The 2022 Summer of Innovation Reading List
We are officially commencing the start of “Hot Innovation Summer” with our annual Summer of Innovation Book Giveaway with top picks from the Idea To Go team that have helped us spark our creativity—and will help you too! We’ll be unveiling all the details on how you can win your book of choice (or even all of them!) in the weeks to come, so stay tuned by following our newsletter. In the meantime, take a peek at our recommendations!
With books ranging from Lego: Build Everyday; full of building techniques to tackle real-world problems, to the Hugo award winning Chinese sci-fi novel series, The Three Body Problem, there’s something on this list for everyone. To help keep your brain moving and grooving during your vacation and all summer long, here are our 10 picks we think you need in your innovation-inspiring arsenal:
1. 642 Things to Write About - Po Bronson
This book is one of two recommendations from ITG Facilitator, Monica Grant, full of fun prompts to get you writing creatively.
From crafting your own obituary and penning an ode to an onion, to telling a dying houseplant why it should live and making a case for your favorite fruit, writers of all levels will stretch their imaginations and put pen to paper with this exciting journal for all ages.
Purchase this book for yourself on Amazon here.
Watch below to see Monica introduce this book AND Draw Every Day, Draw Every Way!
2. Brain Meets World - Paluck et al.
Brain Meets World is guaranteed to take you through an odyssey of the mind. Recommended by Facilitator, Tyler Thompson, this collection of articles by leading behavioral scientists provides readers with a glimpse into the electric, surprising, painful, and peculiar paths that our ideas take—and take us on.
Each copy also comes with a ticket to the asynchronous Brain Meets World virtual event!
3. Build Every Day - Alec Posta
ITG President and Facilitator, Beth Storz, presents: LEGO® Build Every Day to ignite your creativity, help you solve problems, focus, and find your flow.
This book shows readers how to build their way through problems—by using LEGO techniques to solve real life challenges. Filled with bite-sized lessons on creativity, perspective, and process, each illustrated chapter explores a LEGO concept and follows with a building prompt to put the idea into practice.
4. Dancing with Merce Cunningham - Marianne Preger-Simon
The first of Facilitator Dina Pancoast’s Summer of Innovation recommendations is Dancing with Merce Cunningham; a buoyant, captivating memoir of a talented dancer’s lifelong friendship with one of the choreographic geniuses of our time. It details the story of Marianne Preger-Simon’s introduction to Merce Cunningham’s unconventional dance style and collaboration with composer John Cage post World War II.
For even more details and to see Dina Pancoast’s take on how she applies this to innovation, click the video below. You can purchase the book for yourself from Amazon here.
5. Draw Everyday Draw Every Way - Jennifer Orkin Lewis
ITG’s Monica Grant’s second entry is another hands-on engagement: Draw Every Day, Draw Every Way. This journal is not only useful as a stress-reliever and as a mode of personal exploration, but also as a way of changing visual thinking that serves as a reflection of its owner when completed. With prompts, tutorials, and unique packaging, it is a must-have for those looking to sketch and doodle their way out of an inspirational rut.
6. House of X - Johnathan Hickman
There are few books more visually enticing than Project Manager, Rob Gonzalez’s, pick: House of X - the next great evolution of the X-Men series! Visionary writer Jonathan Hickman – also known for his work on The Fantastic Four, Avengers, and Secret Wars - transforms mutantkind's past, present, and future with this gripping visual novel that is sure to draw you in with the art and keep a hold on you with the amazing story.
7. How Do You Dance - Thyra Heder
Sticking with the grooving theme, Dina Pancoast, is throwing in a book for everyone; her second recommendation: How Do You Dance?. In this beautiful picture book, award-winning author-illustrator Thyra Heder explores dance in all of its creativity, humor, and—most of all—joy, in a picture-book celebration of personal expression that will inspire young and old readers alike to get up and get moving.
8. Imaginable - Jane McGonigal
Coming to us from ITG VP of Behavioral Innovation™ & Facilitator, Adam Hansen, is Jane McGonigal’s Imaginable: How to See the Future Coming and Feel Ready for Anything. McGonigal draws on the latest scientific research in psychology and neuroscience to show us how to train our minds to think the unthinkable and imagine the unimaginable. You’ll be invited to play with provocative thought experiments and future simulations with the goal to build our imagination, solve problems creatively, make decisions to shape our future, and access a sense of “urgent optimism”.
If you’d like to get inspired and order your own copy, you can do so from Amazon.
9. Interaction of Color - Josef Albers
ITG’s Marketing Manager, Sena Abernathey, implores artists of all stages to check out: Interaction of Color by Josef Albers. Working with disciplines from photography to print making, Albers, is a renown abstract artist memorialized for his abstract work and study of color.
In this 50th anniversary edition, you’ll not only hear his breakdown of complex color theory principles but will be able to quiz yourself with the illuminating visual exercises and mind-bending optical illusions of his printmaking color studies.
10. The Three-Body Problem - Cixin Liu
Creative Process Designer + Facilitator, Greg Cobb is wrapping up our list with his pick: The Three-Body Problem.
Set against the backdrop of China's Cultural Revolution, a secret military project sends signals into space to establish contact with aliens on the brink of destruction who are looking for a new planet to invade. Meanwhile, on Earth, different camps start forming, planning to either welcome the superior beings and help them take over a world seen as corrupt, or to fight against the invasion. The result is a science fiction masterpiece of enormous scope and vision.
Purchase a physical copy or get the audio book from Amazon.com.
We’ll be introducing each of our recommendations on our LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and newsletter in full detail in the upcoming weeks, so be sure to stay up to date with us for updates and upcoming details on how you can win a book of your choice — or all of them if you’re lucky!