I'm working on what I'm hoping to be the final draft of the book about invention methods. Of course, there's no such thing as the final draft before the book ships, but here's the first couple of paragraphs from it. I'm sharing because I'm sick and tired of reading this all alone ;)

Part 1: Unlearning what’s untrue.

“The most useful piece of learning for the uses of life is to unlearn what is untrue.” 

Antisthenes (445 – 365 BCE)

 Barriers to creativity

There are two kinds of barriers on our paths to breakthrough inventions. Some of them I call hard, the other soft.

Hard barriers are resource-related. They feel like externally imposed limits on what can be done given the circumstances. In contrast, soft barriers are constraints of our minds. They are difficult to overcome because we can't feel them; they are not perceived as barriers by our own thinking.

Chapter 1. Hard Barriers.

These are the most common hard barriers:

- Lack of physical resources;

- Absence of an essential implementation technology;

- No market for a novel product;

- Opportunity-poor environment.