How to innovate : an ancient guide to creative thinking / Aristotle [and others] ; selected, translated, and introduced by Armand D'Angour.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

D'Angour, Armand, translator, author of introduction.

Wicksteed, Philip H. (Philip Henry), 1844-1927, editor.

Cornford, Francis Macdonald, 1874-1943, editor.

Olson, S. Douglas, editor.

Sherman, Charles L. (Charles Lawton), 1894-1954, editor.

Oldfather, C. H. (Charles Henry), 1887-1954, editor.

Rackham, H. (Harris), 1868-1944, editor.

Series:

Ancient wisdom for modern readers

Language:

English

Greek, Ancient (to 1453)

Subjects (All):

Technological innovations--Greece--Early works to 1800.

Technological innovations.

Creative ability--Early works to 1800.

Creative ability.

Greece.

Genre:

Early works

Physical Description:

xxi, 138 pages ; 18 cm.

Place of Publication:

Princeton : Princeton University Press, [2021]

Language Note:

In English, with translated material facing original Ancient Greek text. "I have aimed to create translations that are both accurate and readable, using the Greek texts (with a few minor variants) if the Loeb Classical Library editions."--page xi.

Summary:

"What we can learn about fostering innovation and creative thinking in any field from some of the most inventive people of all times-the ancient Greeks. When it comes to innovation and creative thinking, we are still catching up with the ancient Greeks. Between 800 and 300 BCE, they changed the world with astonishing inventions-democracy, the alphabet, philosophy, logic, rhetoric, mathematical proof, rational medicine, coins, architectural canons, drama, lifelike sculpture, and competitive athletics. None of this happened by accident. Recognizing the power of the new and trying to understand and promote the conditions that make it possible, the Greeks were the first to write about innovation and even the first to record a word for forging something new. In short, the Greeks "invented" innovation itself-and they still have a great deal to teach us about it. How to Innovate is an engaging and entertaining introduction to key ideas about-and examples of-innovation and creativite thinking from ancient Greece. Armand D'Angour provides lively new translations of selections from Aristotle, Diodorus, and Athenaeus, with the original Greek text on facing pages. These writings illuminate and illustrate timeless principles of creating something new-borrowing or adapting existing ideas or things, cross-fertilizing disparate elements, or criticizing and disrupting current conditions. From the true story of Archimedes's famous "Eureka!" moment, to Aristotle's thoughts on physical change and political innovation, to accounts of how disruption and competition drove invention in Greek warfare and the visual arts, How to Innovate is filled with valuable insights about how change happens-and how to bring it about"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Principles of change : the logic of change = Physics I, Chapter 8, 191a23-b34

The conditions of creation : the Eureka imperative = Athenaeus Book 5, 206d5-209e2

The principle of disruption : a winning strategy = Diodorus, Library 15.55-56.4

The benefits of competition : the father of invention = Diodorus, History 14.41-42

The uses and abuses of innovation : Aristotle on Constitutions = Politics Book 2, 1260b27-1269a29 (abridged).

Notes:

Includes selections from Aristotle's works, with additional excerpts from Athenaeus's The Learned Banqueteers and Diodorus's Library of History.

Includes bibliographical references.

Contains:

Container of: Aristotle. Physics. Book 1. 8, 191a23-b34. English (D'Angour)

Container of: Aristotle. Physics. Book 1. 8, 191a23-b34. Greek (Wicksteed and Cornford)

Container of: Athenaeus, of Naucratis. Deipnosophistae. Book 5. 206d5-209e2. English (D'Angour)

Container of: Athenaeus, of Naucratis. Deipnosophistae. Book 5. 206d5-209e2. Greek (Olson)

Container of: Diodorus, Siculus. Bibliotheca historica. Book 14. 41-42. English (D'Angour)

Container of: Diodorus, Siculus. Bibliotheca historica. Book 14. 41-42. Greek (Oldfather)

Container of: Diodorus, Siculus. Bibliotheca historica. Book 15. 55-56.4. English (D'Angour)

Container of: Diodorus, Siculus. Bibliotheca historica. Book 15. 55-56.4. Greek (Sherman)

Container of: Aristotle. Politics. Book 2. 1260b27-1269a29. Selections (D'Angour). English (D'Angour)

Container of: Aristotle. Politics. Book 2. 1260b27-1269a29. Selections (D'Angour). Greek (Rackham)

ISBN:

9780691213736

0691213739

OCLC:

1240576488