and suddenly the inventor appeared

If you have the belief that creativity cannot be taught, maybe this book can make you reconsider. I just finished reading the book And Suddenly the Inventor Appeared by Genrich Altshuller. Genrich Altshuller is the developer of TRIZ (Teoriya Resheniya Izobretatelskikh Zadatch, or Theory of Inventive Problem Solving) during the Soviet Union era. Stalin put him to jail for 25 years cos of it.

I was reading a researcher's curriculum vitae and saw that his interest includes promoting of TRIZ methodology. I also came across the term TRIZ when studying product development and product design. That triggered my curiosity and I went to look up this book written by the developer himself.

TRIZ is a systematic way of tackling problems, which kind of leads to innovation and inventions. The author listed out 27 methods, some of them I find too specific (such as, "curie point of ferromagnetic materials" or "effect of corona discharge"), while others I find useful in different types of application, eg "do it inversely", "ideal final result", etc. There is this feel of "zen" in the book whenever the author says something like "it is there, and it is not there". Other than that the book also feels like those IQ quiz book, cos the author shared 78 problems for you to try solving using the tools and tricks.

The author says, anyone can become a professional.

And suddenly the inventor appeared.