How We Got to Now
In doing so, the book picks up the narratives behind key innovations that have helped shape our current reality and, thereby, maps the trajectory of ideas and inventions across history. However, it underlines a nonlinear path of progress, showcasing how chance encounters, personal networks, and serendipity have been moving things forward. The development of the technologies that has now transformed society is the base from interconnected human thought and cumulative innovation.
Where Good Ideas Come From
In "Where Good Ideas Come From," Steven Johnson looks at environments and spaces offering possibilities of innovation and creativity. He identifies the most brilliant ideas springing from collaborative networks and open platforms that build on what has been considered previously, rather than from eureka moments of genius. The book goes deeper into patterns of innovation from throughout history and discusses them in the work and interaction environment which offers clues to groundbreaking ideas.