Overview

There are an extremely large number of books on innovation.  The number is so large that it tends to imply that there is something wrong in the innovation book writing process, and that happens to be true.  What is wrong is discussed in this blog.

Innovation for Business, but not for You

The majority of books on innovation deal with how to make a busi-ness innovative, not with how you can become innovative.  More than 90% of the innovation books available are on this subject.  They do not teach you how to be innovative.  This probably happens because it is possible to make a good deal more money teaching businesses to be innovative than teaching individuals to be innovative.  It is unfortunate because the best businesses need outstanding innovators to make them the best.  And they are not always able to get as many as they need from the USA.

Creativity is Covered, but Completivity is Uncovered

As you explore the mass of books on innovation you first have to sort out the ones that are designed to deal with personal rather than business innovation.  But that is only the beginning of the sorting process because there are other serious problems as well.  As has been noted already, these books generally discuss creativity at some length, which is good.  But unfor-tunately they generally have very incomplete discussions of completivity, which is very bad.  They do not thoroughly discuss how you get the job done.  They do not do their job.

Innovation Books often Contain Innovation Myths

Innovation is a very popular subject of discussion and such subjects are often surrounded and impregnated with myths.  This is certainly true for innovation.  There is great variation in the quality of innovation books in regard to myths.  But it may be difficult for you personally to detect these myths.  Later on we will provide some help in this area, by introducing you to one or more books that specifically discuss the Myths of Innovation.