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Reviews
The Medici Effect: What Elephants and Epidemics Can Teach Us about Innovation by Frans Johansson
jemiliadavis's review
3.0
I read this book with the RC staff. It was a great read but it got repetitive towards the end of the book. It makes you want to come up with something creative by the end. Great perspective on what it takes to come up with an idea that really catches on!
rsr143's review
5.0
A very important book that can potentially hold the key to finding innovations to solve many of the societal and technological problems we are facing today. This book is one of the few business books I rate five stars. It’s an easy to read and thought-provoking guide, with plenty of stories to back up the theory. I often paused after each chapter to think and apply some of the techniques mentioned. The idea of stepping into an intersection is so simple, and something anyone can do at any age to be more creative and innovative.
adamrshields's review against another edition
4.0
Short review: This is an interesting book in the mode of Malcolm Gladwell or Chris Anderson. Johansson argues that all real innovation occurs at the intersection between two different fields of study. Darwin as a geologist used his insights to understand biological evolution. An astronomer created the concept of a asteroid killing off the dinosaurs. An architect with an interest in bugs created a building based on termite mounds in to reduce air conditioning costs.
Great ideas. Probably could have been a long article. I didn't actually finish the book. But the concepts were good.
My full review is at http://bookwi.se/medici-effect/
Great ideas. Probably could have been a long article. I didn't actually finish the book. But the concepts were good.
My full review is at http://bookwi.se/medici-effect/
rbogue's review against another edition
3.0
It’s the Medici family that is responsible – in part – for kicking off the Renaissance. By bringing together masters in multiple disciplines they allowed knowledge to flow across the boundaries of discipline and thereby they created the opportunities for intersection. The Medici Effect is a book about the ideas at the intersection of different disciplines.
Click here to read the full review
Click here to read the full review
jeffgrann's review
3.0
A motivating challenge to seek innovation. The intersection of disciplines and ways of thinking produce value. Several interviews and case studies add interest.
hannahbogatin's review
2.0
I enjoyed the examples given in the book, however, I don’t think the idea of the intersection being key to innovation is very groundbreaking. I also thought the author failed to use many diverse examples in terms of race and gender. Many of the examples involved white men. Specifically the paragraph talking about the importance of diversity is immediately followed by a paragraph about a white man’s experience.
Overall, I think this would have been an interesting article, but the book just kept reiterating the same point over and over.
Overall, I think this would have been an interesting article, but the book just kept reiterating the same point over and over.
statman's review
3.0
This is a pretty quick read on one way that innovation can happen. The main idea is that innovation comes from an intersection of 2 ideas from potentially very different fields that together create something very innovative. The premise is that we have to try to open our minds to contemplate competely different areas and how they can fit together. The idea is interesting but I didn't really think it was very relevant or practical in real life.