Ideaship

xi

PREFACE

In my previous book — How to Get Ideas — I use James Webb Young’s definition of an idea as “nothing more nor less than a new combination of old elements.”

That definition, it seems to me, is a liberating one, for it says that ideas aren’t some arcane things that only brilliant people come up with. Rather, ordinary people create ideas every day simply by combining things they already know about.

I also outline a five-step procedure for solving problems and getting ideas, a proven procedure that takes the mystery and anxiety out of the idea-generating process — (1) define the problem, (2) gather the information, (3) search for the idea, (4) forget about it, and (5) put the idea into action.

But I caution readers that if they want to ...