The World's Best Book Summaries
How did world travel inspire the concept of a smart home? Why did Tony Fadell end his relationship with Nest? In Build: An Unorthodox Guide to Making Things Worth Making, entrepreneur Tony Fadell tells the story of his career. He talks about starting Nest—a smart home device company—and later selling it to Google for billions of dollars. Keep reading to learn about Tony Fadell, Nest, and the start of the smart home revolution.
Do you have any half-baked ideas rattling around in your head? What if you could turn them into fully-baked brilliance? Sometimes hunches lead to full-fledged ideas. If you’re patient and keep working on them, you could end up with something quite usable. In Where Good Ideas Come From, best-selling author and theorist Steven Johnson explains how good ideas grow from minor inklings to groundbreaking inventions. Keep reading to learn how the “slow hunch” can mature into something of great value.
What is user interaction design? What is the importance of feedback on products? One of the most important components of product design is that it interacts with the user. The user should be able to receive feedback such as a beeping sound or flashing light when there’s a problem that needs to be attended to. Let’s look at how user interaction design helps consumers, according to User Friendly by Cliff Kuang and Robert Fabricant.
What is exaptation? How can it be applied in practical ways outside of biology? Exaptation is the use of a tool or trait in a context that’s different from the one it was originally intended for. In Where Good Ideas Come From, best-selling author and theorist Steven Johnson provides a few examples of exaptation and shows how it can lead to novel ideas outside of biology. Read more to learn about exaptations, particularly in the context of innovation.
What is a user-friendly design? What are the components of a human-centered design menu? User-friendly design is exactly what the name implies: it puts the user first. In Cliff Kuang and Robert Fabricant’s book User Friendly, they dive into the different requirements to make technology accessible and satisfying for consumers. Keep reading to learn more about the three components of user-friendly design.
At what point does market disruption go too far? How should you time the second generation of your product? When should your focus shift to profit? At Apple, Tony Fadell built several generations of the iPod and the iPhone. Now he shares his advice about product evolution in his book Build: An Unorthodox Guide to Making Things Worth Making. Keep reading to learn how to release and subsequently evolve a product.
How should technology make life easier? What do you need to do to understand users’ needs? When you’re creating any type of product dealing with technology, the first thing you need to consider is how it’ll make life easier for the user. In User Friendly, Cliff Kuang and Robert Fabricant explain in detail how this is made possible using user-friendly design. Continue reading to learn more about how you should create a product centered around a user’s needs.
Have you ever taken a “reading vacation”? Do you collaborate with artificial intelligence? Do you think in the shower—or just sing? You might wonder how people come up with incredible innovations. Best-selling author and theorist Steven Johnson explores where good ideas come from. Sometimes, they come from epiphanies, and he shares ways to take advantage of serendipitous moments. Keep reading to learn how to cultivate sudden insights that could lead to exciting places.
How long does it take to find the right investors? How do you maintain personal well-being when leading a business? Why should you memorialize business catastrophes? No matter how well your launches go, you’ll likely face challenges in your business. Serial entrepreneur Tony Fadell recommends strategies for three common business problems: a lack of funds, a lack of work-life balance, and catastrophes. Continue reading to learn how to navigate these challenges and come through as a stronger leader with a stronger business.
Do you have a million ideas in your head that seem to go nowhere? Are you looking for fresh ideas to solve specific problems? Steven Johnson takes us on an exciting exploration of good ideas and novel innovations. For an idea to be good, he says, it must be built upon accumulated knowledge and be put forward at a time when users can conceive of how to use the idea and when the needed resources for the idea are available. Keep reading to learn how to develop ideas and, ultimately, advance knowledge and society.