New Ideas about New Ideas

By G. Patton Wright, G.patton Wright, Shira P. White

New Ideas About New Ideas introduces us to a dynamic, eclectic collection of creators, whose far-out and far-reaching experiments are changing the world. Drawing from interviews with dozens of... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0738205354
• ISBN13: 9780738205359
• Release Date: February 2002
• Publisher: Basic Books
• Length: 352 Pages
• Weight: 1.30 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.5" x 1.0" x 6.0"

Customer Reviews

Brainstorm in a book

I have to admit that I bought this book over a year ago and started to read it and put it down out of frustration due to a feeling that this was just a rehash of creative ideas, with no real direction. I have read many books on creativity and innovation and this book seemed to be nothing new.BUT 1 year rolls around, I am looking to have something stimulating to read and this book seems to be calling me again. I pick it up and scan it, there seems to be some interesting ideas here, some interesting profiles of innovators that I have admired (Nathan Myhrvold, Brian Greene etc.). So I decide to take it on a business trip with me. I start reading it again and this time I am immersed in this creative storm. The book is stimulating so many ideas and thoughts; I can't put the book down. I find myself waking up at 3am and devouring the book. I get out my post notes and highlighter and go back through and start marking pages and paragraphs.I am not sure what this book was aiming to do, but the most amazing aspect of this book is that it gives an insight in a creative thinkers mind. It's like taking a peek at Shira White's Idea notebook. I am not sure that she keeps a notebook of ideas, but this book is chock full of ideas and snippets from many diverse sources reflecting her research. It is hard to get used to the style, which others have described as confusing with no direction. But if you read this book and let your self go and follow along with White as she brainstorms ideas, random connections between thoughts and facts you will find yourself immersed. I am not sure there is a genre for this book; it's a brainstorm in a book. It is like being inside White's mind as she bounces from one idea and thought to another, making some very interesting conclusions along the way. If you have ever read any of James Burke's books "Knowledge Web", "Circles", where he walks you through how ideas are connected to each other. This book gives you a similar feeling of being on creative journey through ideas.I highly recommend this book to anyone looking for a stimulating and inspirational read. This book can be very rewarding if it is read in the right state of mind (in this case the right state mind = using the right hemisphere of your brain).

Everyone Could Use A New Idea or Two

And this book has plenty. I run a small business of my own and I am always looking for little nuggets in business books that I can apply. I took notes all over this book. If you are looking for a well for your creativity this book can definitely be of help. I gave it as a gift to some other entrepreneurially-minded friends and they all had good things to say about it.

A must-read.

I enjoyed this book immensely! I think the author's brilliance lies in who she's included in the book and how she's chosen to present their diverse and field-tested experience. Is it a how-to book on how to run a successful organization? No, it's a thinking person's book on what creativity and innovation can bring to an organization. It's up to the reader to pick and choose what he or she thinks is relevant and meaningful, and what to do with this information. And that's what creativity is all about, isn't it? I think this collection of interviews and insights is a must for anyone's management bookshelf and have recommended it to no fewer than twenty of my business associates and clients. I hope they read it.

The Same Old Ideas Produce the Same Old Results

For some readers at least, the title of this book may well have much more significance than they may now realize. In recent months, I have been centrally involved with cross-functional teams to simplify production process inorder to reduce cycle time while increasing first-pass yield. Almost immediately after we began our work, I realized that we had to simplify the process by which we were attempting to simplify process. I think this is what White has in mind: To generate new ideas, it is first necessary to generate new ideas about how to do that. Otherwise, the results will probably be the same. I have yet to encounter anyone who denies the importance of "creative" or "innovative" thinking. We all realize that Edisons are few and far between. However, as White and others have correctly pointed out, all of us can develop perspectives and then skills by which free ourselves from mindsets which preclude (and often denigrate) creative, innovative thinking. In Leading Change, mindsets which Jim O'Toole characterizes as "the ideology of comfort and the tyranny of custom." Not a day goes by that I do not hear someone refer to "thinking outside the box." My own experience has convinced me that (a) eventually it is necessary to get back in the "box" because that is where problems must be solved or (b) replace the "box" with another, one which is more appropriate to the given enterprise. In this volume, White shares her own experiences and insights (of course) but her primary focus is on a wide, deep, and varied selection of what the book's subtitle refers to as "the world's leading innovators." Based on the evidence provided, they are indeed. In the Preface, White introduces her core concept of "hot, hip, and happening" (or "H3"): cutting-edge organizations and individuals to whom the book's subtitle refers. She interviewed more than 100 corporate executives. Following an especially thought-provoking Introduction ("Sizzling Spaces: Making Innovation Happen"), White organizes her material within seven chapters:1. Spark Soup: Where Innovation Begins2. Bubbling: New Approaches to Idea Development3. Bargaining with the Future: The Valuation Struggle4. Going Live: Bringing New Ideas to Life5. Integrated Circuitry: Mechanisms of Innovative Action6. Rocket Design: Innovating the Organization7. Making an Apple Pie: Beyond the OrganizationDon't be deterred by these chapter titles. (At first, I was. They seemed a tad cutesy-pie. I was wrong.) The titles are eminently appropriate to the material provided; also, as you will soon realize, they comprise a thematic narrative in precisely the correct sequence. Along the way, she includes dozens of especially apt quotations. My personal favorites include " If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants." (Sir Isaac Newton), "You can't depend on your eyes when your mind is out of focus." (Mark Twain), "Every blade of grass has its Angel that bends over it and whispers ''Grow, grow.'" (The Talmud), "

Cool Book!

I've read many books on creativity and innovation -- tons! And this is the first book that ever really had something new to say. It is full of fascinating insights and stories about how innovation can be managed successfully in the workplace and in life in general. And, it is the first one of those books that I really, really enjoyed reading. I loved it!