[.ca] New Ideas About New Ideas: Insights On Creativity From ... (ISBN 0738207802)

From Amazon.com:
Innovation--that elusive but vital ability to generate and foster new ideas--has been touted as the key to success in many a book, for many a year. But since the New Economy's nosedive and the market battering of some of the most loudly lauded "innovative" companies, the term's reputation has begun to seem a little tarnished. Not so fast, says Shira White in her revealing book New Ideas About New Ideas. Whether in good economic times or in bad, creativity is always the ultimate competitive advantage, and the repercussions of practicing innovation are often even more widespread and longer lasting in the latter. White's assertion that "we always need new ideas--and we need new ideas about how to get, grow, and better manage them" underpins valuable insights on where innovation begins; how ideas are developed, nurtured, valued, brought to life, and put into action; and even how an entire organization's culture can be imbued with innovation. Refreshing in its broad coverage, New Ideas is chock-full of the inspiring advice and experiences of leaders in business, science, technology, and the arts. Hot, hip, and happening is how White describes these innovators, and they include people like former AOL Internet Services president and current chairman of the organic foods company Acirca Inc. David Cole, physicist and author of The Elegant Universe Brian Greene, technology wizard Nathan Myrhvold, world-renowned architect Frank Gehry, violin virtuoso Joshua Bell, and multimedia artist Laurie Anderson, as well as the movers and shakers at companies such as Corning Inc., Genzyme Corporation, Transmeta Inc., and Macromedia. Though references to Enron have been updated, its inclusion in this otherwise motivational collection of innovation adventures seems unfortunate; the former energy giant may still be smoking hot in one sense, but revelations postbankruptcy would seem to negate much of its previous brilliance. --S. Ketchum

H3: Horribly written, Horrific to read, all Hype:
One of the few books I gave up before finishing, New Ideas lacks any original ones. I guess its goal is to describe how companies benefit from innovation and creativity, but unfortunately, the book is too poorly written and organized to even get THAT out in a clear manner. That author, an "innovation consultant" (whatever the hell that means), just spews jargon all over the place like "spark soup," "H3s," "bubbling" and even "innovation" (that word finds its way into almost every paragraph), while rehashing case studies that usually have nothing to do with innovation. For instance, AOL's quick entry and overexposure and its obvious result in gaining the lead market share is attributed to innovation, when really it's just business as usual. (In fact, AOL gained so much market share, not from customer satisfaction or a superior product, but because they just kept dumping it on people.) Other dubious companies, like ImClone and Enron, are praised highly for their innovation, which is sort of like praising Stalin in a book on leadership. Worse yet, she brings up companies and artists in a random, chaotic way, confusing readers and complicating her point, if she has one. I finally put the book down, not out of frustration, but from the realization that it wasn't written to be insightful but, like other marketing jargonheads, to be self-advertising. This book was itself a bad idea and should never have evolved out of the primordial "spark soup".

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.

Enron Defender:
I agree with a previous reviewer's comment that the book is a long advertisement for White's consulting business, which had to include that motherlode of creativity, Enron, although she doesn't admit it in the book and offers some lame upfront comment about regardless of what happens to Enron it's to be admired for it's creativity. The quotes from Skilling are "great" entertainment when you consider they occured all pre-meltdown, but the author's defense of Enron's "creativity" (which resulted in the loss of billions of dollars and had a negative impact on millions of lives) really turned me off. Instead of trying to justify the inclusion of such a ethically bankrupt company such as Enron, the author should have added a chapter on, when creativity turns criminal.

Brainstorm in a book:
I have to admit when I bought this book over a year ago and started to read it, I put it down out of frustration. I have read many books on creativity and innovation and there seemed to be nothing new that this book added. There have been many books released recently that seemed to be just rehashing the creative techniques and tools. There is some really good books already published that, can teach you the different aspects of creativity, creative techniques and innovation. I have listed a few here by Author, please check out my innovation listmania list on Creativity 101. Jordan E. Ayan _ A good overview of creativity and some tools. Edward De Bono _ The pioneer of _Lateral Thinking_, Tony Buzan _ The Pioneer of Mind Mapping and other tools for the mind Bryan W. Mattimore _ A collection of essays on creativity Michael Michalko _ Covers the SCAMPER method Roger Von Oech _ Author of the Creative Whack Pack, a great set of tools of creativity Charles Thompson _ Average Treatise on Creativity Denise Sherekjan - Uncommon Genius _ A book based on interviews with people who have been awarded the MacArthur Foundation Fellowship _Genius Award_ Brenda Ueland - If you want to Write _ An amazing book on writing and creativity Tom Peters _ Great Books on Business Innovation and Creativity Peter Law - Creative Company _ The Story of St Lukes _ the Most Creative Company in the world. Michael Schrage - Serious Play _ Interesting book on business Creativity Gordon Mackenzie - Orbiting the Giant HairBall _ The Story of creativity and finding it in corporate America (HallMark) But, I have to admit my first impressions about this book were wrong. I try not to judge a book too early, and hence 1 year later I picked this book up again. Scanning through the book I noticed many interesting profiles of innovators that I admire (Nathan Myhrvold, Brian Greene etc.). I was looking for a stimulating read, so I decide to take this book with me on a business trip. I ended up devouring this book very quickly, and then I ended up going back through the book with my highlighter and post it notes. I have tagged many pages and highlighted many paragraphs. There are notes all over the pages. I found this book to be very stimulating and even though on first glance this does not seem to add anything new to the creativity field, there is a lot to gain from this book. The best way I can describe this book as is a _Brainstorm_ in a book. I found the different interviews and examples that Shira White details in this book to be very interesting. She obviously draws a lot from her own business experience, which is a good thing. I know some people will see this as just a plug for her company, but I would rather someone write about creativity from a position of knowledge and experience than just pull examples from other people. There is a lot of research that has gone into this book. It is very apparent that she conducted some very in-depth interviews with the innovators profiled. The flow of the book, and how it starts, leaves a lot to be desired, but once you understand that this is not a book that is going to teach creativity, or creative techniques (please refer to the above list if you are looking for other books and authors on creativity and innovation). This book is full of ideas from some very respected innovators and draws from Shira White_s own experience and this is pulled together in what I can only describe as creative vignettes. I found this book very rewarding to read, once I got past my initial perceptions. As another reviewer pointed out, the cutsey nature of the titles will put some people off (H3_s, Spark soup etc..). If you get past this, you will find this is a truly stimulating read. The flow of the book seems to jump around, but there is a cohesive feel to the book. It follows through the different stages of innovation and illustrates the stages with examples. I am still not sure how you would categorize this book since just saying business innovation and creativity, doesn_t really tell you what this book is about. Reading the book, felt like taking part in a brainstorm/think tank on creativity with some world-renowned innovators. I found the book to be stimulating, and well worth the effort to read. There is one caveat; the examples drawn from Enron, probably were a bad idea in retrospect. They seem to have upset a few people. Putting Enron and creativity together under one cover seems to give creativity a bad name. I highly recommend this book to anyone looking for a stimulating and inspirational read on the subject of creativity.

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).