Foster spent a career in advertising and wrote down how he actually generates ideas. The tone is light and the book is short, but the argument is serious. Ideas are new combinations of old elements, and you can train yourself to make more of them.

It pairs neatly with Munari a few spines over. Munari gives you the rigorous, structured method, Foster gives you the loose and playful one, and good product work needs both. Define the problem properly, then give your brain enough raw material and enough permission to play.

What stuck with me is the simple mechanics of it. Feed your curiosity widely, write everything down, then step away and let the idea show up when it’s ready. It’s the same loop I fall back on when a product problem won’t crack. Load up on context, then stop forcing it. Most of this shelf is really that one idea, applied on purpose.