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

This short Preface begins with a story about Mozart. A letter he purportedly wrote declared that his musical compositions came to him wholly finished, and all he had to do was write them down. This letter, however, turned out to be a forgery; real ones to his family members told of a more prosaic process that took time and revision. Ashton refers to the notion that ideas come magically to only a chosen few as the “creativity myth,” and admits to believing in it at one time.

He writes that his early career was a frustrating period in which he strove to be creative but wasn’t successful at it. His viewpoint changed when in one of his jobs he tried to maintain an accurate and updated inventory of a certain lipstick on store shelves. To solve this problem, he used a radio microchip that communicated information over the Internet so he could keep track of it in real time. He patented the idea, which went on to become an important component of business. This system became known as “the Internet of Things.” He realized that his experience with creativity had nothing to do with the myth he had long internalized.