The Myths of Innovation

How do we know if a hot new technology will succeed or fail? Most of us, even experts, get it wrong all the time. We depend more than we realize on wishful thinking and romanticized ideas of history. In the new paperback edition of this fascinating book, a book that has appeared on MSNBC, CNBC, Slashdot.org, Lifehacker.com and in The New York Times, bestselling author Scott Berkun pulls the best lessons from the history of innovation, including the recent software and web age, to reveal powerful and surprising truths about how ideas become successful innovations — truths people can easily apply to the challenges of today. Through his entertaining and insightful explanations of the inherent patterns in how Einstein discovered E=mc2 or Tim Berners-Lee developed the idea of the World Wide Web, you will see how to develop existing knowledge into new innovations. Each chapter centers on breaking apart a powerful myth popular in the business world despite its lack of substance. Through Berkun's extensive research into the truth about innovations in technology, business and science, you’ll learn lessons from the expensive failures and dramatic successes of past innovations, and understand how innovators achieved what they did — and what you need to do to be an innovator yourself.