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The 8 Books That Inspired The Most Ideas This Year

Phil McKinney
5 min readDec 20, 2021

Reading books is one of my favorite hobbies and is my dominant source of inspiration that sparks new ideas. I love books that challenge me to think differently and that introduce me to new concepts. Some of my favorite books have been the ones that have sparked the most ideas, as evidenced by the number of entries from each book in my Roam Research system (2nd brain).

How do books inspire ideas?

The source of ideas is the subconscious mind (sometimes called “the inner genius”). The brain wants to be stimulated, and it craves novelty. It morphs every real-life experience by connecting it with everything we do or see — so the subconscious can leverage it.

When you read books, you are feeding your subconscious so it can make more connections with your experiences and memories.

The more feeding of your subconscious, the easier the ideas will flow. By reading books every day, you’re setting yourself up for success and fueling your inner creativity.

What are my favorite books?

At the end of each year, I go back through the books I read and rank them based on the ideas/innovations I added to my Roam Research knowledge management system from each book. This helps me keep track of what books are inspiring…

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Phil McKinney
Phil McKinney

Written by Phil McKinney

Innovation Architect turning innovation dreams into repeatable success. Podcast host (since '05). Weekly YouTube. Former HP CTO. Finding new ideas that work.

Responses (6)

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Goodness me, this article and the links are jam-packed with fascinating stuff. Love hearing about both the books (AI one sounds right up my alley). I have a book for triggering ideas I recommend in return; David Deutsch’s Beginning of Infinity.

The Extended Mind. Put that one on your next list.

Great article Phil, I found a lot of interesting content, and besides the books, it led me to Roam Research which i am really curious.
I had a friend that would mind-map books, yet in a bidirectional linked system, the knowledge and insights would be much more powerful.