Even the tale of Newton’s apple owes its mythic status to the journalists of the day. Voltaire and other popular 18th-century writers spread the story in their essays and letters. An eager public, happy to hear the ancient notion of ideas as magic, endorsed and embellished the story (e.g., the apple’s trajectory moved over time, from being observed in the distance to landing at his feet to eventually striking Newton’s head in a telling by Disraeli [7] decades later). While it is true that by dramatizing Newton’s work, Voltaire helped popularize Newton’s ideas, two centuries later, little of Newton’s process is remembered: myths always serve promotion more than education. Anyone wishing to innovate must seek better sources and can easily start by examining the history of any idea.
How narratives sell. Embellishing a story to promote a concept might make it more popular, but what it does also takes away from the process, and probably less glamorous parts of innovation. We tend to be attracted to stories of epiphanies, where sudden inspiration strikes. That is why the apple falling on Newton’s head, hence leading to his inspiration for the theory of gravity as an epiphany. While it might be a good story, it doesn’t actually help us break down the process of innovation and creation so we can replicate it.
