Ever wonder where ideas come from? Steven Johnson’s book Where Good Ideas Come From attempts to answer the question by looking at everything from Darwinian evolution to shifts in cultural values. A lot of his conclusions seem consistent with my own experience: new ideas are usually built on preexisting ideas, more information feeds more ideas, larger groups develop substantially more ideas, and collaboration is a big part of it all.

I really enjoyed the first part of this book as Johnson weaves through a series of insights and stories. Everything seemed solid, thoughtful, well documented. But the ending seemed a bit contrived. Johnson concludes by saying that collaborative and non-market driven efforts will create more/better ideas. This may be true, but I didn’t feel that his conclusions were compelling enough or documented enough. It felt like something he was reaching for rather than something he had cemented into fact.

Still, it’s a fun read and very interesting. As usual when I read a book by this author, I learned something and felt I got my moneys worth. You probably will too.