Book review: the myths of innovation
I’ve been remiss in whipping up this review. I’ve been reading a crazy hodgepodge assortment of books lately, only some are business-related, and I forgot to post this one. Which is a bummer because I could’ve convinced you to read it a couple of months ago.
I loved Berkun’s last book, The Art of Project Management, and I was really looking forward to this one. It didn’t disappoint. Berkun’s dry wit and self-deprecating humor are ever present and really help keep you engaged. But it’s not like the stories he tells are boring–he tells stories that illustrate common misperceptions/myths of innovation. Such as, people love new ideas, or that there is a method to innovation. Berkun digs into fields as disparate as art, physics, computer science and architecture.
The book is divided into ten chapters, each of which tackles a particular myth of innovation:
- The myth of epiphany
- We understand the history of innovation
- There is a method for innovation
- People love new ideas
- The lone inventor
- Good ideas are hard to find
- Your boss knows more about innovation than you
- The best ideas win
- Problems and solutions
- Innovation is always good
It’s great reading all the way. Each chapter will spin your mind in a bunch of directions (while making you laugh). But is doesn’t stop there–even the stuff you usually skip over is worth spending time with:
- The preface is a model for business books, in my opinion. He tells you what the book is about, why he wrote it, assumptions he’s made, ways to read the book and then lets you loose. He did this in his previous book, too, and it’s a great
- The Research and Recommendations section orders his research books a couple different ways. One is annotated and the other is ranked. Lots of stuff to investigate here.
- The photo credits and acknowledgments are a bit dry, but he does what he can. :-)
- The Colophon is hilarious and shouldn’t be missed!
This is an easy recommendation–I loved it and anyone remotely interested in innovation should find it a valuable resource.
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POSTED IN: book reviews, change, communication, creativity, innovation
