Comments about O'Reilly Media The Myths of Innovation:

If you're tired of hearing the overused buzzword, "Innovation" bandied about the office too often, this book is worth the read. Scott Berkun discusses the different myths attributed to innovation through history, and why innovation itself is not the magical solution.

One of the great myths about innovation is that it should take the form of some brilliant idea hitting you on the head much like Isaac Newton's Apple. Nope. Innovation comes from hard work, and there's no magic bullet. I like what Scott Berkun has to say on page 13: "No grand innovation in history has escaped the long hours required to take an insight and work it into a form useful to the world."

If you enjoy history, this is also a fun book to read, as Berkun talks about innovations such as Archimedes slipping and falling in the tub (Eureka!), Picasso turning an old bicycle into a sculpture of a bull, and Johannes Gutenberg's invention of the printing press. We have a tendency to glamorize these innovators and put them on a pedestal of genius when in fact, it was years of labor, research, mistakes, and elbow grease that got them to that point of "epiphany."

This book was interesting to me because I love the process of programming as well as what it takes when designing an interface. I might spend hours tweaking a web layout to be pixel perfect, and then at the end find a flourish that brings the mockup together. Sometimes I don't find that flourish at all. Linus Pauling says, "The best way to have a good idea is to have lots of ideas." It's a concept that is reiterated in this book that making lots of mistakes, continuing to persevere, and challenging your own ideas will help you in the execution of your goal.

I enjoyed this book mainly because of Scott's sense of humor injected into the book, bringing both historical achievements and current business ventures into a relevant, interesting read. This book demonstrates the importance of moving past the hype of "innovation" and discusses a plan of action in the epilogue that states, "Forget innovation: focus on being good." I recommend it for anyone who wants to better themselves or get motivated about a new project.

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Some of this you already know: Edison didn't invent the lightbulb, Jobs didn't invent the personal computer, and Ford didn't invent the automobile. But how did these products come to to the mainstream?

Berkun points out there are actually many people involved in any product that makes it to market. There are the teachers, culture, and other influences that help foster an environment that can create an idea. There's the players needed to put an idea into motion, and even the individual purchasers, reviewers, media, etc., that – through their effort as a whole – help make or break a product or service, and determine if it becomes a notable contribution or a footnote in history.

The Myths of Innovation is a good read. I've found it and its ideas presented coming up a lot recently in discussions with co-workers and friends.

It really has made me think: if so many people, influences and actions are integral to success, patents and copyrights almost don't make any sense.

Comments about O'Reilly Media The Myths of Innovation:

In his writings, Scott Berkun makes a point of being strident in his views about management, public speaking, and thinking. Usually, books about innovation are vague and generic, but this book is hard-headed and practical.

Berkun tackles long-held myths, including some counter-intuitive ones such as "Innovation is always good". The book is engaging (and well-referenced) with a variety of anecdotes and discussions, and there are no homilies.

Towards the end, moving away from the negative tone, the book turns into a checklist of various suggestions, "hacks" of interest to the creative innovator. It's by no means comprehensive, but useful nevertheless. He also encloses an excellent bibliography.

Comments about O'Reilly Media The Myths of Innovation:

Lately I've been reading Scott Burkun's book, The Myths of Innovation.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1449389627/ref=cm_cr_thx_view

I found it hard, when I first tried reading this book, to warm to it. The essay style didn't work for me. Perhaps I wasn't in the right frame of mind. Perhaps the thought of reading a whole bunch of essays didn't appeal. Who knows?

It bothered me because the book reviews are excellent and I really enjoy Scott's blog.

Then one day last week I opened the book at RANDOM - as much as your can in a Kindle - and started reading. Suddenly, I was enjoying the book. I've read quite a bit of the book this way now - flipping randomly about the place - and it's working for me. The book is full of brilliant observations and advice. The old photographs are fascinating too - especially the wooden mouse.

Comments about O'Reilly Media The Myths of Innovation:

Since childhood, we've been force fed with false propaganda about creativity and innovation – Edison and his light bulb, Newton and the apple that fell on his head, Archimedes running naked through the streets of ancient Greece shouting Eureka. Now, imagine Pink Floyd playing in the background as Scott Berkun takes a sledgehammer at all that nonsense, starting with the myth of epiphany – the idea that innovation happens out of the blue if you just sit under an apple tree. That's what The Myths of Innovation is all about.

The best part of the book, however, starts with the epilogue which ends with a brief description of the 'simple plan' for innovation – stop thinking/dreaming/reading and start doing something, focus on solving the problem instead of trying to innovate for its own sake, build trust and be willing to stick your neck out for the team, keep the team small, celebrate interesting mistakes and keep going. And then there are the 'creative thinking hacks' starting with the mantra that 'an idea is a combination of other ideas' and the need to loose inhibitions, find the right environment and stay committed. This is followed up with a crash course on how to pitch your idea. And finally a list of things to help you stay motivated – anger, desperation, pride, death, fun or a crazy friend.

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Myths of Innovation by Scott Berkun is a catalog of, well, myths about how people come up with innovative ideas or products. Each chapter covers a different myth, like the "myth of ephinany" (that innovative ideas come like lightning bolts out of the blue) or the myth of the "lone inventor." Berkun busts these myths and in the process explains what really does drive innovation.

I liked that the book is written in a witty, conversational style (and having gotten the book free through O'Reilly's Blogger review program I wanted to give a good review). But unfortunately I found it to be poorly argued. For example, Berkun writes, "And while we laugh at groups who reject innovation as a concept—the Luddites, the Amish, or our technophobic friends—we are all just as resistant as they are, but in different ways." Realy? I read this book on an iPhone, iPad and Sony Reader and I'm just as resistant to innovation as the Amish? I'm sorry Mr. Berkun, but you need to back that up with something. Unfortunately, the book is filled with tossed off conclusions that are not supported by data or argument. It took me a long time to finish this book because it kept driving me crazy.

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To be honest, I haven't read any other book from Berkun so far (though many people suggest Confessions of a Public Speaker), but it's more than likely I'll start from now on. And the reason is simple: after finishing the book I felt like the guy was in my head!

If you're looking for a book to tell you how to innovate, then you have missed half of this book's essence. Because there's not a single path to innovation (although you'll get your tips, I promise!) - that's something you learn from the first chapters. What this book is about is the life of an innovator, the challenges he has to face, the rejection of ideas, and the lonely path to making something new and ground - breaking. Making a trip through history and great inventors, Berkun defines innovation as a long way and not as a single moment. While innovating you'll fight, get rejected or even reach the bottom - and this book describes what to do in these cases. And even when you succeed, you have the innovator's dilemma - are you truly open - minded to accept a new thing that may turn your innovation useless?

I enjoyed reading this book, I really did. If you ask me, it's not going to help you innovate more - of course not. But, all in all, it helps you in creating an attitude towards innovation. I guess that, from now on, I'll treat innovation in a different way.

Comments about O'Reilly Media The Myths of Innovation:

The Myths of Innovation is one of the most insightful books I've read in a while. It should be required reading for anyone who works for a technology start-up or manages engineers.

The first part of the book presents 10 popular myths of how innovation and invention happen. Through re-telling of many popular invention stories, the author discounts all of my least favorite myths, including that innovation happens through magical epiphanies, that great ideas are instantly adopted, and that the best ideas win. He does this through an easy to read, story-telling style. Plus, he manages to include plenty of references to boost the credability of his arguments. In the second part of the book, he gives some direction of those who think of themselves as innovators. These include some ways to help put yourself in a state of mind that will boost your creative thinking, how to stay motivated in the face of the many roadblocks that stand in the way of your potential innovation, and some tips on how to pitch your ideas, whether your audience is your boss, potential investors, or others. There are many pieces of advice/motivation in this last section that I will come back to in the years to come. The kicker is the last chapter, which gives a list of other references that the author recommends, as pieces of further advice and/or motivation for innovators. This will form the basis of my continued reading list.

Overall, I highly recommend this book to anyone that is either doing the innovation themself, or manages people who are innovating.

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The Myths of Innovation is a great fun book for helping get yourself started or continue innovating. As the title suggests, it dispels many of the myths around innovation, giving the readers insight into some of the hard work that went into the breakthroughs that we know and love. While we can often love the superhuman stories and magical breakthroughs, these stories can make people seem superhuman. The Myths of Innovation presents often unknown details which highlight the background work into well known breakthroughs, bringing the amazing into the realms of what might be possible by normal people.

By doing this, the author helps us to realise that we can all be "innovative", or more importantly that with hard work we call all find problems that need solving, come up with ideas in the problem space and produce solutions that solve real problems.

On top of well written and interesting content, Scott has included copious references and helps the reader do further research into topics that are of particular interest.

I'd recommend this book to anyone interested in innovation or creatively solving problems, particularly if you have financial motivation for doing so.

[this book was reviewed as a part of the O'Reilly Blogger Review Program]

Comments about O'Reilly Media The Myths of Innovation:

In Scott's book, he busts up the "myth of epiphany" by breaking down the history and process of how new ideas become reality. He explains the methods behind innovation, challenges innovation faces and explains how it just isn't one guy alone, who has the best idea.

I really enjoyed this book.

I like to think myself as an innovative person, and as Scott explained the challenges that innovators or innovative ideas come up against, I could related all too well. Scott explains that innovators don't usually find support with the mainstream and that often drives them to work alone on problems others ignore, and how this could explain the connection between "breakthrough thinkings" and new companies. That makes me think of the Googles and Microsofts of the world, both of who are just two of some of the bigger examples of breakthrough companies.

I liked how Scott pulled in tons of information from other sources and linked it into a way that made it all make sense. The book had lots of content from other sources, that helps put some of these larger ideas into perspective for me. Scott also references some of the points from Malcolm Gladwell's book, Outliers, (which I also enjoyed), such as the 10,000 rule and the influence of opportunity.

What I found particularly helpful, was Scott's sections on helpful suggestions, such as "Creative Thinking Hacks, "How To Pitch an idea," and "How To Stay Motivated." This is particular challenge for me so I really appreciated the information and definitely plan to leverage what I learned in 2011.

Now, I read this version on the Kindle, so I don't know if this is the same in the printed book, but I also liked the way all the chapter's footnotes are at the end of the each chapter. I found this a refreshing way to read the footnotes while the content of the chapter is still fresh in my mind

Finally, I enjoyed Scott's writing style, his sense of humor, and that way he was able to combine and weave them into the book. I would recommend this book, and look forward to reading Scott's other works.