Sleeping Beauties
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Code:9780593655276
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Weight:0.658 Kgs
It's nice to believe in a meritocracy of ideas-genius is always recognized, innovation always seized upon and rewarded. In fact, so many of the people we now acknowledge as the world's great creators initially got little traction for their work. It faded out, and only later-often much later-did it somehow came roaring back to life.
Discoveries as diverse as dark matter, lichen, and continental drift . . . technologies from solar panels to the steam engine . . . artists from Bach to Bruegel, Vermeer to Melville . . . all, David Byrne shows us, were sleeping beauties. Why did they fall asleep? How did they wake back up? Ranging across centuries and the full scope of human endeavor, Byrne arrives at important conclusions that serve as a lens for bringing to light new seeds for our future breakthroughs.
Sleeping Beauties is a master class in how not to be blind to the next great thing. Several times throughout history, the shock of the new landed like a blow on vested interests and entrenched views, putting innovation on hold. Suppression emerged from pushback, the absence of key supporters, or simply a lack of complementary economic conditions.
But more important even than why ideas go dormant is why they reawaken. Again and again, Byrne shows, someone from a different discipline breaks into the silo. Frequently it's someone open to metaphorical thinking, to the counterintuitive. Hierarchies and taxonomies have their place, but they can reward insiders and punish outsiders. Oftentimes, it is the winds of change that blow away the sand that has buried momentous ideas.
Sleeping Beauties is humbling but it is also remarkably hopeful. These stories add up to a compass that leads us to the courage to try new things and the wisdom to embrace them. In a time that can seem all too dark, it's a powerful source of freely available light, delightful in itself and fit for all our human endeavors.
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The delivery cost to Bulgaria is fixed and does not depend on the number and weight of the books ordered - 5.90 lv for a courier delivery and 4.90 lv to Econt office. Orders over 42.00 lv are delivered for free if the order is dispatched at once. In cases where the order is over 42.00 lv and part of the books are with 30 or 60-day-delilvery term, then the free delivery is applied to the books in stock, and the rest is dispatched with the usual price - 5.90 lv for a courier delivery and 4.90 lv to Econt office. If the customer wants to have all the books dispatched together, then they should request that in the Special Instructions field.
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