My Review:

The book "Innovation" by Matt Ridley explores the idea that innovation is the key to propelling developing nations from a lower-income, lower-technology status to a more prosperous one. The author looks at the history of innovation, its nature, successes, failures and frauds, and the necessary conditions and incentives to foster it. He argues that innovation is a gradual and evolutionary process, often driven by serendipity, and that liberal economies with free-roaming experimental opportunities are more conducive to innovation. He also debunks the myth that innovation is the work of lone, autistic geniuses and instead emphasizes the role of urban environments and the freedom of people to think, trade, experiment, and speculate. The book uses examples from various fields, including energy, public health, transportation, food, low-technology, and communication, to support the author's arguments. It also covers the issues of intellectual property rights and their potential to impede innovation. The author also touches on the topics of fakes and frauds in the name of innovation with examples of Theranos and Hyperloop. Overall, the book provides a thought-provoking examination of the nature and history of innovation and its impact on society.

Some of the lessons I learned from this book are:

• Happens randomly and unpredictably
• Many failures but a few great breakthroughs
• Often happens simultaneously across different countries and continent, but usually attributed to the most successful inventor
• 1% inspiration, 99% perspiration
• Mostly done by practical people such as mechanics and other tinkerers and seldom by professors
• Science mostly comes after the invention
• All are built on other prior innovation
• Cross pollination of ideas very important
• Must serve a need or else it will disappear
• Needs supportive innovation to work; timing is everything
• Other not the best design but the best manufactured and marketed one wins
• Regulation kills innovation and benefits the incumbents (European regulation on IT/GMO food/vacuum Cleaners). No innovation means stagnant economy
• Empires are bad for innovation; small independent states good
• Freedom to experiment and fail and learn from them is critical for success
• Intellectual properties law is probably only good for medication but not for most other innovation. Leads to patent hogging and endless lawsuits
• Resources are unlimited as we can find much more efficient use of stuff and substitutes
• Even in America, too little innovation is happening so economy stagnation ensues; China is the new innovation powerhouse