Chase, Chance, and Creativity: The Lucky Art of Novelty (The MIT Press)

When combining basic elements in the ordinary course of life, much is predictable. In creating art, the sum total of the parts often defies expectation. Theory and practice don’t always line up. The formula that worked yesterday might not work tomorrow. The proven solutions are sometimes the least helpful.

The major achievements in science and art over the last several thousand years required induction, rather than deduction—required extrapolating from the known to the unknown and, to a large extent, blindly guessing what should come next and being right some of the time. In short, they required great creativity combined with a measure of luck.

Amar Bhidé’s Venturesome Economy. And many of our clichés about

Creativity arises from making new connections—contemplate unexpected things together. Don’t wait for moments of inspiration to strike. Creativity is a muscle; exercise it. There’s a logic to creativity: find what works for you, break it down, and you have a process that can serve you forever. Unstructured freedom is the enemy of true creative achie