provocative nature of the build-up. He doesn't go far enough to succinctly answer the question behind the book's title.

A worthwhile listen despite its faults! I do think it could be better read by the author, but that's only a hypothetical.

real eye opener

this book makes you rethink your relationship with creativity your environment and how thoughts become reality

Gran aprendizaje

Excelente para romper los mitos de la innovación y su impacto en la sociedad moderna.

Very Interesting

By just the title, I had envisioned a business book. However, this was more pop science and history. This is great if you are interested in learning about Darwin's exploits, but probably less so if you want a self help book.

Good Ideas create more good ideas

What did you love best about Where Good Ideas Come From?

The ideas that good ideas come from a crises, confusion, failure, an d from the use of one idea being used in an entirely different way in another area. How one sphere of activity can change another in very radical ways. Like wine making in Germany gives birth to the movable type printing press.

Have you listened to any of Eric Singer’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

No

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Just smile at how obviouse and simple the conclusions often were.

Any additional comments?

No

Way too long

Good information and thought-provoking, but this book could be reduced to 3 to 4 chapters.

Great book awful narrator

Many times I wanted to stop listening because of the hideous faked accents every time the author cites a person from a different region or country.

Best Book Ever!!!

Would you listen to Where Good Ideas Come From again? Why?

This book was so good that I have already listened to it twice and I bought a paper copy of it. I wanted to listen again because some of the points that were made were so important that I wanted to be sure that I absorbed them completely (the adjacent possible, liquid networks, intellectual property, the history of innovation...)

What other book might you compare Where Good Ideas Come From to and why?

I would compare this book to Tipping Point by Gladwell because it offers a new way of looking at something and the book brings together many disparate concepts in a way that helps the reader to make sense of innovation and what can be done when we tap into our innovations.

What does Eric Singer bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Eric Singer has a great voice and he reads clearly and at a great pace. He really draws you into the story.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

I was fortunate to be driving from San Diego to San Luis Obispo so I was able to listen to whole way there and then I listened on the say back. In fact, I was so into the book that I got a speeding ticket along the way....

Any additional comments?

Thank you for writing this book! I bought copies for my three work partners and they have already listened to and read the book.

Great concepts

Interesting way to look at the development of ideas. The premise of having the adjacent possible be the way in which things become possible or open up is interesting.

I have heard similar things from other authors. The point is that sometimes you’re too far ahead your time to fully realize an ideas potential.

The reason I gave it a 3 out of 5 star was for not stating every side of the argument of evolution. As it stands there has never been any observable evidence that one thing has ever transformed into another thing. That is because there is no real adjacent possible potential for a alligator to form feathers and become a bird.

That is the main issue I have with the book. It’s pretty good otherwise.