In Pursuit of Elegance: Why the Best Ideas Have Something Missing

by Matthew E. May

Book Overview

A fresh, compulsively readable narrative of the elusive element behind so many innovative breakthroughs, in fields ranging from physics and marketing to design and popular culture. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0385526490
• ISBN13: 9780385526494
• Release Date: May 2009
• Publisher: Broadway Business
• Length: 216 Pages
• Weight: 0.85 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.9" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

A worthy and practical read!

Matthew has clearly captured the 'why' behind problem identification and problem solving. Such insights are critical if you are tasked with changing culture and minds within an organization. While some may want to cut to the chase and have a step-by-step or how to book, they will fail to realize the practicality, and counterintuitiveness, of the book. With most rushing off to come up with ideas, In Pursuit of Elegance is timely in that is makes you pause long enough to question such an old school way of innovating. Go slower to go faster. Well worth the time! Enjoyable and useful.

Much better than some of the reviews would imply

First of all, I have well over 2000 biz books in my library and this is one of my favorite books. It takes a very difficult subject, elegance, and does a credible job explaining what it is and what it isn't. This is not a step by step book to creating elegant solutions or products. Rather, it presents a compelling argument on why subtraction can lead to elegance. Why doing nothing is so difficult for humans and organizations but is many times the right thing "to do". Why in-action or restraining your brain from wanting to add can lead to breakthroughs in elegant design. The author works hard to give examples from a wide range of disciplines. Because of this broad stroke of the brush, the only complaint would be that he does not delve deep enough into some of these examples. But by leaving some space, it made me want to dig deeper into some of the examples. Engaging a readers curiosity to seek more is exactly what elegance is all about. And I think the author balanced this perfectly. Do yourself a favor...ignore the negative reviews on here. Under no circumstance does this book deserve less than 4 stars. It is easy to read and engages your brain in a provocative way...what more can you ask from a book?

Elegant pursuit!

The book, "In Pursuit of Elegance", caught me at the right time in my life. Currently I'm experiencing a period of transition and was grateful to come across a book discussing simple, powerful and innovative solutions. What is unique about Mr. Mays views is the emphasis on "the power of what is not there" and reading the ideas he fleshes out has forced me to challenge my world paradigm. As a curious member of society, I carry along a `life' notebook so I can jot down notes and ideas that have inspired me throughout the day. While reading this book I'm happy to report the pages of my notebook were filled with topics and ideas I wanted to further explore. Thanks to Mr. May for embodying his thoughts into a cohesive, easy-to-digest manuscript.

Mental toolbox worthy

Concise, clever and classic. Shows the landscape of elegance, and lays the path to thinking differently. Books of extraordinary general value are rare, and belong in everyone's mental toolbox, e.g., Made to Stick, The Black Swan, Tribes, or The Tipping Point. May's study of elegance should now be on that rarefied list.

A Whole New Way Of Thinking

I loved "In Pursuit Of Elegance" by Matthew E. May. This book will provide a basis for a whole new kind of thinking. I can not think of an audience that would not benefit from reading this book because it can apply to business, art, home-life, and many other ventures. One thing I found brilliant about the book is that it doesn't offer specific steps to follow. This is not a "go and do" kind of book. What is NOT in the book is what makes this powerful (and elegant). May provides many case examples with different perspectives of elegant thinking without telling the reader what to make of them. After reading chapters, I found myself applying the thinking to my own situations. Powerful stuff started popping in my head based on the principles I learned about in the book. This is a highly interactive book if you plan to daydream a little bit after you read it. I am a big fan of his last book "The Elegant Solution" and noticed a lot of similar ideas and concepts from that book. What the author did was shake loose the Lean/Toyota anchor and make this new book more open and accessible for a wider audience. There is a lot of freedom from that decision that will make this a better book for non-Lean practitioners while still providing relevant thoughts for those who are on the Lean journey. This book is difficult to explain the highlights because most of them came from my personal application once I understood the concepts explained. What great ideas will come to you while you read the book?