How to Fly a Horse

Kevin Ashton's argument is that the popular image of creation — a lone genius struck by sudden inspiration — is almost entirely a myth, and that real invention and discovery, across science, art, and technology, happen through small, unglamorous, iterative steps taken by ordinary people who fail repeatedly along the way. He assembles case studies from aviation, genetics, music, and business to show that even famous "eureka" breakthroughs were, when examined closely, the visible tip of long chains of incremental work, much of it collaborative and much of it uncredited.

This matters because the genius myth is discouraging and inaccurate: it tells most people that creation isn't for them, when Ashton's evidence suggests creating is simply a widely available human capacity that responds to effort, practice, and tolerance for failure rather than to some innate, rare spark — a claim with real implications for how organizations, schools, and individuals should approach innovation.

Who should read it

Anyone who has assumed creativity is something you either have or don't will find this a useful corrective, especially professionals in innovation-adjacent roles looking for a more grounded, evidence-based model of how breakthroughs actually happen. It's less suited to readers wanting a step-by-step creativity framework, since Ashton's approach is largely descriptive rather than prescriptive.

About the author

Kevin Ashton is a British technologist credited with coining the term "the Internet of Things" during his work on RFID technology, and has worked in product development and entrepreneurship across several companies.