Creating Things That Matter: The Art and Science of Innovations That Last

It’s rare that I find it difficult to encapsulate what I liked and didn’t like about a book, or how to define what was effective and what was ineffective. Creating Things That Matter is certainly a book that you should read, but I genuinely wonder what a different reader will get out of it.

David Edwards collects numerous engaging stories about visionaries who took their fields in startling new directions, and those sections of the book are pure inspiration, offering insight into how you can channel your creative energies, your ideas, and your drive into something tactile.

But it’s when Edwards applies a methodology to these individual accounts that I found the book wanting. It strove to quantify these innovations into a step-by-step process that is universal. I admire the attempt, certainly, and I cannot deny the author’s own success or his passion for inspiring others and provoking thought about a new nexus of science and art, but I found my own interest flagging at these points.

Perhaps I am just behind the curve on this one, but I got more out of the example stories than I did from the surrounding framework so intricately constructed by the author.