In Pursuit of Elegance: Why the Best Ideas Have Something Missing Audiobook

" This book purports to show four important ways to think about new product development via a quest for elegance. What you leave out is more important than what you include, that's one of the core ideas. This is a good book, thought provoking, but it is not a great book as the level of simplification means that the ""rules"" are hard to apply to real world designs. "

" Easier said than done ideas. I'm not too into the business-y self help kind of books anyway. "

" I found the beginning of this book a little painful to read, even though the stories and examples told were interesting. That's because the author talks about the "three S's" of elegance: symmetry, seduction, subtraction. This felt to me like a forced attempt to work what he'd seen into an easy to remember, packable concept. Once you move on from this forced concept, the book becomes more interesting. He begins to discuss how you think to get toward an "elegant" concept. And while not super in-depth or unexpected, the chapters are still interesting. "

" In general the book is about how to be perfect in what are you working on . Your way to look at things would be totally changed after reading this book . Its an amazing book "

" what not to do, less is more, traffic flow min lights safe sim to phone case, lights out flow, roller rink, react vs think elevator, addiction to addition vs subtraction, double pot evap cooling, tendency to satisfice, remove minor crimes, observe vs act, circle why T, play pump. "

" Elegant solutions to problems employ symmetry, seduction, subtraction, and sustainability. Typically our problem solving embraces two obstacles: acting and adding, thereby satisficing instead of stopping and reflecting long enough to come to an elegant solution. "

" I was shocked to see so many of the ideas and concepts I'd been considering explained, with examples. I was impressed by the book, though I thought it was a bit longer than necessary (I still gave it five stars because I liked the extra personally, if not professionally). "

" I enjoyed this. A quick read much in the style of a Gladwell book. Some interesting insights "

" Some very interesting ideas, written in an engaging style, that center, mostly, on the less is more argument. "

" Ehh. Not as good as I had thought it would be. "

" I read quite a bit and many books suffer from "me too" complexes. Not this one. An amazing read with applications to so many areas of life. May proves that, in fact, less may be more. Strongly recommended. "

" Great insights that are universally applicable to services and products "

" Good enough, for what it is, but it should have been a lengthy magazine article. "

" Absolute must read in this age of more, more, more. "

" Really well done, easy to read. I liked the thesis and it was well worked out. We certainly need to solve more problems by removing layers of complexity rather than just adding more and more laws, rules or activities. "

" Seems very intriguing, but too deep for my scatterbrain right now. "

" Definitely worth the read. A simple idea, but an important one. "

" Some great stories about how removing things can make projects/companies/designs better. Nice ideas, but ultimately started to drag on. "

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" This book was disappointing. I so hoped that Matthew May would provide some beautifully poetic explanation for elegance but instead, he spent 200 pages coming to the conclusion that elegance is found in simplicity. I was rather put off by that. "

" If you're looking for a Tipping Point-like book, this isn't it. There are a few interesting facts intermingled with common sense advice like, "don't over-think it" and "elegance is simple." Nothing too ground-breaking. "

" I read quite a bit and many books suffer from "me too" complexes. Not this one. An amazing read with applications to so many areas of life. May proves that, in fact, less may be more. Strongly recommended. "

" I love this book!I have always valued elegance very highly but would have been hard-put to define it well. I can now do that and actively seek it in my work, because I understand that symmetry, sustainability, subtraction, and seduction are its defining characteristics. "

" This book was disappointing. I so hoped that Matthew May would provide some beautifully poetic explanation for elegance but instead, he spent 200 pages coming to the conclusion that elegance is found in simplicity. I was rather put off by that. "

" I enjoyed this. A quick read much in the style of a Gladwell book. Some interesting insights "

" The cop out introduction by Guy Kawasaki notwithstanding, this was a good read. Lots of implications for design, writing, speaking, presentations, programming, and architecture. "

" Definitely worth the read. A simple idea, but an important one. "

" Elegant solutions to problems employ symmetry, seduction, subtraction, and sustainability. Typically our problem solving embraces two obstacles: acting and adding, thereby satisficing instead of stopping and reflecting long enough to come to an elegant solution. "