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How to Fly a Horse: The Secret History of Creation, Invention, and Discovery

How to Fly a Horse: The Secret History of Creation, Invention, and Discovery

By Kevin Ashton

Essential reading for would-be creators and innovators: "If you want to tap your creative potential, buy this book. It's the last one you'll ever need to read" ( Toronto Star ). To create is human. Technology pioneer Kevin Ashton has experienced firsthand the all-consuming challenge of creating something new.

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Book Information

Publisher: Doubleday Books
Publish Date: 01/20/2015
Pages: 336
ISBN-13: 9780385538596
ISBN-10: 0385538596
Language: Eng

What We're Saying

December 08, 2015

In which we announce our eight category winners, which become the finalists for our book of the year. READ FULL DESCRIPTION

December 01, 2015

Our Special Projects Manager, Michael Jantz, looks inside the Innovation & Creativity category of this year's 800-CEO-READ Business Book Awards. READ FULL DESCRIPTION

November 03, 2015

These 40 books—five selections across eight distinct categories—make up the 800-CEO-READ Business Book Awards Longlist. READ FULL DESCRIPTION

February 26, 2015

Amy Wilkinson reveals the six skills shared by all great entrepreneurs. READ FULL DESCRIPTION

January 22, 2015

Kevin Ashton, author of How to Fly a Horse, talks about the books that inspired him, and the authors he loves. READ FULL DESCRIPTION

January 21, 2015

Kevin Ashton - who came up with the phrase "The Internet of Things" - answers our questions about his book How to Fly a Horse. READ FULL DESCRIPTION

January 20, 2015

Kevin Ashton

By Porchlight

There are no secrets. When we ask writers about their process or scientists about their methods or inventors where they got their ideas from... READ FULL DESCRIPTION

January 19, 2016

A great time was had by all, and we announced our two biggest annual awards. READ FULL DESCRIPTION

January 14, 2016

After a long and deliberative process, a lot of reading and a lot of discussion, Kevin Ashton's How to Fly a Horse emerges as our winner. READ FULL DESCRIPTION

January 06, 2016

It's been another record year for us here at 800-CEO-READ. These are the books we moved the most in 2015. READ FULL DESCRIPTION

Full Description

Essential reading for would-be creators and innovators: "If you want to tap your creative potential, buy this book. It's the last one you'll ever need to read" (Toronto Star). To create is human. Technology pioneer Kevin Ashton has experienced firsthand the all-consuming challenge of creating something new. Now, in a tour-de-force narrative twenty years in the making, Ashton demystifies the sacred act, leading us on a journey through humanity's greatest creations to uncover the surprising truth behind who creates and how they do it. From the crystallographer's laboratory where the secrets of DNA were first revealed by a long forgotten woman, to the Ohio bicycle shop where the Wright brothers set out to "fly a horse," Ashton showcases the seemingly unremarkable individuals, gradual steps, multiple failures, and countless ordinary and usually uncredited acts that lead to our most astounding breakthroughs. Drawing on examples from Mozart to the Muppets, Archimedes to Apple, Kandinsky to a can of Coke, How to Fly a Horse is essential reading for would-be creators and innovators, and also a passionate and immensely rewarding exploration of how "new" comes to be.

About the Author

Kevin Ashton led pioneering work on RFID (radio frequency identification) networks, for which he coined the term "the Internet of Things," and cofounded the Auto-ID Center at MIT. His writing about innovation and technology has appeared in Quartz, Medium, The Atlantic, and The New York Times.<

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