Where Good Ideas Come From

Let me just start by saying Steven Johnson is one of my favorite authors. I fell in love with his writing when I first read Mind Wide Open (a book about the neuroscience of every day life) and I have read that book several times since. He has a way of talking to you like he is sitting in front of you having a conversation, not talking AT you or trying to sound like he knows more than he does. It’s really awesome.

Anyway this book I just finished, Where Good Ideas Come From, was a really great read. I finished it in about a week. It talks about his theory on where most of the best ideas/inventions come from (open source as opposed to being secretive) and how they are formed. He talks about what some of the great inventors of the last 200 years had in common (they hung out in coffeehouses or commons and talked with a varied amount of kinds of people instead of a tight-knit group, and they tended to have a lot of hobbies and varied interests in different studies.) He talked about how most great ideas are not eureka moments but slow hunches that take a long time to develop and conjure. It really is fascinating how he pulls all these ideas together. In fact it really has given me a swift kick in the ass to be more active. Be more active in pursuing all of my interests, and instead of reading in bed or on the couch to go read at a Starbucks, to take lots of walks, and write down more of my thoughts and ideas. To be ok with not getting it right all the time and to absolutely revel in all the serendipitous moments in my life. Like I said, its a great read, and I highly recommend it to those interested in where good ideas come from and potentially interested in having some of their own.

Two favorite quotes:
“Chance favors the connected mind.”

“‘Perhaps the history of the errors of mankind, all things considered, is more valuable and interesting than that of their discoveries. Truth is uniform and narrow; it constantly exists, and does not seem to require so much an active energy, as a passive aptitude of soul in order to encounter it. But error is endlessly diversified.’ - Benjamin Franklin”