Comments on Demolition Derby

Jonathan Baker-Bates — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 15:30:31 GMT

I now want to read this book – if only because it’s apparently nice and short. The biggest single criticism I have of most books like this (I’m looking at you, Malcolm Gladwell) is that they ruin the beauty of a few interesting ideas by padding them out with tremendous amounts of waffle and tumid repetition.

David C Dunkle — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 21:27:57 GMT

Regarding formulas and/or methods for innovation: There has been a significant amount of innovation created using the TRIZ methods. Check out the TRIZ online Journal for more data. I mention it because it seems to directly support the concept that, ”...that there can be a step-by-step guide to innovation.”

Sure, plenty of innovation is performed in uncharted territory, but a map, like the TRIZ methods, can get you where you’re going quicker.

Rajesh Rangarajan — Sun, 19 Aug 2007 04:19:50 GMT

Thanks for the review. I really liked the part where you had mentioned that Scott didn’t summarize at the end of book. How is it possible to give a formula for innovation?

Innovation could stem from greater understanding of the users. I always believed that it would be better for the top management to review feedback of 10 irate customers than too much of analysis of data( not say that it is not important!!!). Sometimes it is these problems that help better understanding of users which eventually help come up with innovative products/solutions

Shiv Singh — Sun, 19 Aug 2007 04:20:31 GMT

Thanks for the review. Generally speaking, I find books on innovation distasteful. They seem to state the obvious, encourage people to “manage” the process of innovation and take too many words to say not too much at all. By the sound of it, this book seems different. Cheers.

Terry Bleizeffer — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 12:52:20 GMT

Nice review. I loved this book as well. In the review I wrote on my blog, I started with, “Have you ever been to a party and met someone with a great job and a great sense of humor and ended up spending the entire party drinking beer and swapping interesting stories? That’s what Scott Berkun’s new book, “The Myths of Innovation”, felt like to me. There are lots of books on my shelf that I know I ought to read, and many of them I struggle through and afterwards feel like it was a valuable investment of my time, however painful. This wasn’t one of them – this is one of those rare books that feels like reading for pleasure, and yet you learn something along the way. And I might add that the colophon alone is worth the price of the book (a sentence that perhaps has never been written).”

So basically I second James’ recommendation. Time well spent.