As a technology pioneer at MIT and as the leader of three successful
start-ups, Kevin Ashton experienced firsthand the all-consuming
challenge of creating something new. Now, in a tour-de-force narrative
twenty years in the making, Ashton leads us on a journey through
humanity's greatest creations to uncover the surprising truth behind who
creates and how they do it. From the crystallographer's laboratory where
the secrets of DNA were first revealed by a long forgotten woman, to the
electromagnetic chamber where the stealth bomber was born on a
twenty-five-cent bet, to the Ohio bicycle shop where the Wright brothers
set out to "fly a horse," Ashton showcases the seemingly unremarkable
individuals, gradual steps, multiple failures, and countless ordinary
and usually uncredited acts that lead to our most astounding
breakthroughs.
Creators, he shows, apply in particular ways the everyday, ordinary
thinking of which we are all capable, taking thousands of small steps
and working in an endless loop of problem and solution. He examines why
innovators meet resistance and how they overcome it, why most
organizations stifle creative people, and how the most creative
organizations work. Drawing on examples from art, science, business, and
invention, from Mozart to the Muppets, Archimedes to Apple, Kandinsky to
a can of Coke, "How to Fly a Horse" is a passionate and immensely
rewarding exploration of how "new" comes to be.
