Since ancient times, people have believed that breakthrough ideas come from the brains of geniuses with awesome rational powers. In recent years, however, the paradigm has begun to shift toward the notion that the source of creativity lies “out there,” in the network of connections between people and ideas.
In this provocative book, Richard Ogle crystallizes the nature of this shift, and boldly outlines “a new science of ideas.” The key resides in what he calls “idea-spaces,” a set of nodes in a network of people (and their ideas) that cohere and take on a distinctive set of characteristics leading to the generation of breakthrough ideas. These spaces are governed by nine laws--illuminated in individual chapters with fascinating stories of dramatic breakthroughs in science, business, and art.
Smart World will change forever the way we think about creativity and innovation.
WHAT DO jazz musician Dave Brubeck, Apple's Steve Jobs, Mattel's Ruth
Handler, and architect Frank Gehry all have in common? They are credited
with some of the most inventive accomplishments of the past half-century -
the classic jazz album Time Out, the ipod, Barbie and Spain's spectacular
Guggenheim Museum.Yet their creative leaps all came about different. They
each combined their individual imaginative intelligence with unique
networks of ideas that lay outside their own minds to reach true
breakthroughs in their fields.
Clearly, not all brilliant innovations originate only from the minds of
individual geniuses. On the contrary, our world is made up of intelligent
networked spaces that, if we navigate them skillfully, can lead us to
generate unprecedented ideas.
Welcome to Smart World. In this provocative book, Richard Ogle argues that
creative breakthroughs are born when individuals and groups access new
idea-spaces and exploit the principles that govern them Boldly outlining a
new science of ideas he sets out nine laws- including "hotspots," "the fit
get fitter," and "small- world networks" - that govern idea-spaces. And he
illuminates each law with fascinating stories of dramatic breakthroughs in
science, business, and art.
For example, you'll discover:
What sparked Picasso's creation of the seminal painting that heralded
cubism.
Where Ruth Handler got the idea for Barbie and why it turned the doll
business upside down.
How Frank Gerhy set the world of architecture a new path
How "supersizing" portions came about and why it permanently change the
fast food industry.
Why Crick and Watson, two rank outsiders solved the enigma off DNA when
Linus Pauling couldn't. Anyone interested in how creative leaps occur -
primarily in business, but also in science, technology and the arts - will
value this book as will those interested in how human imagination and
intuition and insight really operate Insightful and compelling, Smart World
will forever transform the way we think about creativity and innovation.
