Sleeping Beauties.jpg
Sleeping Beauties.jpg

Sleeping Beauties by David Byrne

from $14.40
Hardcover:

"Byrne guides us on a captivating quest to understand how we come to remember forgotten ideas, inventions and technologies . . . Sleeping Beauties belongs on the bookshelf of anyone who cares about creativity or culture." —Adam Grant, The New York Times Book Review

From incomparable creative force David Byrne, a brilliant and inspiring reckoning with how breakthroughs across the arts and sciences get forgotten, and how they get rediscovered

David Byrne asks why so many important ideas, from dark matter and continental drift to solar panels and the paintings of Vermeer, were ignored or forgotten before the world caught up with them. He calls these ideas sleeping beauties and looks at what puts them to sleep and what finally wakes them.

Byrne looks at the causes, including suppression, a lack of champions, and unfavorable economic conditions, and at what triggers a revival.

He argues that fresh perspectives from outside a discipline often revive dormant ideas, and that hierarchical systems can overlook valuable ones.

The examples range across art, science, and technology, from Bach and Vermeer to Gaudí's architecture, with a wry, conversational voice and an upbeat outlook.

It suits curious readers who like cultural history and want to understand how ideas travel across time and fields.

"Byrne guides us on a captivating quest to understand how we come to remember forgotten ideas, inventions and technologies . . . Sleeping Beauties belongs on the bookshelf of anyone who cares about creativity or culture." —Adam Grant, The New York Times Book Review

From incomparable creative force David Byrne, a brilliant and inspiring reckoning with how breakthroughs across the arts and sciences get forgotten, and how they get rediscovered

David Byrne asks why so many important ideas, from dark matter and continental drift to solar panels and the paintings of Vermeer, were ignored or forgotten before the world caught up with them. He calls these ideas sleeping beauties and looks at what puts them to sleep and what finally wakes them.

Byrne looks at the causes, including suppression, a lack of champions, and unfavorable economic conditions, and at what triggers a revival.

He argues that fresh perspectives from outside a discipline often revive dormant ideas, and that hierarchical systems can overlook valuable ones.

The examples range across art, science, and technology, from Bach and Vermeer to Gaudí's architecture, with a wry, conversational voice and an upbeat outlook.

It suits curious readers who like cultural history and want to understand how ideas travel across time and fields.

  • Publisher: Penguin Press

    Title: Sleeping Beauties: Why Good Ideas Go Dormant and How They Wake Up

    Author: David Byrne

    On Sale Date: October 6, 2026

    ISBN 13: 978-0-593-65527-6

    ISBN 10: 0593655273

    Format: Hardcover

    Retail Price: $36.00

    Page Count: 400

    Dimensions: 6-1/8 x 9-1/4 inches

  • David Byrne is a musician, performer, writer, and visual artist who co-founded Talking Heads in 1975. He has won Academy, Golden Globe, and Grammy Awards for film scoring, and created the stage works American Utopia and Here Lies Love. He founded the solutions-focused publication Reasons to Be Cheerful and is the author of Bicycle Diaries, How Music Works, and Arboretum.

  • What readers can expect:

    • Kirkus Reviews described a wry, entertaining, and informed voice and suggested Byrne could have a viable sideline as a pop-history writer.

    • Publishers Weekly called it a wonderful and humbling celebration of achievements that were abandoned and later re-embraced.

    • Examples range across art, science, and technology, from Bach and Vermeer to Gaudí's architecture.

    • Byrne argues that fresh perspectives from outside a discipline often revive dormant ideas, in a conversational voice with an upbeat outlook.

This book is for you if

  • You're curious about why breakthroughs like continental drift or dark matter were once dismissed or ignored.

  • You enjoy pop-history nonfiction that moves between art, science, and technology.

  • You want to read a wry, conversational take on forgotten ideas from a musician and artist.

  • You appreciate books about what lets an old idea come back, such as outside perspectives or the right economic moment.

  • You're a fan of David Byrne's earlier books, such as How Music Works or Bicycle Diaries, and want to see him take on a new subject.

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