Inspiration: Where the Best Ideas Come From

Inspiration propels us. It’s the basis of every accomplishment. But the idea that it simply falls into your lap is a myth. Inspiration doesn’t come to us in a gust of wind, only to disappear into the mist again. You make it happen; it’s a reward for work that you’ve already done. The combination of perspiration and inspiration takes you to where you want to go.

In this ode to what is perhaps the brain’s greatest achievement, Ap Dijksterhuis explains, with a storyteller’s verve, what inspirat...