Johnson uses his impressive knowledge of science history to paint an interesting picture of the nature of innovation. The anecdotes of discovery alone make this an engaging read, but Johnson's ability to connect them is what makes this book special.

"Good ideas... want to complete each other as much as they want to compete"

I recommend the book 'Where Good Ideas Come From' by Steven Johnson ( @stevenbjohnson on Twitter) to anyone interesting in the art, science, and history of innovation. He describes the innovation milestones that most books on this subject cover - the printing press, Darwin, the incubator... But more interestingly he breaks down the process of innovation into seven core enablers: understanding the next possible steps by considering the adjacent possible, how networks need to be ‘liquid’ (a gas is too chaotic, a solid too restrictive), cultivating slow hunches, the power of serendipity, why innovation needs errors to progress, exaptation (look it up, it explains a lot about how evolution seems to jump certain chasms), and the importance of the right platform in innovation.

More about the book at http://www.stevenberlinjohnson.com/2010/06/where-good-ideas-come-from.html

You can also watch a 4 minute summary at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NugRZGDbPFU or his 15 minute TED talk at: http://www.ted.com/talks/steven_johnson_where_good_ideas_come_from.html

4/5.

Extremely fascinating and insightful! It gave a lot of context and understanding to the mental process of innovation and "ideas". The first half was extremely interesting with all of the references and examples, but about 2/3rds of the way through, the examples became a little much and redundant at times. Overall a great read, and I am walking away from it with a new perspective on creativity.

I first became acquainted with Where Good Ideas Come From through Steven Johnson's TED talk, which I highly recommend if you've got a spare 17 minutes. In that talk -- and the book -- Johnson argues that most people are wrong when they imagine where new, innovative ideas come from. Many people have in their mind a lone scientist working in his lab, suddenly arriving at a "Eureka" moment, perhaps with a proverbial light bulb over their head. It's the apple falling on Isaac Newton, or Darwin developing the idea of the survival of the fittest while reading Malthus.

The only problem is that it's wrong.

Through this book, Johnson points out that most innovative ideas come not from the brilliant lightbulb moment of a lone genius but rather through slow hunches cultivated for months, years, or decades over liquid networks. One of the reasons why big cities are so much more innovative than small towns is that you have more diversity, more "spillover" of ideas, and more chance for the ideas to mingle around together. Ideas don't appear whole-cloth, but often develop slowly, as the scientist or inventor keeps them on the back burner while pursuing other interests. One day, perhaps, he encounters someone else with another "slow hunch," and they click and complete each other. Johnson points to other features that tend to nurture innovation, like making lots of mistakes and stealing ideas from other domains (the Gutenberg printing press relied on Rhineland wine-press technology).

If you like, you can read through this book as a guide to making your own life or your company more innovative. There are even a few guidelines: take lots of walks (to expose yourself to different stimuli), write everything down, expose yourself to different ideas and disciplines as much as you can, having diverse hobbies, let other people build upon your ideas. But even if you do none of these things, Where Good Ideas Come From is a fascinating look at how we got where we are, and is well worth the read.

I won this book from Goodreads, and asked our Manager of Innovation to comment on it:

"Unfamiliar with Johnson's previous books, I was ill-prepared for the density of his work. This current text probes the various methods in which innovations evolve, since contrary to popular belief they don't occur in a vacuum or eureka moments.

Based on his research, Johnson has broken innovation into seven segments of development; the adjacent possible, liquid networks, the slow hunch, serendipity, error, exaptation, and platforms. In each method, Johnson provided detailed theory and supporting examples about how ideas formed through the process.

While occasionally laborious for those unfamiliar with his scientific references, his insight into the environment of innovations builds in a similar fashion to his thoughts on liquid networks and the slow hunch. What he provides is his own primordial soup on how to best cultivate innovation. His emphasis is not a formula to garner success, but a suggestion of the pieces needed to provide the most fertile ground.

While his prose does not lend itself to sound bites, this book provides services focus and insight into a topic that challenges the business world and science alike and is a key to those who wish to champion any innovation initiative."

Johnson does a wonderful job of weaving together the tangled, complicated web of innovation and genius, taking many examples throughout history and breaking them down to strip away their “eureka!” moments and reveal their gradual, delicate, and complex formation. Inspiring and insightful and hopeful for whatever revolutions are percolating in our midst right now!

Johnson is always interesting, deeply thoughtful, and makes you consider something you've never considered before on a level you've never breached.

Loved this book!

Very unusually for the genre, I wish this book was twice as long. The big ideas are still strong today, and they were really forward-thinking when written in 2010. But they blur together in confusing ways, and the supporting arguments and implications aren't very developed. If you don't know much at all about the science of innovation, this is a good starting point, but if you've read some already there probably won't be much that's new here.

Ok, I'm marking this read because I'm 95% of the way through and completely lost interest.

If I hadn't put it down I probably would have liked it a lot more.

That being said, it did get my wheels turning and making connections with how brainstorming sessions work in my industry and when I've had particularly good ideas.