By Steve Johnson, published 2010

Who hasn’t wondered: where the heck, are good ideas coming from? Are the people bringing to the world new and grand ideas really that much smarter than the rest of us ‘normal’ folks? Turns out, they aren’t. Well, they may be a lot smarter, but at least that’s not the (only) reason why they got the spark. Actually the cartoonish ‘light bulb moment’ seems indeed very far from most actual good ideas’ manifestation into the world. Serendipity and spaces where opinions and concepts can collide and be enhanced by each other, cafes and labs where collaboration and conversation is paramount bring out the best ideas. It takes time to germinate, it takes a fertile brain and environment as well as many nutrients (interactions with the world) to grow a breakthrough.

While this book wasn’t transformative to me, it brought forth many concepts that were dormant in my conception of the formation of ideas as well as how to stimulate it. Enjoyable audio-book on Audible, time passed fast.

4/5