I first came across Steven Johnson five or six years ago, via Everything Bad is Good for You. At the time, I was considering switching careers—I wanted to make videogames—so Everything Bad resonated very personally with me. I also loved the straightforward writing and the cross-disciplinary ideas in the book, which led me to read several more of Johnson’s books: Ghost Map and Invention of Air. Both of those books lived up to my high expectations, so I have been eagerly awaiting the next Steven Johnson book for some time now.
Where Good Ideas Come From
is Johnson’s examination of great ideas—which he broadly defines to include human inventions and natural inventions—how they originate and how we can generate more of them.
The book begins with Charles Darwin studying a coral reef. Johnson describes the reef as an engine of innovation. He then goes on to describe two other major engines of innovation: cities and the Web. All three of these examples (and others) recur throughout the book. Johnson then lays out the basic structure of the book: seven patterns govern the invention and adoption of good ideas. The book devotes a single chapter to each of the patterns. Within each chapter, Johnson applies the pattern to all kinds of ideas from the tiny coral polyps up to the global Web.
Each of the seven patterns is highlighted by entertaining anecdotes from science or history. These anecdotes are well selected and well told—Johnson is an excellent storyteller—and they do a good job of explaining material that could otherwise be very abstract. I enjoyed the style—jumping from topic to topic—even more than the in-depth look at a single man presented in Ghost Map or Invention of Air. Because Johnson has such a broad base of knowledge, he is at his best when sampling the most interesting bits from a full range of scientific disciplines and historical periods.
Each chapter also contains prescriptions for how the chapter’s pattern can be applied to a business, an individual, or a nation. Because of these direct applications, Good Ideas often reads like a cross between a popular science book and a business book. The combination works well, and Good Ideas will likely stimulate its readers to some good ideas of their own.
I highly recommend this book to anyone who is looking for ways to stimulate more good ideas in their business or in their personal life, or to anyone who enjoys tales of invention and entertaining science anecdotes.
Where Good Ideas Come From: The Natural History of Innovation will be released on October 5th, 2010.
