Imagination and the Man That Invented the 20th Century
Genre: Biography
Year of Publication: 2013 (First Edition)
Author: Sean Patrick
About the Author: Sean Patrick is a dad, husband, Floridian, author, entrepreneur, slightly off-kilter, hopelessly optimistic, 28-year-old that’s obsessed with creation, marketing, storytelling, fitness, and educating.
Founder of Oculus Publishers, Patrick is on a mission to enlighten, entertain, and inspire people through beautiful stories and ideas.
When not writing or building something, you can usually find him lifting heavy things in the gym, trying to make a dent in his never-ending “to-read” list, acting like a fool to make his son laugh…and writing in the third person. Wink, wink. (http://www.yourinnergenius.com/about-sean/)
How did you learn about the book? Have you tried browsing your Google Play Books? I did and this one was one of the free downloadable e-books from the store. Out of curiosity, I downloaded it and was sorta "electrified." 😜
About: Nikola Tesla is one of the most outstanding and brilliant scientists that was gifted to the world. This book tries to explain the genius that he was and what made him great. It speaks of the struggles that he had, how people used his gift and how his imagination fueled the inventions that we now enjoy.
My Thoughts:
What makes a genius?
This 34-page e-book does not only dwell on the life story of Nikola Tesla. It begins with an understanding of the mystery of being a genius. With the society’s standards of intelligence and success, most people would believe that once your IQ is higher, there would be a bigger chance of you having a successful life. Of course, now, with the published researches and the countless studies that debunk this theory, this isn’t necessarily true.
There are millions of geniuses who are born each day. Some would emerge successful, while some do not. According to Patrick, there are many factors that make up a genius. For one, he said that a genius works toward 10,000 hours.
What does that mean?
This means each individual, whether with an inborn gift or none, can become a genius in a certain field by constantly working on his/her craft everyday with focused and intentional practice. This actually makes sense. This is one point that I really like.
Another thing that he pointed out was OPPORTUNITIES. These are conditions that may have happened to be some sort of good luck. So, imagine the people who work toward 10,000 hours. We’re pretty sure that there are millions of people who work their asses off to reach that 10,000 hours.
What makes a genius stand out?
Aside from trying to double the sought-after hours, geniuses have opportunities that have become their advantage. Opportunities are everywhere, but they come as whispers, which are often not listened to. Geniuses know how to make use of the opportunities with passion and gusto.
Interestingly, Patrick raised a study done by a psychologist named Dr. Alfred Barrios about the genius code. What makes a genius really tick? He focused his book on a single code from Barrios: IMAGINATION.
Patrick’s book brings us to a life journey with Nikola Tesla, whose brilliance and madness are quite close to each other. With a rolling stone of setbacks and successes, Tesla proved that science, passion, persistence and imagination can bring about great things to the world.
Here are a few of my favorite lines from the book:
“Well, as the preeminent mythologist Joseph Campbell said, deep down inside, we don’t seek the meaning of life, but the experience of being alive. And that’s what the nature of genius is ultimately about...”
“This is the beauty of imagination. An unexpected dead end in one journey is merely an opportunity to set a new course for another. Losing what we have can only do us real harm when we feel we can’t create it, or something equally valuable or compelling, again, and that ability resides squarely in our imagination.”
“Einstein said that “imagination is more important than knowledge,” because knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there will be to know and understand.”
“Ray Bradbury said that thinking is the enemy of creativity because it’s self-conscious.”
“Before you connect the dots, you need to have dots to connect. The more material you’re exposed to in the world, the more grist you’ll have for your imagination mill.”
“A single ray of light from a distant star falling upon the eye of a tyrant in bygone times may have altered the course of his life, may have changed the destiny of nations, may have transformed the surface of the globe; so intricate, so inconceivably complex are the processes of nature.” – Nikola Tesla
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