How Innovation Works
by Matt Ridley · first published 2020
73% recommend20% neutral7% critical
Why HN recommends it
Argues that innovation is a gradual process of trial, error and recombination rather than a single flash of genius, drawing on many historical examples. Readers value its accessible history and fresh view of invention.
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I really recommend "How Innovation Works" by Matt Ridley to better understand the history of different inventions and innovations. It also dispels the myth of the singular event of invention by a single person. Rather innovation is a process…
on “Who invented the lightbulb?” ↗I would like to second - "How Innovation Works" by Matt Ridley is an excellent book. I see the kindle version is £1.99 on amazon.co.uk atm - what a bargain. Most innovations we all enjoy and cherish are a product of long chain of trial and error by…
on “Who invented the lightbulb?” ↗Nice one - didn't know that. Penicillin is maybe the most famous example? The Wizard and the Prophet (Mann) and How Innovation Works (Ridley) also show how combinations of these types of discoveries (many of them in different fields, being studied for other purposes, etc.) over multi-year periods often results in world-changing level…
on “Potato farmers conquer a devastating worm with paper made from bananas” ↗…Robert Caro * Blood, Sweat & Chrome: The Wild and True Story of Mad Max: Fury Road by Kyle Buchanan * Becoming Trader Joe: How I Did Business My Way and Still Beat the Big Guys by Joe Coulombe * How Innovation Works: And Why It Flourishes in Freedom by Matt Ridley * Yeager: An Autobiography by Chuck Yeager * The years of Lyndon Johnson: The Path to Power by Robert Caro * The Ministry for the Future by Kim…
on “Ask HN: What are some of the best books you have read in 2022?” ↗The book How Innovation Works by Matt Ridley changed my perspective on this. Originally I thought all innovation was like the dotcom era. Ridley attempts to show that there are times when it is not always clear what the final innovation…
on “AWS and Blockchain” ↗How innovation works
on “Ask HN: What books should I read this summer?” ↗Europe is dying. Check "How Innovation Works: And Why It Flourishes in Freedom" by Matt Ridley. Government programs will not help.
on “EU countries team up for semiconductor push” ↗> building an extremely useful proof of concept for environmental monitoring and being rewarded for it is literally an active fight. It seems that it has always been this way. See "How Innovation Works" by Matt Ridley for many examples - and fight on.
on “Lessons for a Young Scientist” ↗Books by Matt Ridley: - The Evolution of Everything: How Ideas Emerge - How Innovation Works - Francis Crick: Discoverer of the Genetic Code
on “Ask HN: Any recommendation for a good History of Science book?” ↗…risk. A few books that helped me in no particular order … The Science of Storytelling - Will Storr Influence - Robert Cialdini Thinking Fast and Slow - Daniel Kahneman Antifragile - Nassim Taleb How Innovation Works - Natt Ridley The One Thing You Need to Know - Marcus Buckingham Team of Teams - General Stanley McChrystal
on “Ask HN: Reading material on how to be a better software engineer?” ↗The Discoverers: A History of Man’s Search to Know His World and Himself - Daniel J. Boorstin How Innovation Works: And Why It Flourishes in Freedom - Matt Ridley The Technology Trap: Capital, Labor, and Power in the Age of Automation - Carl Benedikt Frey
on “Ask HN: Good Books on the History of Technology?” ↗This is NOT how innovation works. https://www.amazon.com/How-Innovation-Works-Flourishes-Freed...
on “EU Signs €145B Declaration to Develop Next Gen Processors and 2nm Technology” ↗…about furin cleavage, the market-based arguments, and especially the ‘DEFUSE’ grant application document to DARPA. It’s titled Viral and it’s written by Alina Chan and Matt Ridley (he was the author of ‘How Innovation Works’.)
on “The Next ‘Lab Leak’” ↗> I feel like this kind of technology should've been able to exist in the 90s. Matt Ridley, author of How Innovation Works, has talked about the possibility that there have been any notable innovations that ‘came too late’. In particular, he talks about the wheeled suitcase, which at first glance seems to have come decades…
on “How People Read Online: New and Old Findings” ↗…the leadership of this agency will be in hot water within 5 years. And the whole thing will be abandoned after frittering away billions of tax-payer Pounds within 6 to 7 years. Matt Ridley, author of How Innovation Works, is right, governments are poor drivers of innovation - and this little 'distraction' is going to be another case to prove his point.
on “UK to launch taxpayer-funded high-risk tech research agency exempt from FOI” ↗