How To Fly A Horse

In the vein of Susan Cain's QUIET and Malcolm Gladwell's DAVID AND GOLIATH, HOW TO FLY A HORSE is a smart, empowering book that dispels the myths around genius and creativity. We are all told the same stories about creativity: stories about inspiration, insight, incubation and above all genius; stories where creation is mystery, creators are magicians and creating is unique and special, the work of a rare few who conjure art and invention out of thin air. The stories are wrong. In HOW TO FLY A HORSE: The Secret History of Creation, Invention and Discovery, Kevin Ashton takes us behind the scenes of creation to reveal the true process of discovery. From Archimedes to Apple, from Kandinsky to the Coke can, from the Wright Brothers to Woody Allen, he uses stories and science to prove that creation needs no inspiration, insight, incubation or genius, and explains the reality behind creativity without resorting to magic or myth. Ashton exposes the seemingly unremarkable individuals, gradual steps, multiple failures, and countless ordinary and usually uncredited acts that set the stage for humanity's greatest creations. He draws upon research and historical precedent to tear down the myth of the predestinedo genius, proving that creation can rarely be predicted. By taking us back in time, from the final product to its initial seeds, he shows us how every creative act stands on the shoulders of previous generations. HOW TO FLY A HORSE will inspire the inventor in every reader with its refreshing, new take on the idea of newo. We will never see our world or the way we create it the same way again.