Where Good Ideas Come From
The Natural History of Innovation
by Steven Johnson
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More Recommenders
“On the List of my favorite books. | Quite good at giving examples of how you create environments that can encourage good ideas. | The connections Johnson makes are brilliant. For instance, The Gutenberg Press (which, in itself, was invented because of improvements in sewing looms), made everyone realize they had bad vision. So the science of lenses was created. So microscopes were eventually created. So germs were eventually discovered. So modern medical science was discovered. And so on. Johnson is a thinker and a linker and tells a good story.”
Source →“On the List of my favorite books. | Quite good at giving examples of how you create environments that can encourage good ideas. | The connections Johnson makes are brilliant. For instance, The Gutenberg Press (which, in itself, was invented because of improvements in sewing looms), made everyone realize they had bad vision. So the science of lenses was created. So microscopes were eventually created. So germs were eventually discovered. So modern medical science was discovered. And so on. Johnson is a thinker and a linker and tells a good story.”
Source →“On the List of my favorite books. | Quite good at giving examples of how you create environments that can encourage good ideas. | The connections Johnson makes are brilliant. For instance, The Gutenberg Press (which, in itself, was invented because of improvements in sewing looms), made everyone realize they had bad vision. So the science of lenses was created. So microscopes were eventually created. So germs were eventually discovered. So modern medical science was discovered. And so on. Johnson is a thinker and a linker and tells a good story.”
Source →Recommended by 5 notable people, including Bill Gates and James Altucher
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Should I read this?
Recommended by 9 sources and appears in Most Recommended Books, Psychology, and Business.
A fascinating deep dive on innovation from the New York Times bestselling author of How We Got To Now and FarsightedThe printing press, the pencil, the flush toilet, the batterythese are all great ideas. But where do they come from What kind of environment breeds them What sparks the flash of brilliance How do we generate the breakthrough tech...
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Why recommended
Recommended by 9 sources and appears in Most Recommended Books, Psychology, and Business.
Recommended by notable people
People and public figures who have recommended this book.
Recommendation Signals
Recommendation proof is sourced from public posts, interviews, reading lists, and cited references.
Jason Silva
“On the List of my favorite books. | Quite good at giving examples of how you create environments that can encourage good ideas. | The connections Johnson makes are brilliant. For instance, The Gutenberg Press (which, in itself, was invented because of improvements in sewing looms), made everyone realize they had bad vision. So the science of lenses was created. So microscopes were eventually created. So germs were eventually discovered. So modern medical science was discovered. And so on. Johnson is a thinker and a linker and tells a good story.”
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Not sure if this is the right fit?
Consider The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse by Charlie Mackesy. Recommended by 8 sources.
“Soft-spoken, heavily illustrated fable built from short dialogues and watercolor sketches. Each spread pairs a spare line of text with a loose drawing, so the pleasure is visual and aphoristic rather than narrative; readers collect felt-true sentences more than plot. Most useful when you want quick consolations, a prompt for conversation with a child, or a pause during a rough day. Limiting if you want sustained argument, concrete advice, or tightly plotted storytelling: the repetition of gentleness can feel sentimental or thin after a while.”
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Each recommendation is collected from a public source — interviews, articles, or curated lists — and linked to its original URL. Books with many verifiable recommendations from respected people rank higher.
Where Good Ideas Come From
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