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A diverse research team discovers how to
read the mind of a monkey. A chef mixes unexpected ingredients
such as sea urchins and lollipops to transform the world
of professional cooking. An engineer borrows from the foraging
behavior of ants to work out surveillance patterns for unmanned
aerial vehicles in war zones.
What these trailblazers share is not just
the breakthrough nature of their discoveries, but where
they went to find them. According to Frans Johansson, these
innovators are changing the world by stepping into the Intersection:
a place where ideas from different fields and cultures meet
and collide, ultimately igniting an explosion of extraordinary
new discoveries.
Johansson calls this proliferation of new
ideas "the Medici effect" -- referring to the
remarkable burst of creativity enabled by the Medici banking
family in Renaissance Italy. In this fascinating book, he
reveals how we can find intersections in our own lives and
turn the ideas we find there into pathbreaking innovations.
Johansson illustrates how these driving forces -- the movement
of people, the convergence of scientific disciplines, and
the leap in computational power -- are increasing the number
and types of intersections we can access.
The Medici Effect is filled with
vivid stories of intersections across domains as diverse
as business, science, art, and politics. From examples ranging
from the man who single-handedly created and taught the
first Cherokee written language to the team that cracked
the German "Enigma" code during World War II,
readers will learn how to:
- Break down associative barriers and view
problems in new ways
- Randomly, but purposefully, combine diverse
concepts
- Walk away from familiar networks and
venture into the unknown
- Execute beyond failures to make intersectional
ideas happen
What can you learn from rock music,
insect behavior, foreign business practices, and meteorite
patterns? You'll never know unless you step into the Intersection
and find out. Once you're there, you just might discover
an idea that changes the world.
Frans Johansson is a writer, consultant,
and entrepreneur residing in New York City.
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